THE GOOD
1) The canister itself is plenty sturdy and doesn't seem to be cheap in any way. It's no FX5 but I'm not worries about it breaking in any way. some of the reviews say that the ports are breakable but they seem plenty sturdy to me.
2) Moves a ton of water. I didn't measure it so I can't say if it's actually 500GPH but it is putting out a god bit more water than both my Aquaclear 30 power heads (175GPH) combined.
3) Customizable. I've seen some great mods for this filter around the internet and I've got a few ideas of my own.
4) The pump is easily removable and looks like it could be replaced with different pumps.
5) The pump is sucking water out of the filter instead of pushing water in. This configuration causes low pressure inside the filter and creates a better seal on the lid. Another positive is that if the lid were to fail the pump would suck air into the filter instead of pushing water out. A final benefit is that the filter is much easier to prime with the pump in the bottom of the bucket instead of built into the lid.
THE BAD
1) The o-rings on the ports were to big as stated in other reviews and make it near impossible to attach the hose valves to the canister. Replacing the o-rings with #17 o-rings from home depot fixed the problem.
2) The hose clamps they sent are to big to fit, replaced them with real hose clamps from home depot fixed the problem.
3) The ribbed hoses they sent with the filter feel very thin and cheap but are working so far. I would have replaced them also but home depot didn't have anything good (that I could find) and the pet store wanted $3 a foot for the good stuff so I'm ordering some online.
4) The Siphon and return do not clamp onto the tank but just hang on the tank, this isn't such a huge deal but I would rather have something that cant shift.
5) The siphon's minimum depth is around 10 inches or half way down my tank, it dies come with an adjustable depth part that can be attached to but that would put the siphon into my gravel. This really isn't a problem but IF the return hose breaks it could empty half my tank in 4 minuets.
OK so this is my first canister filter so I have nothing to compare it to. I've seen good and bad reviews and decided to take a risk on it and I'm glad I did. Other than replacing $5 worth of bad parts I've had zero problems. I couldn't think of any pictures to take that aren't already on other forums but if anyone has something they want to see I'll try and get a picture of it.
This filter is going to replace my 2 UGFs (thank God) but I'm letting them run for another 2 weeks while the canister builds up some bacteria. My poor fish are living in a 55gal tank with 850 gallons of filtration, it's like a hurricane. Once the 2 weeks are up I'm tearing down the tank to remove the UGFs and install egg crate and sand.
1) The canister itself is plenty sturdy and doesn't seem to be cheap in any way. It's no FX5 but I'm not worries about it breaking in any way. some of the reviews say that the ports are breakable but they seem plenty sturdy to me.
2) Moves a ton of water. I didn't measure it so I can't say if it's actually 500GPH but it is putting out a god bit more water than both my Aquaclear 30 power heads (175GPH) combined.
3) Customizable. I've seen some great mods for this filter around the internet and I've got a few ideas of my own.
4) The pump is easily removable and looks like it could be replaced with different pumps.
5) The pump is sucking water out of the filter instead of pushing water in. This configuration causes low pressure inside the filter and creates a better seal on the lid. Another positive is that if the lid were to fail the pump would suck air into the filter instead of pushing water out. A final benefit is that the filter is much easier to prime with the pump in the bottom of the bucket instead of built into the lid.
THE BAD
1) The o-rings on the ports were to big as stated in other reviews and make it near impossible to attach the hose valves to the canister. Replacing the o-rings with #17 o-rings from home depot fixed the problem.
2) The hose clamps they sent are to big to fit, replaced them with real hose clamps from home depot fixed the problem.
3) The ribbed hoses they sent with the filter feel very thin and cheap but are working so far. I would have replaced them also but home depot didn't have anything good (that I could find) and the pet store wanted $3 a foot for the good stuff so I'm ordering some online.
4) The Siphon and return do not clamp onto the tank but just hang on the tank, this isn't such a huge deal but I would rather have something that cant shift.
5) The siphon's minimum depth is around 10 inches or half way down my tank, it dies come with an adjustable depth part that can be attached to but that would put the siphon into my gravel. This really isn't a problem but IF the return hose breaks it could empty half my tank in 4 minuets.
OK so this is my first canister filter so I have nothing to compare it to. I've seen good and bad reviews and decided to take a risk on it and I'm glad I did. Other than replacing $5 worth of bad parts I've had zero problems. I couldn't think of any pictures to take that aren't already on other forums but if anyone has something they want to see I'll try and get a picture of it.
This filter is going to replace my 2 UGFs (thank God) but I'm letting them run for another 2 weeks while the canister builds up some bacteria. My poor fish are living in a 55gal tank with 850 gallons of filtration, it's like a hurricane. Once the 2 weeks are up I'm tearing down the tank to remove the UGFs and install egg crate and sand.
