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Any thoughts on this canister for 20g long?

4K views 26 replies 14 participants last post by  OVT 
#1 ·
#2 ·
I would go with the sunsun personally. I prefer the layout as it's more like Rena and Eheim. I own one though so I may be biased. ;-)

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#4 ·
Honestly I've never used a UV Sterilizer until now. I have an Aquatop CF-500UV I picked up used, but not even sure the UV is working on it. lol

As for the usage on a 20L I have mine in a 20x20x20 Cube and it's fine. I did have it on a 40B, but that was to little flow for my taste.

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#5 ·
1 x FX-360 will not be nearly enough.

UV on SunSun is rather useless, not to mention that the bulb on mine broke within a week. I am not a big fun of SunSun and their clones, but their price / flow ratio is hard to beat. Their flow is not adjustable without an aditional in-line valve and the filter clogs up too fast.

For my money, I would check out Eheim 2215 or 2217.
 
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#7 ·
Fair enough. I did write a longish post on my personal experience that you should be able to look up.

As an aside, there are many sayings about buying "cheap" - I think they have foundation in life experiences of many, many people. In my case, every time I sucumble to a short cut, every $1 I try save ends up costing me an extra $10 in the end.

To answer your questions:

1) multiple reasons a) for UV to be effective it needs "dwel" time within a narrow range. If the water flows too fast past the bulb, UV does not have enough time to kill anything, b) there is a question on whether it only kills bad things but does not kill good things ?, c) UV can be very useful , especially in QT, but otherwise you might need it once in years

2) IMHO, too much but a) there are ways to slow it down via valves, spray bar, etc. It is a lot easier to slow down the gph then to increase it. Moreover, that filter clogs up and your actual gph will decline rapidly. So you either end up cleaning it often (not ideal) or will have to deal with unpredictable changes in flow / circulation. I bring these subjects up to help you make a more informed decision.

I run my SunSun clone for less then 6 month before I gave up and gifted it. I replaced it with a $200 filter, same model that I have been using for 10+ years. There are tons of people that swear by their SunSuns, unfortunately, my personal experience was different.
 
#9 ·
I am with OVT. My 304b sunsun starts out great fresh off a tidy up for my 75g, but within a week, I've got stuff on the bottom floating around not getting stirred up in the flow. About the uv, make sure to keep it off while you're establishing your filter, it kills your BB. I can't be the only one to mess that up I like hydor or eheim for your apllication, rather than settling for the sunsun; if you're unsatisfied, you'll have to cycle another filter.
Good luck!

Please keep hands off glass.
Thank you so much for the info on those. I guess it doesn't hurt to drop another $40 for an eheim. What do you think of this for a 20g?

Amazon.com : Eheim Filter 2213-37 Classic : Pet Supplies
 
#8 ·
I am with OVT. My 304b sunsun starts out great fresh off a tidy up for my 75g, but within a week, I've got stuff on the bottom floating around not getting stirred up in the flow. About the uv, make sure to keep it off while you're establishing your filter, it kills your BB. I can't be the only one to mess that up I like hydor or eheim for your apllication, rather than settling for the sunsun; if you're unsatisfied, you'll have to cycle another filter.
Good luck!

Please keep hands off glass.
 
#10 ·
So I am upgrading to a 20g long and was originally gonna get a aqueon quiet flow. But for the price this seems much better.

Any thoughts or opinions on this? It doesn't seem cheap but I could be wrong.

Amazon.com : SunSun Hw302 264GPH Pro Canister Filter Kit : Pet Supplies

Amazon.com : Finnex PX-360 Compact Canister Aquarium Filter : Turtle Filter : Pet Supplies
Hi Padres1234,

After several decades in the hobby I have learned that any mechanical/electrical item will eventually break down and need to be repaired. When I purchase equipment I want:
1) Good availability of parts not just filter media but impellers, etc.
2) A realistic warranty period; not just a few months
3) A US based customer service organization that I can call and talk to

I use Marineland canister filters and for the 20 gallon I think the C-160 model should be fine. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Marineland-PC-ML220-Multi-stage-Canister-55-Gallon/dp/B00176BMHG/ref=sr_1_4?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1462133286&sr=1-4&keywords=marineland+c220"]$61.46 and free shipping on Amazon[/ame]. If you are going to be very heavily planted you could go to the C-220

1) Most maintenance parts available at LFS
2) Warranty = 3 years
3) Customer Service in Virginia; 800-322-1266; all parts even major parts available from them
 
#11 ·
Either the Eheim you referenced or the Marineland one that Seattle linked will do that job. The interesting thing about the Marineland and the Eheim are the flow rates.

The Marineland one has a flow rate of 160 and claims max tank size of 30G, while the Eheim has a flow rate of only 116 and claims max tank size of 55G. You'd actually have to move up to an Eheim 2215 for $130 to match the flow rate of the Marineland one Seattle referenced for only $61. Now that being said flow rate isn't everything and Eheim firmly believes this.
 
#12 ·
Between Marineland the sun sun and the aquatop I would choose the sunsun. From what I've heard through the rumor mill is that the same company who makes sunsun make Marineland ones. But my experience with the Marineland when was horrible and my sunsun and my aquatop are both still running fine. And the impellers the filter media and the baskets along with hose from Home Depot or Lowe's and miscellaneous other parts are readily available for the sunsun from Amazon and eBay both.

But I can't knock Eheim because even though I'm using filstar XP3 on my 75 I would still rather have an eheim, but a pro series. It's personal preference of design, not due to quality.

The reason I have sunsun and aquatop is due to price and they do the job well. The sunsun is the only one I've purchased new and the aquatop I need to replace the impeller and the UV light so it wasn't as great of a deal used for what I paid, but the impeller and light are less than $25 shipped total if you look around.

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#16 ·
I'm pretty sure the Sunsun and Marineland are made by different companies. The reason the Marineland is so cheap is because a new model came out, the magniflow. I have a Marineland C220 and it works fine, I also have a Fluval and that is great too. I'm looking into getting a new canister for my 29 thinking about getting a Cobalt EXT.
 
#17 ·
The pads for the 360 and the CF500 are identical. The reason I know that is because I stumbled across one of the pads for the 360 that did not get returned to Petco. It is an exact match for my aquatop cf500uv is identical to the sunsun 525GPH. Sunsun is the parent company that makes aquatop under a different brand name.

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#18 ·
Im pretty sure aquatop isnt owned by sun sun. They just use the same manufacturer. You can find the same filter under a variety of brands, zenblue, sunsun, etc. The new marineland is similar but definitly an excluve design to marineland. Im thinking about getting a cobalt ext for my 29gal, not alot of people have experience with it.
 
#19 ·
I would run from a canister and just use hob. I don't think about a canister until the tanks 40 gallon or bigger. There just not worth the hassle. Everyone I have had at one time or another has leaked. I like the Marineland products I have had them for long time with very little problems.
 
#23 ·
I second eheim. Had mine running for a couple years and it never once failed on me, circulation was good from the spray bar but I still liked to use a koralia nana anyway to get the dead spots. There's only a difference of $30 between the eheim and the sunsun. If you buy the bargain brand and it fails it'll cost you a lot more in the long run, including the lives of your fish if the canister fails. The major upside to the 2211 and it's brethren is the flow through design, in the top and out of the bottom, it's a simple design that just works and it's easy to clean. Get the inline heater too!
 
#24 ·
I agree i bought a sunsun 304-b for like 80 or 90 bucks maybe i didnt get a great deal. But you also have to buy media about another 20-30 dollars. It broke in less than a year. It would over heat and turn off and on.

I recently bought a 2217 for 139.99 shipped full of media. I'm not seeing this great value people claim for sunsuns. I've only had the eheim for 3 weeks but like it a lot.
 
#25 ·
Question? I have a canister filter that claims 500 gph. It is on a 55 gal tank I feel I need more filtration cause the tank is long and I feel I have too many dead spots on it, finding waste far from the inlet! So I was wondering should If I should get another canister to pump on the other side of the aquarium or it would be too much? I know I am already over filtrating but having 2 filters over 500 gph would it be crazy having 1000 gal an hour?
Should I get more powerheads to push the waste to the inlet or should I get another filter?
 
#27 ·
One argument is that gph is not everything. The media contact time has its own benefits. How does the speed of the flow affects the uptake of nutrients? A circular conveyer belt with 10 hamburgers at 20 mi/hr most likely results in 10 hamburgers still on the belt and your stomach still growling in hunger. So, we add 10 more humburgers, right? We now have 20 rotting humburgers plus dead from starvation (project that on fertilizers and plants and fish).

Another consideration is that more powerful pumps tend to suck in more stuff, including the substrate, fish, and plants, clogging up the filter faster and killing it's gph to a trickle. Cleaning the filter more often has its own set of downsides. My point being is that gph per $ might not be the best way to compare canister filters. Less is not necessary more.

And just for fun: A Pinto with a 500 hp engine is still a Pinto.
 
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