I have a single oscar in a 125 gallon tank. For such a huge tank it's a chore to sweep out the poo. I heard Magnum HOT (hang over top) has a sweeper built in it.

Anybody ever use this filter and what is your assessment of it???

Obviously I'll have to change the media after I sweep. My oscar poos a LOT.

PS I bought my oscar back early May 2007. Only 1-1/2 inches. It is now FIVE INCHES and getting big FAST.

This is July 2007...FIVE INCHES ALREADY!!!! TWO MONTHS.
Gorgeous too. I feed him about 5 different foods including an occasional cricket, krill, tubifex worms but I think his favorite food is...ironically...cheap flakes!
He will glad eat anything you care to give him.

So what about that HOT Filter by Magnum??? Like it???
Thanks!

I am not familiar with the filter you are referring to. However, filters will remove a certain amount of waste and different filters would perform better than others. However, I have found over the years that the only way to keep an Oscar tank clear of crap is by using elbow grease. Anyone who has kept the Oscars for more than a few days will know how big their turds are. These guys crap like elephants. Waste that large is going to lie in the tank, the only way to get it out is with vacuuming.

I always tell people that if they want to keep fish that don't require much maintenance, get yourself a small tank with a few tetras or guppies. If you're going to keep Oscars, be prepared to get your hands dirty.

Tell me about it. Everytime I do a water change (once a week) I have to vacuum out oscar poo from the top of the gravel. Big long stringy stuff. Its so big it doesn't go up the tube easy. This is in addition to gravel cleaning

THat's what I thought. The disadvantage of a HUGE tank is it IS a chore to suck out the water (I tried those hand pump things--not easy), get the water going, and the tank is SOOO DEEP it's hard. I just won't bother with gravel. It's more work. What grosses me out is sucking on the tube (to get the water flowing) and get a mouth full of water. Ohh God I hate that!

White sand is what you need, so incredibly easy to clean. You can actually see where they screen which is much better than with gravel.

You don't necessarily have to suck to get the siphon going. What we use on the end of the hose pipe is a cylindrical shaped see-through siphon tube. It's not one of those ones that has a narrow end. Make sure your hosepipe isn't dangling on the floor and just keep filling up the siphon of water and you can normally get the siphon going pretty quickly. And that is without sucking.

Personally i suck on the end and i hardly ever get a mouthfull of water. I just kinda know how much to suck. Learnt the hard way tho with mouthfuls of dirty fish water