power heads are ugly & kill fish by sucking them in GET THE FILSTAR I have 1 & it out performs my fluval just doesnt have all the nice quick shut off valves on the hoses but fluval charges a bit for those .fluvals output is a bit less comparitivly to price & size ive had a fluval for over 20 years & it still works .Mind you the filstars newer I think the fluval is passive ( meaninng all the water doesnt pass through the filter media when its dirty ) so it just goes around the detrius when the sponges & rings are full of gunk.I left a tank for a year without water changes or filter cleaning with a ugf & fluval with no losses of fish. It just seemed to grow beird algae & balance itself out.Topped of the tank once a mounth. 10 years after that experiment all the fish are still present & seem the same(behavior & eating paterns) Bierd algae is nice & natural on rough surfaces unless it collects food particles.Thats when it gets nasty.I still have a 2mm tuft of beird algae about 4mm long that is hanging on 4 dear life & would greatly miss if it were all gone.
