Opinons on Magnum 250 HOT

There is only one variant of the Magnum HOT filter and it does have a flat side that goes up against the back of the tank. It does move 250 GPH. The Magnum 220 and 350 is an entirely different canister filter. These are the "round" floor standing filters you are referring to and are not just like the HOT model except that they are all canister filters. The HOB filter is ok but it lacks biological filtering unless you add a bio-wheel. I find the water flow in the HOT model starts strong but seems to decrease markedly after several weeks of operation.

Beware if you buy the bio wheel attachment you are going to outgas the Co2 you are trying to keep.
Great filter for mech but I wouldn't run it on it's own IMO. In a heavily planted tank yur gonna be cleaning it every two weeks. Hang in there a bit there will be a thousand more replies on this filter for sure.

tackful said:

Thanks, that's helpful. Another question: how would you compare weekly maintenance on the 250 HOT as compared to a HOB of similar size?

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If you mean compared to a cartridge power filter like the penguin 350 its really apples and oranges. I have a Penguin 350 for the soul purpose of growing house plants out the back reservoir as a nitrate filter and that is how I use and view cartridge power filters. However if you asking about a comparison in filtration capacity and effectiveness their is no comparison IMO the Hot Mag 250 GPH with its relatively large surface filter area will clean a 70 gallon tank way faster then my Penguin 350 if fact no comparison.

The Hot Mag has one setback though even though it has a good output flow becasue its a HOB requiring almost no head pressure, the pump was designed for volume not pressure so any clogging of the inner small carbon basket will diminish flow in about 2 weeks.

I have overcome this buy using a much larger pea size carbon or other pea size media such as vermiculite or purlight another mineral that has remarkable surface are.

Anyway since I figured that out I have had mine running for 2 months strait and flow no longer diminishes when I use the standard blue foam sponge provided and any pea size (not fine standard size) carbon.

In addition the filter is versatile and very effective in polishing water to invisible clarity, however once again you will have to deal with having to clean off the micron filter every week becasue it is so fine a filter and clogs fast requiring weekly cleanings. The good news is the micron filter provided can be reused indefinably by soaking in bleach water as instructed.

So for its work load capacity of 70 gallons its extremely versatile two filters in one, portable, and extremely efficient on power only using 11 watts and very affordable on sale at Big Al's for only $47 shipping included.

Oh and I don't recommend the bio wheels and have actually removed them from all my HOB cartridge filters as they add very little bio load for the amount of evaporation they cause and contrary to what you hear bacteria clings and multiplies on any surface area be it sponge or bio balls, the majority of which resides in your aquarium. Bio loading in filters although true to some extent is way way over stated and marginal between different filter types with basically the same media surface area be it sponge, lave rock, or chopped up rubber duck.. The only exception are high porous surface area material such as carbon and other volcanic expanded glass minerals such as vermiculite or purlite as 1 teaspoon is equivalent to about 8000 square feet of surface area.

I just bought one for my 26gal planted tank and so far I like it. It has a strong flow in my tank but all the fish seem to enjoy it and I enjoy that all the duckweed gets pushed into one corner for easy fishing.

I have a coarse sponge over the intake to catch the big pieces of debris, and hope this helps curtail the reported clogging issues. It seems to help considerably on my other tank with those filters and so far seems to work well in this one as well.

Mostly I'm running it for circulation and purigen treatment so my goal in using it is not as a typical filter.

Bridget

I have an HOT Magnum and tossed everything out of it except parts. I fill the basket with Poly-fil for filtration media and it gives me fantastically clear, clean water. I have it on a 55gallon tank and have no complaints what-so-ever.

A properly cycled tank has no need for gadgetry to aid in bio-development. I second Gunner's advice and have at times removed bio-wheels from filters to eliminate additional 'off-gassing' on my planted tanks. They are way overrated and over-priced for the added value. I prefer non-bio wheel filters such as the Aqua-Clear line of filters.

I use 3 of them on my 3 ten gal tanks as primary bio filtration. On one I use ceramic rings and on the other 2 I use EHEIM EHFISUBSTRAT Filter Media .
I don't have any clogging issues and clean them about once a month if that.All 3 tanks are planted.
It took a while to get the cycle going when I first set them up but now they are set.
these are great little filters.

The first pic is my Albino Cory grow out tank.It's running pressurized co2 through the cannister.
The other 2 tanks are low light planted without co2.
Nice thing also is that they are real quiet.