Just installed my new toy.. Aquatop CF-500UV

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Mudfrog

Mudfrog

Piranha
MFK Member
Oct 3, 2005
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So far so good ;)

I know it was a cheaper canister filter but I was looking for a "bang for the buck" deal. Setup was pretty straight forward. The plastic spray bar / inlet tubes feel kind of cheap, I'll probably buy some new ones that are built a little better some time down the road. Overall though not a bad deal on a canister that is "rated" at 525gph and has a built in the UV light, was only $120 to the door.

The only media that shipped with it was 4 filter pads. I removed one pad to keep as a template so I can cut my own instead of purchasing one from their site. The other three trays are as follows:

Top tray: 2L of Seachem Matrix
3rd tray: 12 pot scrubbies (sure they don't do much but it would have been an empty tray anyway)
2nd tray: 1x filter pad
Bottom tray: 2x filter pads

All in all I'm happy, here's to hoping the UV light well get rid of the green water that has plagued me for years...

Pic time (it's installed on the top tank, the red wolf tank)

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I've been looking into these filters for a while now. I have a 125g african cichlid setup with PFS for substrate. I have a sump that does plenty of bio filtration, but am thinking about this for some extra mechanical filtration for the poop that sits on top of the sand. Do you think this would help with that, or do I need to look into something else like a powerhead?

I don't really need the UV light, but I thought it would be good to turn on every few weeks for a bit to kill any parasites floating in the water, since even if the fish aren't sick parasites can still be present.
 
wrslrcichlid said:
I've been looking into these filters for a while now. I have a 125g african cichlid setup with PFS for substrate. I have a sump that does plenty of bio filtration, but am thinking about this for some extra mechanical filtration for the poop that sits on top of the sand. Do you think this would help with that, or do I need to look into something else like a powerhead?

I don't really need the UV light, but I thought it would be good to turn on every few weeks for a bit to kill any parasites floating in the water, since even if the fish aren't sick parasites can still be present.
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im in the same situation and also want to know the answer to this
 
i had one of these and the clamps that keep the top on will eventually break so be careful with them.
 
I added the Sun/Sun version to my 135 mbuna tank and so far it's worked great. I ditched the inlet and outlet portions of the hardware kit because they were just a little too cheap for my taste. Ran a surface skimmer for the intake and Rena output hardware. the only thing i hate about this filter is cleaning it. No handles, the primer button is basically useless and this filter is heavy filled with water.

Good bang for the buck though and surprisingly the uv seems to work pretty well
 
I have one running on my 125 with 2 AC 110's. I like the filter a lot. It does have it's flaws. The media that comes with it is awful and the white pads broke into much over time. I fill 3 of the 4 trays with pondmatrix so it is my bio filter for the tank. Priming it is a pain but I do not have too open it very often. Overall I am happy with mine and really don't plan on upgrading unless the need arises.
 
I have 3. Like rrcoolj said priming them is a big pain. The input and output parts are cheap and break. But the filters do get the job done.
 
I didn't have that big of a problem priming it. Burping it took a couple tries but priming was effortless. As for the sun sun comment, this one actually has handles on the trays so maybe that is something the changed recently.
 
It's very similar to my Marineland Canister C-530, I call it the beast.
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