Quiet as a cat!?What?This things is very noisy.It did work great as an occasional water pollisher if I used the paper pleated filter cart.The basket also contains lots of room for carbon to use for med removal.No way would I want one of these in constant use.

I've had this filter for 7 months. For the most part it does its job, and does it well. It has become noisy on occasion, mostly from trapped air. Turning the unit off then back on will sometimes clear the air out, sometimes I need to take the cover off and shake the media container inside.

I don't like the inside basket, as it is very difficult for me to get it back together again after cleaning. That is the biggest fault I have with this unit.

It is very powerful, and the output can blow the fish around in the tank unless you point the output diffuser toward the tank wall. I put a DIY spray bar on it which helped a lot.

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Dragoon Woman
46 bowfront: Planted, Angelfish, Rasboras, Cories, Tetras, Otos
25g: Planted, cherry shrimp, otos
5g: Planted, Betta
4g: Planted, betta
5 horses, 7 cats, all rescued animals

Pros - powerful, quiet, adjustable water return in both direction and volume.

Cons - as with any other canister filter a little difficult to change media.

Overall this has been agreat filter, and probably over kill for my 27gallon hex. Changing the filter as is somewhat a pain, but due to the volume it holds not something you need to do often.

I used to keep carbon in it back when I used to use it but now I just have bio-media in it and I put a pre-filter sponge over the intake.

I don't think it's too loud.

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"In order to punish me for my contempt of authority the authorities have made me an authority myself" - Albert Einstein.

I have had a HOT magnum as my carbon filter on my 180 for about 10 years; the only small compliant I have is that it is difficult(& messy) when you put fresh carbon into the basket. I do find it to be a reliable filter & the only canister I will use.

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Water changes are the lifeblood of this hobby.

Started to get noisy, too many parts to assemble. Aquaclear and Eheim are much better.

Bought this as a discontinued item and love it! I have the "pro" model with bio wheel and gravel washing adapter. Not too much suction on the gravel washing (connector restricts the intake opening too much). Love the ability to add biomedia or us the micron filter. Excellent flow rate and a great filter to add onto any tank as an additional filter system. Only complaint is the intake tube is fairly short and not optimal for deeper tanks. Does tend to add small air bubbles to the tank water due to the biowheel and other outflow being so vigorous, but it certainly oxygenates the tank! Super quiet.

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David
Tanks: too darn many, but almost enough....
8 species of fish, 27 species/varieties of plants. I think the plants are winning

I use this filter to run my under gravel filter in reverse. The sleeve has more surface area than a traditional HOB filter cartridge, which means less cleaning. Also love the micron filter to polish the water.

Now it is harder to take apart and clean than a HOB, but you also usually don't need to as often either. I like this filter quite a bit.