rena filstar filters

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

mudslinger

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 18, 2008
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Williamsburg, VA
any one have any dealings wirth the filstar filters, they seen reasonably priced. jusy wondering if they work as well as the box says.
 
Never heard any bad feedback on them actually. My friend has an xp3 as the sole filter on his 55 and he has quite the bio load and the water stays clear enough
 
The XP3s are bulletproof. Truly the workhorse of the aquarium bourgeoisie. A simple, effective basket design eliminates the opportunity for bypass.
 
i was looking at an xp4, its got tons of room for media and the flow rate is insane. puls the price at my LFS is 189.99!!!!!!!!!!
 
mudslinger;2760866; said:
i was looking at an xp4, its got tons of room for media and the flow rate is insane. puls the price at my LFS is 189.99!!!!!!!!!!
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First, I have never used an XP4. However, IMO there are two basic design problems with the XP4 which may compromise its performance. First, you have four baskets and a more powerful pump (compared to the XP3), but you still have the same basket aperture at the bottom. I have heard that this rather small surface area can clog quite quickly because of the amount of water that the more powerful pump wants to pull through it. Once this bottom basket clogs, the filter output will drop. Second, this is a very tall filter and this often makes placement difficult. Rena should have redesigned this thing from the ground up by creating a shorter, wider filter. Instead, they took the cheap expedient route and just stretched out an XP3, used the same baskets and upgraded the pump.
 
I currently run three XP3's with absolutely no problems. They are real workhorses and well worth the money.
 
brianp;2760950; said:
First, I have never used an XP4. However, IMO there are two basic design problems with the XP4 which may compromise its performance. First, you have four baskets and a more powerful pump (compared to the XP3), but you still have the same basket aperture at the bottom. I have heard that this rather small surface area can clog quite quickly because of the amount of water that the more powerful pump wants to pull through it. Once this bottom basket clogs, the filter output will drop. Second, this is a very tall filter and this often makes placement difficult. Rena should have redesigned this thing from the ground up by creating a shorter, wider filter. Instead, they took the cheap expedient route and just stretched out an XP3, used the same baskets and upgraded the pump.
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An XP1 one is pretty weak IMO. I cracked the plastic that held the clips so I opted for an XP2 base so I can add another basket on there.

I run this in addition to an Eheim Pro 2026 which has a stronger pump.

I run my XP1 with 2 baskets with foam and water polishing pads only. I have to clean it every week or so cause it does pick up a lot of crud which is good.
 
I have an xp4 and it works great i ran it for 2 months w/o cleaning and still same strong filtration
 
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