My review of the Sunsun External filter for 250g Aquariums HW-304A
- Thread starter katana1200
- Start date
Overall I am EXTREMELY pleased. I can't tell you how much nicer it is in my living room with no HOB running. The water is 10x clearer now than it ever was before. For the price, you can't beat it. I left my HOB running for a month and pulled it a few days ago. It's great.So your overall pleased with the filter? im thinking of getting the 302. its really tempting at 39.99 plus 17 shipping
I don't remember exactly how much the hydro balls were. Here is a link to the zoomed site that gives the rundown. Looks like they go from anywhere between $2 and $10 without shipping. By the way a 2.5lb bag is HUGE. These balls weigh about as much as coco puffs cereal. Imagine 2.5 lbs of breakfast cereal and you're getting close. I did a terrarium, filled a media basket and spilled some, I'm not done with one bag yet. I did take the hydro balls out rather quickly after I put them in. They float so when I took the baskets out they all popped up to the water's surface. Now, I may add them back in later or may go with more ceramic rings...I'm not sure. If I would have drained the water out before opening the baskets I would have been fine.
OK I have a question...I have one of these on my 150. The flow coming from the spraybar is not that great. I have read other posts where people described it as a garden hose. I did leave my hoses the full length as I wasn't sure where I was gonna put everything.
What is your flow like coming from your spraybar?
Thanks
Steph
What is your flow like coming from your spraybar?
Thanks
Steph
i got mine and set it up and added it to my 90gal goldie tanl along with my ac110 hob and my peguine 330..
and the spray bar output leaves a lot to be desired you cant even feel it rushing out ,.. unlike my odessa 4ply i bought years ago it shoots out,.. but for the price it seem like a good filter if added along with other for a dirty goldie tank,..lol but for other tanks and not so piggish fish it shoud be fine,..
i also left all the tubing on it as i may wany to change it around to other tanks later on,.. i paid 49.99 with free shipping,.. and it came within a weeks and a few days,..
haven't changed it as of yet,.. it also came a bit wet and all parts were lubed already except for the hoses,.. so that was nice,.. had an extra piece that wasn't even on the box so not sure what it was,..lol also the surface extractor i cant figure out how to work it as it dosend spin and if its close to surface of water it floats up and off ,..lol so i just plugged it,.
Yeah, I cut my hoses to the size I needed. I left a bit of slack but took off about 18" or so. The output from the spray bar isn't garden hose pressure by any means, but, I have one section pointed up towards the surface, two in the middle pointing straight out, and the last section pointing down. There is enough flow to create a nice small ripple at the front of the tank, a nice gentle flow through the plants on the bottom, and you can see the fish get into the current and swim against it. There seems to be plenty of flow as most debris in the water column head towards the side of the tank that input is on. If you wanted more flow perhaps you could take out one of the spray bar sections. That would up the pressure.
Ok, after reading a few reviews, including this one, I ordered the 3 stage version w/o UV, for my 40 long last night.
A close examination of all the pictures I have seen, lead me to believe that these are manufactured from the molds used on the Penn Plax Cascade filters.
I used to own a cascade 700( a few months ago) and the similarities bare a striking resemblance. I could agree that the molds were retooled/re-cut with a few variations, but overall, these are the same filter. Obviously, I cant say whether the motor or impeller are the same, but I would assume that PP would look for inexpensive/ foreign motor manufacturers. This could easily mean that the same motors are used for both brands, especially since my PP was assembled in china!
The body and motor housing are held together by the same style 4 clip setup.
Compared to
Obviously, SunSun had to change the look slightly, but overall, I would consider the SunSun filter a knockoff of the PP Cascade series external canister filters.
This is not a bad thing.
1. I never had a problem with my Cascade in two years before I sold it...
2. The design of the Cascade is well thought out and a good build!
3. If the SunSun version is anything like the PP, I cant wait for it to come in the mail!
4. The SS filter offers better intake/return plumbing. Im excited!
5. Worth the chance at 57.00 USD
I currently have great expectations for the SunSun, and Chinese made products are usually as good as American made(German/Swiss much better IME). I will say that some of the real cheap Chinese toys can be chintzy and poorly designed, but again, if this is anything like the PP, it will be a great filter!
I have yet to read a poor review, and/or update about these filters.
-Aaron
A close examination of all the pictures I have seen, lead me to believe that these are manufactured from the molds used on the Penn Plax Cascade filters.
I used to own a cascade 700( a few months ago) and the similarities bare a striking resemblance. I could agree that the molds were retooled/re-cut with a few variations, but overall, these are the same filter. Obviously, I cant say whether the motor or impeller are the same, but I would assume that PP would look for inexpensive/ foreign motor manufacturers. This could easily mean that the same motors are used for both brands, especially since my PP was assembled in china!
The body and motor housing are held together by the same style 4 clip setup.
This is not a bad thing.
1. I never had a problem with my Cascade in two years before I sold it...
2. The design of the Cascade is well thought out and a good build!
3. If the SunSun version is anything like the PP, I cant wait for it to come in the mail!
4. The SS filter offers better intake/return plumbing. Im excited!
5. Worth the chance at 57.00 USD
I currently have great expectations for the SunSun, and Chinese made products are usually as good as American made(German/Swiss much better IME). I will say that some of the real cheap Chinese toys can be chintzy and poorly designed, but again, if this is anything like the PP, it will be a great filter!
I have yet to read a poor review, and/or update about these filters.
-Aaron
I agree that the PP has a lot of bypass and forgot to mention that mine was modded with some used filter floss/batting, stuffed around the edges with a butter knife. I would take a decent amount of floss and twist it into a rope like configuration and use the knife to pack it around the top basket. I also had plumbers/Teflon tape around the top retainer screen. This worked great for me and should be used by anyone with a PP.
-Aaron
Edit: I have heard that Marineland reference before, but have not owned a c- series filter.
-Aaron
Edit: I have heard that Marineland reference before, but have not owned a c- series filter.
