172GPH Canister Filter, External Aquarium Filter Ultra-Quiet Water Circulation Cleaning Machine with Media for Fish Tanks and Aquariums Up to 30 Gallons (172GPH)

I ordered the 225 gph for a 30gal turtle tank. I probably could/should have gone for the 265 but here we are. Right off the bat, set up was so easy. I did order carbon and ceramic rings. I did a layer of ceramic rings in the bottom under the trays. Bottom tray was the pads, top tray I did more rings, the bio balls that came with the filter and some carbon. I was skeptical about not having a built in primer, but this was so much easier! I had a Sunsun and a Marineland canister filter previously and priming those was tedious. Just filled the intake, capped of and plugged in and we were in filtery business. I have the flow wide open. Fastitocalon immediately got under the outlet sprayer for a massage. I wasn't expecting it to be as strong as it is. I'll update later if it doesn't work out, but so far so good!

This filter rocks!! I have bought 2 of these filters 1 on a 29 gallon heavily stocked and planted fresh water tank along with a seachem tidal for polishing and the other for a 20 gal saltwater marine tank, the 20 gallon I ended up cutting the intake tube to size and the other I added a course pre filter onto the intake, plenty of room for media and sponges and no problem getting these suits primed up, have been running for around 4 months now each and both do an amazing job at filtering out debris and providing move than ample biological filtration. Don’t waste money on more expensive filters

For this review I'm going to cover some quick facts.1. Not easy to set up.2. Randomly stops pumping.3. VERY cheap quality materials used.4. Doesn't clean effectively as mentioned.Now just to highlight these more.Set up is mentioned to be easy but there are no instructions given. I ended up following the video on here but they don't yell you a VERY important detail first which is you have to cut the tubing to make it straight. I didn't see that part until we already had it hooked up. We actually did cut the tubing prior but it wasn't enough when I thought it would be. This thing is very finicky when it comes to that.So about fifteen days in the water looked terrible and that's when I realized it had stopped pumping. I luckily still had both filters running.Now fast forward to this week..we lost power for four days. I had a battery backup so it's fine. We get power back on it takes forever to get it going again (see other notes about this) but we get it going. Now I thought we were fine so I turned off the battery pump. Woke up this morning and one of my 5yo cichlids is dead the other two are at the top of the tank struggling to breathe. Somehow in that time the pump stopped again. This time I hadn't had my additional pump because this one we thought was good but apparently not. Got it started again but this doesn't take away the issues.Tubing is clear and no clogs because I checked.When we looked inside we did discover how terrible the quality is on the motor and all that.So honestly I get wanting to save money .but I really can't stop crying over this because my saving money killed my fish. And sadly this happened before too with another product.We are out of the return window too so just overall terrible

I purchased this filter just 2 days ago and my only complaint so far is that bio balls are used instead of ceramic rings. Bio-balls should not be used in canister filters because they are designed for trickle filters and are inefficient in submerged, pressurized environments, lacking sufficient surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize compared to porous ceramic media or sponges.Also, for the size of the canister, there are only two selves with the bottom shelf used to hold filter media and the top is pretty much used to support the mechanism. So, really you only have one shelf. In comparison to other canister filters this size, the design of this one leaves little space for optimal placement of filter media should you choose to use this canister for planted aquariums.I found the build quality to be comparable to more expensive canister filters. So you do get the value for your money. Yet, it does lack the option of using accessories like the Fluval canister filters.In conclusion, so far, with some exceptions, I think this is a good canister filter for beginners and/or those on a budget. I do suggest that Bio-ceramic media be used instead of Bio-Balls. You can use the smaller ceramic balls and place them on the top shelf. You will not be able to fill the entire top shelf with ceramic ball media, but if you use a thin layer in a mesh bag, it will fit.

I purchased this canister filter because I was fed up with all of the filters that we had tried before. There were internal filters which clogged quickly and were a pain to remove for cleaning, poor quality hang on back filters which broke the first time I cleaned them, and giant hand on back filters which filtered great but were an eyesore.This filter is the bomb. It has worked very well to improve the water quality in our 10 gallon tank. It wasn't the easiest to set up because we wanted lilly tubes rather than using the provided inlet/outflow tubes. It was worth the trouble though because the tank looks amazing. There hasn't been any trouble with leaking. Setup took a bit of planning to find tubing and connectors that would connect the lilly tube to the canister connectors. Of course they weren't the same size... The pump is pretty quiet once air worked out of the canister. The flow is adjustable to a level that works with the shrimp. We used the UV light for the first few days to clear up the water, but now we don't use it every day.This aquarium canister filter has worked great for us. It cost far less than some of the more well known brands, but has performed very well. We are happy with the result and the aquarium looks great.