AQUAEL HYPERMAX 4500
Reviewed by: Gabor Horvath Price: Around £300 Info: www.aquael.com UK distributor: www.alfltd.co.uk
‘Did you buy a new fridge?’ That’s what my children asked when the new Hypermax 4500 was delivered. They were slightly disappointed when I explained it was ‘only’ a huge canister filter, but I was excited. I know that AquaEl is capable of pulling out a new (and often surprising) product from their seemingly bottomless development hat, but I didn’t expect them to go this large—I’ve seen smaller dustbins.
With the four valves attached, the Hypermax reaches nearly 60cm in height and the footprint is 36cmx36cm, so although it would fit into an average aquarium cabinet in one way, you need to make sure that the available space is tall enough. It also has a substantial weight of 15kg without media and water; this shows that AquaEl didn’t skimp on materials as the whole filter feels very sturdy. This is exactly what I want from a large filter—I wouldn’t trust a flimsy PET canister to hold a significant amount of water.
The Hypermax was designed to deal with really big tanks (up to 1500 litres) and those aquariums that require huge filter capacity. The main filter chamber can hold a total 14.4 litres of media across 4 baskets. Two of the baskets are pre-fitted with sponges, while the other two can be filled up with a media of your choice. There is also a fifth basket, but it serves as a protection for the pump housing and should be left empty without any media.
Outside of the main filter container there is also a significant pre-filter with 1.5l capacity. This last feature was introduced with the smaller Ultramax a few years ago and proved to be a very useful addition— it’s basically a tub filled with a 10PPI sponge. The sponge itself is bigger than the ones you can find in regular internal filters. The dirty water flows through it first, so the debris and other drifting particles are trapped before they could block the biomedia. The whole unit can easily be removed and cleaned without disturbing the main filter media or even moving the main canister filter out from the aquarium cabinet. Washing the pre-filter weekly or fortnightly could significantly increase the time between complete cleanings. The self-priming system was also brought over from the older brother. If you ever worked with large
filters, you know how heavy they can be. Fortunately, the Hypermax has integrated wheels for easy moving so there’s reduced need for back-breaking lifts. The pump unit is fixed to the canister by six chunky clips plus two additional smaller safety clips. They all feel sturdy, predicting long term durability. The Hypermax is fitted with an economical, yet powerful ‘engine’ that runs on a safe, low voltage (24V) power. The maximum rated flow rate of the pump is 4500 litres per hour—pond pump territory.
What’s surprising is that for this monstrous performance the Hypermax only uses 36W electricity. If you don’t need that much flow then you can reduce the output— and the power consumption down to 18W—using the built-in electronic controller. With the ten-step flow control you can easily find your ideal flow rate.
When running at full speed the output is so high that two outlets are needed to deal with it. The two outlet/two inlet system also allows you to divert the currents in your tank as you need, eliminating dead zones, while the special double ball valves in the hose connectors ensure drip-free disconnection. The filter comes with 19/25mm hoses, but these are quite short, so for longer and/or taller aquariums you may need to buy additional pipes to reach the opposite ends of the tank. As you could expect from an AquaEl filter there’s a good selection of accessories—flow deflectors, rain spray bar, large intake strainers— included with the filter. Other mentionable extras are the automatic venting system and the built-in alarm that warns you in case of rotor blockage.