AEF-302 External Filter System for Aquarium - 3 phases. Free Media

Honestly, I'm kicking myself for not purchasing this sooner. The power filter on my 50G cichlid aquarium was driving me nuts with it's noisy motor and noisy water output, not to mention it simply wasn't a great filter. I was on the hunt for a quiet filter that was also a powerhouse, and I am not disappointed by this one! I was skeptical at first, since it's only about 1/3 of the price of comparable filters at normal pet stores, but I gave it a go. The only negative is that the instructions aren't very clear when it comes to putting together all the little parts on the intake and output, but it's pretty easy to use your common sense and follow the chart that shows the pieces. The only thing I absolutely couldn't figure out was the "surface skimmer" because the plastic piece just wasn't fitting for some reason, so I opted to not use it anyways. Otherwise, everything ran extremely smoothly. I had no issues with priming, but the water level does need to be high enough to submerge ALL the holes in the output pieces for it to prime correctly, so if you have a turtle tank or other low water level set up, you might run into some issues. However, a normal fish tank at full water capacity was a breeze to prime and start. I'm so happy, because it's simply so so quiet. No more ugly, loud power filters for me! Bonus points, because it already comes with three different media types for the three different "levels" of filtration.

I bought this for my 40B turtle tank. I wrestled between 4 and 5 stars for this canister. I would give it a solid 4 1/2 stars if that was an option. For the price it can't be beat. The sizeable trays hold a lot of media. Flow rate is good. The filter housing itself feels sturdy and is well put together. Hoses are very good quality. Its very quiet. The instruction manual in this model is in legible English, first time I've seen that for these Chinese canisters. Only con i have is the intake tube. You can tell they really skimped on this. It fits together very loosely and allows lots of air to enter the intake. I took the advice of a couple fish forums and put electrical tape on the intake pieces. However, this didn't solve my problem. I was left with a taped monstrosity of an intake tube that still leaked air into the input hose. I finally gave up and trashed the input hose. If your buying for a turtle tank the best way I found to run it is pushing the hose directly into the strainer piece only and securing with the suction cups. Works great after that. Minus the terrible intake tube this canister is a solid buy, well worth the money.Tl;DR: good canister filter that does it's job however the intake is poor and requires modification for turtle tanks.

Excited when I first received this as I thought this would work great but found that it was either defective or simple didn't work properly. It quickly began to accumulate algae in the tubing and the system began to make my aquarium toxic. This system can quickly become a mess. My experiences trying different filters types have led me to find that internal canister filters return the best results for me anyway. Once I move up to a 125 gallon or more tank I may go back to this type of filtration, but I will definitely go to a higher quality name like Marineland, etc. Don't waste your money here.

I just bought another one of these filters. 4 stars because I would like to see them put a short intake stem for low tanks. I have to try and find a intake that will fit my 20 long. I would only rate this filter up to a 30 gal salt tank. The filter media trays are enough to get a nice bacteria culture going. I would of liked a more powerful florate for the size of the canister. It works just fine for my 20 gal salt tank. No problem setting it up since I have about 20 canister filters. I find that saltwater fish keepers are more versed in biological filtration than a lot of fresh water aquarium people.When you first set up the canister there is no bacteria to break down the fish waste. It takes time to grow. Use foam pad in the bottom tray with activated carbon use small bioballs in the second tray and your white filter pad in the top tray. This way you will have your filter running mechanical filtration until bacteria can build up on your bioballs . Do not clean your bioballs. Only clean this filter when you are going to make a water change. Use your old tank water to squeeze out the dirt in your sponge. Replace carbon. Rinse out your white filterpad in old tank water the first few times before changing to a new one. This gives time for the bacteria to build up witch actualy cleans your tank. This filter works good once properly seeded. There are canister filters I have called real junk this is not one of them. For you newbes look up cycling a fish tank! It will save you money!