Marineland HOT Pro System Magnum Canister Filter w

[fishfever]

I may have an opportunity to purchase a nice 55g tank/stand at a fairly good price locally. I think this would probably be a better fit for me now than a 110 or 125g tank (think baby steps) since I could still do water changes reasonably with a bucket until I work out a better way. Anyway this tank comes with a canister filter which I have never used or really looked at. The link to a purchase site is

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002APZXU/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000260FW0&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0495JWYBVHQW9G8CY9PG

This filter does not appear to have hoses but rather a short intake tube similar to a HOB which I'm thinking I might be able to adapt one of Carl's prefilter sponges to. The output feeds the Bio-wheel, which we know may not be that great but that's what it comes with. I probably would supplement/compliment this filter with either a Via Aqua Vitalife HOB with a prefilter sponge or just a large sponge filter if I got this tank. Anyone ever use one and have comments about it's performance and ease of maintenance/cleaning? (I'm not sure about this but it could be a newer product.)

[Carl]

The Marineland HOT Pro System Magnum has been around for about 12-15 years at least.

I personally do not care for it, as although I do like the Magnum filters for their ability to run as a standard canister filter (albeit with much lower capacity than most others) or a micron filter. I also like the standard Magnums for ease of start up, ability to run other equipment without loss of power and rare impeller issues (unlike the Fluval).

The problem with this one, is it cannot run under the tank, often in the custom installations I would use the standard magnum for (or Via Aqua 750, Rena Filstar). I just found the HOB aspect bulky and ugly with the bio wheel very messy and nowhere near as effective as a true canister filter loaded with nitrifying or de-nitriyfying material (such as SeaChem Matrix, volcanic rock, etc.).

Obviously much of what I have stated is opinion such as aesthetics and mess, however compared to a standard canister such as the Filstar, the measured results (water parameters such as Nitrates, ammonia, etc.) were objectively worse.

All this said, if it comes with this filter, I certainly would not pass it up, but just consider that in my opinion their are better filters to fit your tank and as for water parameters, it is not just an opinion..

Carl

[fishfever]

Thanks for your input Carl... maybe I can purchase just the tank/stand at a bit lower price if he's will to sell the filter separately (it's kind of pricey to not work that well LOL). I do like the idea of the cannister filter in that it can be hidden in the stand but I don't want to sacrifice performance or make maintenance much harder. I noticed in BG's other thread about the lines getting yucky quickly which sounds like cleaning could be a real pain.

There is another 55g tank/stand for sale although a bit further away. I may go ahead and look at both of them this afternoon. This other one also comes with filters although the brands and types were not specified.

[babygeige]

I remember seeing this filter at the store. It looks like a neat idea, but I didn't want that hanging on the back of my tank.

I really love the Rena I bought, except for the dirty hoses. They can't be seen, so it's not that big of a deal. I haven't worked out what I'm going to do to clean them yet. If they were easily removed from the filter components it wouldn't be such a big deal... oh well. The ease of cleaning out this canister filter versus cleaning the Aquaclear HOB I had really makes up for the dirty hoses, IMO.

[fishfever]

If the hoses aren't too expensive and are easy to swap out, one could keep a spare set and swap them with a fresh set when cleaning. Then when there is more time available clean the old pair in time to get ready for the next cleaning. I'm thinking if they are real long some kind of adapter to a garden hose with a restrictor (to build up the pressure) could flush the insides out real good.

Unfortunately the tank deal for me fell through (there were two nice 55g's that were both available with custom stands for very attractive prices) but just as I made the appointment to see them my wife had a change of heart and said if we upgraded the tank would have to go upstairs since she felt the 55g would be too much of a focal point in our formal area. And that doesn't work for me since I'd have to carry buckets of water down the stairs to dispose of them (and twice as much water as with our 26g). If I had bought the one with the Marineland filter I probably would have tried to sell it and get another one due to the same reason of not wanting that big thing hanging off the back plus Carl had said it didn't perform all that well.

[babygeige]

I was thinking of swapping them out if possible, but those hoses are such a tight fit to the filter attachments, I worry that removing and replacing them too much would eventually cause the hoses to fit more loosely over time.

Sorry the 55 gal didn't work out. Carrying buckets of water up and down stairs wouldn't be fun at all.

[Carl]

Mar 31, 2010 20:21:57 GMT -5 babygeige said:

I was thinking of swapping them out if possible, but those hoses are such a tight fit to the filter attachments, I worry that removing and replacing them too much would eventually cause the hoses to fit more loosely over time.

Many of my clients were particular as to the aquariums looking clean and neat (especially businesses such professional offices), so this was always a potential problem, yet cleaning these tubes was time consuming and often impractical.

So my solutions was two fold:
In most cases I set up the canister filter under the tank and hid the hoses in a way that one would have to really look for them, this included using canopies and/or silk or plastic to further hide any ugly equipment (& this includes hoses)

In other aquariums (especially later in my aquarium service career) I drilled the canister filters through the bottom of the aquarium which eliminated the siphon problems and provided even more leak protection redundancy as I could then use additional pvc ball valves for controlling water flow or shutting it off.


From this article:
Aquarium Filtration; Hard Plumbed/Pre-Drilled Canister Filters

Carl

[fishfever]

Sorry the 55 gal didn't work out. Carrying buckets of water up and down stairs wouldn't be fun at all.

We actually have two full baths upstairs but I hate to dump water inside the house. Eventually it leads to a mess unless you clean up right away so I always dump old tank water in the bushes outside. Not a big deal for my 10g fry tank, but a 55g would be a little more exercise than I want to deal with...

Carl, I've always wondered how the pro setups are configured. So that was interesting to see how to make things neat and hiding the equipment. If I ever do one, I'll probably have to get someone else to drill the tank or I'll need lots of practice on junk glass before I start. Is there some kind of adjustable restrictor in the UV path to set the exposure (based on tank size, UV lamp wattage and turnover)? I would think significantly more flow would go through the bio-filter path for most tanks. Also I am curious how often you have seen leaks around the bulkhead fittings once they are properly sealed and cured (assume aquarium-grade silicone). It sure would be a royal pain to have to redo one for a big tank since it would have to be fully drained and livestock moved!

[Carl]

Carl, I've always wondered how the pro setups are configured. So that was interesting to see how to make things neat and hiding the equipment. If I ever do one, I'll probably have to get someone else to drill the tank or I'll need lots of practice on junk glass before I start. Is there some kind of adjustable restrictor in the UV path to set the exposure (based on tank size, UV lamp wattage and turnover)? I would think significantly more flow would go through the bio-filter path for most tanks. Also I am curious how often you have seen leaks around the bulkhead fittings once they are properly sealed and cured (assume aquarium-grade silicone). It sure would be a royal pain to have to redo one for a big tank since it would have to be fully drained and livestock moved!

I used the ball valves on the return side to control flow (& also for service)

I never had one correctly installed bulkhead leak. The keywords are correctly installed.
Being a redundancy freak myself (ask some flight instructors and FAA examiners when I used to fly), I not only used the standard rubber O rings that come with bulb heads, I also added silicone on both sides as a stop gap.
Even during a few major earthquakes in Southern California my bulk heads all held, even when gallons of water splashed out and decorations were totally awry.

As for cutting glass, this was always done during construction with the bottom pane of glass, as breakage even by professionals is not all that uncommon, and performing this on a fully constructed tank can be a very expensive error.
BTW, I only drilled acrylic holes for bulk heads, I let others with more talent than myself drill the glass tanks. I learned to cut glass relatively well, but never mastered drilling glass.

Carl