I have had the Tetra Whisper EX30 on my 29gallon plated tank for a couple months now, upgrading from an old Hagen AquaClear HOB that I’d been having for years used in many different tanks and decided to die on me. I wanted to go with a canister, but was waiting for a few months down the road for that upgrade so I needed a cheap fix and was pleasantly surprised with the filter overall and the flow rate. The EX has quite a few needed upgrades from the old Terta Whispers. The motor actually sits in the tank as it is in-line with the filter intake. The requires no priming and starts up real easily. Noise wise is a little more than you would expect, as the old Whisper filters seem to have been quieter in my opinion, also the design where it rests against the back of then tank can be knocked easily and make a humming noise. It features a “bio-scrubber” in it which is suppose to act as a biological filter media comparable to a bio-wheel on Marineland’s filters. It seems effective for anaerobic bacterial activity and the way the water flows through it seems to be less likely to build up gunk as other bio-medias. The other notable features are to do with the filter pad; first the filter pad is held in a “drip-free” plastic clamshell for easy drip free disposal, secondly the time strip, it(as well as cartridge refills) comes with disposable time strips that measure for 4 weeks so its easy to know when to change and lastly the simple swing top lid for removing the filter pad. As far as drip free for the “clam-shell” goes, it only works alright nothing more. I am very happy with it so far, silent operation and water parameters as well as clarity are perfect.

Pros:
Easy to set-up & use
Keeps water clean & clear
Overall silent
Neat features

Cons:
No room for additional media
Non adjustable water flow rate
Can get knocked an make humming noise