Just a follow up on my Cascade 1000.
Its been running 8 weeks straight in my 65g (36x18x24), I do 20g water changes every week.
The occupants are: a 4" Midas, 1.5" Buenos Aries Tetras x7, a 2" Marble Sailfin Pleco.
This was the first time Ive cleaned it out and...
Wow it was not bad at all, the worst was the tubes/hoses and the coarse sponge at the bottom. I rinsed it out in some of the tank water during my water change and replaced the fine white pads. I really did not need to worry so much about it, I could easily have went anther 2 months with no problem.
So the Cascade 1000 is a decent filter for the money. And those water changes really do help!