As an fish tank owner for over 15 years, I'd always had the big old Penguin on the back of the tank. Reliable. Sometimes noisy. But it got the job done.Recently the Penguin gave up the ghost. I decided to upgrade. I could not be happier. I am wondering why I didn't do it sooner. (And so are my fish.)
I'd read several people say it was hard to hook up. I didn't have that experience. The tubes went on with a little muscle, and I guess if you're a 90 pound gal, it might offer some resistance. Another review said he got different tubes instead of the ones that came with the unit. I don't see a need to do that. They're stiff, but more than get the job done. Another note, mine came with the filter media pre-loaded. I had to take the carbon mesh bag out of the plastic it came in. I bought media for it with the "buy this with this" option. Now I have media for when I need it. The priming of the pump was not the "press it four times and it will fill in a minute" the instructions said. However, I just repeated the steps they list, and it was up and running in no time.
That said, I put this on a 55 gallon tank. I have never had cleaner or clearer water in my tank. I just stand and stare at it in happy disbelief. It does seem to have a LOT of muscle for a tank that size, but again, it's doing an awesome job. The fish were a little concerned at first, but by the next morning were doing their thing as always.
I really like the profile of the top of my tank now. My aquarium sits on a stand. The filter went inside and I shut the door. There's no boxy black thing sticking out of the top. It looks great.
Also. This thing is whisper quiet.
What had kept me out of the canister market had been the price. A lot of the guys are $200-300. The price on this one is stellar. Considering I've got over $400 of fish in my tank, worth every penny.
Do I love this filter? Love's a strong word, but as far as inanimate objects go, I got a serious Jones for this one.
i own two. both 1000 due to the fact that i didnt hear very good things about the larger models and because i run a 75 saltwater with fish inverts and loads of live rock.
ive had one for 6 months now and i liked it so much and i liked the PRICE so much i decided to buy another one of the same type.
i dont use the rubber hoses and fittings they come with altho they are great. i actually did some diy plumming and have them both hooked togheder on the intake but sparate utputs.
water flow is good they are very quiet and if you plan on running them in a cabinet you wont hear them run at all.
the disconect feature is great but sometimes when i unhook the pump i spill a bit of water. not from the intake or output hoses...its the water thats left in the canister...but its only id say about as much as you can fit in a tablespoon.
as far as priming goes...you hook up the hoses...you pump the top button hard about 5 times and then by suction it will get its own airbubbles out.
NOTE at first it will blow bubbles untill it fills itself with water but this is for less than a few seconds. after 3 minutes if you still see slight bubbles coming out that means you didnt set up the hoses right and you might have an air leak but thats not the pumps fault.
once properly set this will be the last of your worries especially when it comes to maintenance.
if you buy this pump you wont regret it.
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I have a cascade 700 canister in my 40 gallon heavily planted tank and it's a truly wonderful filter. It was easy to set up. It's powerful (all of my plants wave in the currents created by the spray bar and the fish seem to enjoy playing in it). My water is crystal clear and I love that I can put whatever media I want into the filter baskets. Best of all, the filter is really easy to clean: disconnect the hoses, carry the filter to the sink, replace the filter floss, reconnect the hoses, and plug it back in.Last week one of my shut-off valves started dripping. I e-mailed Penn Plax to ask them where I could buy a new one and they replied to my e-mail within about 2 hours asking for my address and apologizing for the inconvenience. Today a large brown delivery truck arrived with a pair of new filters. I'm overjoyed. This is an awesome company.
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After about a year of struggling with this filter I finally have replaced it... I just gave up.I have a 75 gallon tank for my Red Eared Slider and I need a filter that pumps a lot of water and can deal with the filth level of a turtle. My past canister filters were about half the size and price of the Pen Plax, so I figured pumping a couple extra bucks into the filter could only improve my experience. From the first minute, I discovered that wasn't the case. Previously I had dueling Fluval canister filters that worked great in concert, they had a lot of parts but they were easy to clean and once you remembered which piece went back inside the canister when, it was very easy to deal with. Even when it was totally filthy, I could completely clean each filter in about half an hour.
The Pen Plax, while having fewer parts, did not come with an instruction manual. (!!!!) I scoured the web and after navigating through Pen Plax's website was able to get some instructions that helped, although not as much as I would have expected. When I first assembled the filter and set it up for operation, the filter didn't work. I spent about thirty minutes constantly priming the lines until FINALLY, painfully... the filter began to work.
Once it needed cleaning, I discovered that the main operating portion of the filter cannot be dissassembled for cleaning. With my previous filters I realized that I needed to thoroughly clean EVERY part of the filter due to the amount of filth my turtle created constantly, and since the
motor andpumping parts of the Pen Plax are sealed, you cannot get inside to clean out any residual waste matter or algae or whatever else happens to build up inside there... meaning that even once I'd cleaned the filter the best I could, it would never really be clean. (I suppose I could have taken the time to use bleach, but I've always been afraid to use any solvents for fear some residual might work it's way into my turtle's habitat.)
Each time the filter was cleaned it required at minimum ten minutes of priming to get the filter operating. Unlike my Fluval filters, the Pen Plax carbon filtration media came in it's own sealed pouch, which could not be opened to replace with fresh carbon... so you need to buy a replacement pouch each time you want to change out the carbon. Awfully inconvenient.
My Fluval canister filters worked for abour three years apiece before they started to have performance issues... the Pen Plax didn't quite last a year.
I imagine that a fish tank may not have some of the same issues I have had with my turtle tank, but I felt like sharing my experience for other turtle owners out there.
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I used to have Fluval 404, Fluval 304 and Marineland canister. This one wins them all When my last Fluval leaks ( after 5 years) the new Fluval price went up too high so that I have to look for a different one. I am very happy with this one and so far it runs better the Fluval and Marineland:Pros:
1. Prime is easy and just a about 5-10 push it pumps out all air and start working, faster than priming the Fluval.
2. Simple setup, you dont have to do much work.
3. Price is very low compare to Fluval or other branch. Cheapest.
4. Quiet.
Cons:
1. None so far but I only used it for 2 months, dont know how long it will last.
UPDATE ON 6/11/2012: Have been in use for almost 2 years now, still works great!! The water flow is very strong. I only have to rinse the unit once.
UPDATE ON 6/18/2013: So far still runs! :) I conclude this unit is the best canister filter that I have ever owned! Good job Cascade!
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