Rena XP 3?

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

Acer

Candiru
MFK Member
Dec 12, 2007
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Canada
I'm sick of my AquaClear and Whisper HOB filters getting gunked up every 5-7 days in my 55g goldfish tank!

I'm looking at a RENA XP 3 canister filter after the new year... does anyone have experience with these filters? I've read a bit on the internet, and the only complaint I found was noise.

That doesn't bother me... 2 tanks in my room trickling and bubbling and the lights zapping me at 7am every morning took getting used to, but now I love it ;)

Thanks!

- J
 
The XP3 may "gunk up" faster than your HOB's. The XP3 will also be more difficult to clean and make more of a mess.

What is causing the gunk? My gunk was coming from my driftwood. Once I took it out, I was able to extend the cleaning from every two weeks to every two months.
 
I think they are getting clogged simply from the goldfish - they are very, very dirty fish in terms of waste production. On the AquaClear, the initial part of the filtration (the sponge) is usually what gets clogged.

I was hoping that the canister wouldn't be getting clogged as often, b/c that would mean I'd be upgrading to a more time-consuming piece of equipment...

Why was your driftwood clogging your filter up? I have a few pieces in my tank, but I couldn't see it degrading and reaching the filter...

Normally I'm not so picky about maintainence, but I'm leaving for 2.5 weeks soon, and the one thing that worries me isn't relying on others for feeding and cleaning my tank, but the filter clogging up before my guy comes over to clean them.
 
I have three XP3's they are good filters versus their cost. I have two hooked up to a 100 gallon, and one hooked up to a 60. I clean them about once every month, just to get everything nice and clean, and maintain the flow. I use them entirely for biological filtration, two of them are filled with eheim subtrat pro, and the other one is filled with ceramic rings and volcanic rock. Like I said they are not the best filters on the market, but they work great, as far as the noise factor, that is not an issue with any of mine, all of mine work quietly and I can't hear them over the aerators/air pump. I have them tucked away in the actual stand, and have a cabinet door between me and the filter, so that helps with any noise that might come from it. It has a nice flow rate of 350gph, and three basket that you can pack with whatever you would like. All in all they are good, reliable, cheap, and customizable.
 
tapeworm;1342135; said:
I have three XP3's they are good filters versus their cost. I have two hooked up to a 100 gallon, and one hooked up to a 60. I clean them about once every month, just to get everything nice and clean, and maintain the flow. I use them entirely for biological filtration, two of them are filled with eheim subtrat pro, and the other one is filled with ceramic rings and volcanic rock. Like I said they are not the best filters on the market, but they work great, as far as the noise factor, that is not an issue with any of mine, all of mine work quietly and I can't hear them over the aerators/air pump. I have them tucked away in the actual stand, and have a cabinet door between me and the filter, so that helps with any noise that might come from it. It has a nice flow rate of 350gph, and three basket that you can pack with whatever you would like. All in all they are good, reliable, cheap, and customizable.
Click to expand...

Sounds good!

Just curious - what canister filters do you consider the best, Eheim?

I was looking at the Rena XP3 and the Eheim 2215 for my 55 gallon. It is a fancy goldfish tank, so I can't have an intense current in the tank, but I want to turn over the water pretty quickly.

Yeah, the XP 3 seems pretty customizable, which is nice. Aside for a sponge to clear off some stuff, I'd like to stick to a mostly biological filter... damn dirty goldfish :)
 
If you are having mechanical filtration problems with HOB filters adding a canister is not the answer. What size tank, filters and number of fish do you have. I do like my xp3s but they only work well when used in tandem with the AC110s.
 
I have to agree with what you've been told thus far...
Cannister filters move a lot of water and make great additions to a filtration set up but because of the higher flow rate they will usually clog faster rather than slower.

This might not be the case with a cannister the size of an XP3 on a 55 gallon tank but you still wont have the resuts your looking for.

Scrap the wisper filter and run a pair of AC110's. This will add a TON of mechanical filtration capacity without breaking the bank.

One warning however...DO NOT....run any finer media in the Aqua clears then the stock foam block.
 
I like my XP3 for the price I paid. $100 with shipping included on bigalsonline.com and you cannot go wrong with this filter. How often do you do waterchange and how fast does the HOB gunk up? I usually let the gunk sit in my Emperor until it's overflowing backing into the tank then I do my cleaning. Run your AC & Whisper for mechanical only and remove all bio media. Dump all your bio media into your XP3. This setup should work on a 55. Oh ya, don't forget to pick up a prefilter for your XP3 so that it doesn't not clog up so fast. It's a lot easier to clean prefilter than cleaning the canister.
 
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