Hi, I am moving from a 29g to a 55 long. I was recently at the local store and bought a xp4 on sale for about $150. I was just wondering what the general oppinion is on this filter before I set it up. What kind of pads are best? I am not a real big believer in the ceramic-star idea. Also, it looks like it is a real pain to get all the chambers in and out during cleaning. If all 4 locked together it would be a much better design. I am looking for a filter that is going to be silent and easy to maintain. Price is important but not the biggest factor. Should I return it?
What's the deal with Rena XP4
- Thread starter freeskier
- Start date
ive got an xp3 on my 125 it works great. didnt run the rings and stars for a long time but got a good deal and put them in. it has never done a better job. I would say im 80% pleased with mine and would probably buy another one.
xp3 are nice, honestly the fx4 is just the fx3 with 1 more chamber. Same motor if I recall correctly... You can get them for ~100 with free shipping from petsmart.com.
I have had not problems with the containers not locking and the xp3 in general is one of the most popular canister filters. You can put any type of material, I suggest you don't use the fine pad since it will clog up within a week usually.
Just search around and you will find out more about it. But it really is a good canister fitler, very quite, and honestly less of a pain for me to clean and restart than say the magnum 350.
I have had not problems with the containers not locking and the xp3 in general is one of the most popular canister filters. You can put any type of material, I suggest you don't use the fine pad since it will clog up within a week usually.
Just search around and you will find out more about it. But it really is a good canister fitler, very quite, and honestly less of a pain for me to clean and restart than say the magnum 350.
i love my xp4 and find it easy to service, but next time i would proboably buy 2 xp3s for basically the price of 1 xp4.
The Xp4 is over hyped in my opinion and has a fairly high return rate (failure rate). The design requires odd shaped pieces of foam although its ok for bio-media. I prefur the Fluval 405's for conveniance and durability. They also have a total of 8 media chambers for those who like to mix media and a simple 4 foam strip prefilter. All I run in most of my 405's is ceramic rings but I have one thats a mixed media filter. (odd shaped tank with little room for extra filtration)
