i have the 828... 4ply... so.. slightly different but made the same 315gph vs 396gph
i also picked mine up used for half the price so... maybe new it was a lot better..
the ball valves are over designed and underbuilt (meaning they should be simple threaded ball valves insted of the multipiece pieces of crap that they are).. after a bunch of silicone and some pipe thread they are nolonger leaking..
the "head" or "top" of the unit sounds like its going to break everytime you unclip it.. im willing to bet that within 5 more times of opening this thing im am going to be using a very large hoseclamp to hold the whole thing shut... i can already see that the plastic around the hinge pieces are starting to turn white due to flexing.. which means its only a matter of time before they give out... "The pump head is designed apart and fixed to the canister by two big ouches."
after 15 minutes of run time the main gasket appears to have a small leak as well... ive yet to do any real searching for parts for this thing... ive also yet to find them...
this is the first time ive powered it up... the syphon start "button" on top is too slow to work.. maybe mine is just gunked up and in need of some cleaning... but im not going to bother.. a small suck on the return line starts the flow no problem (let it fill and then turn it on)..
as for the media baskets... i like they way the fit together and theres not a lot of wasted space... im a big fan of packing scrubbies and floss wherever i can on filters... this one was good as is... im not big on ceramic rings but they do a good job of filling all the space in the baskets...
as for the pump/turnover.... its low.. but at the same time its now the smallest filter i own and the only canister so maybe im just not use to the lack of "force" ... it has a bit noise but its by no means louder than the rest of my stuff.. EDIT: this got me thinking... so i went and took it apart planning on checking the impeller... i then noticed i had the head on the wrong way.... soon as i fixed it the noise was gone... its VERY quiet... .... ... user error... my bad..
ill let it run till it stops working... this is one of those "get what you pay for" items.. its not great but at the same time its not nearly the price of other stuff on the market...
i also bought the 4ply about 5 months ago and its been working great. its really quiet. no leak so far but i've only cleaned it once. flow rate is not what they claim. i have it in my 75g but will move it to my 55g. it was rated for up to 100g. cheap for under $80 new.
