Marineland c-220 or Magnum 350 pro

Besides all the other tech reasons you have heard me say the Mag 350 design is superior. One other advantage is that the pump flow pins the media against the strainer so that it keeps it shape and does not allow bypass.

The C Series pump flow is from underneath and behind the basket and the media has no strainer support to keep its intended shape, like trying to path an aquarium leak with silicone from the outside, the water simply pushes the media off its screen lifting the edges or floating the media to bypass.

Placing rocks around the the edges of the media or a layer of ceramics on top of the basket media will help allot with under-screen basket bypass.

northwindtucker said:

Gunner- That's why I like my hot mag so much. It is just too small to do it on its own. I figured that having the larger magnum would allow me to go down to two filters vs three.

AC guys- I appreciate your input but I already run two good power filters and a HOT mag right now. Two ac 50's would not be an upgrade. I have thought about the AC 500 as an option. But I have decided on a larger canister.

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I run two Mag 350" on mt 60 tank and it had two 5" Albino Tiger Oscars, no matter what I through in there for food the water never gets cloudy and I don't know about other folks but my filters run for a long time between changing.

I would have put a Mag 250 on the back but I diden't leave enough room. But Im glad because I found out that a pair of 350's is about as effective as one FX5.

The other great thing is that the Mag 350 detached from its pump base full of water is about as light as en empty basket canister, especially since the circumference design waste little space it doesn't need much water volume.

With respect to my earlier commend about most basket canisters suffering from under basket water flow bypass. The FX5 is the exception. Being the best of both worlds the Fluval FX5 uses massive circumference technology to first filter the water of most debris separated from the basket chambers by 4 O-rings of segregation. Then water is carried from the circumference inner channel after filtering up to the top of the canister and cascades down into the center top basket where it pins all media against the bottom grate of each basket allowing no bypass. Once the water reaches the botom center of the canister the FX5 powerful external motor pumps out the filtered water back to the aquarium. Fluval really got it right this time with the FX5

i would get the mag 350 pro with the bio wheels and if you decide not to use the wheels you can sell them on ebay for 20.00 each and make 40.00 back off your mag 350's cost. alot of people run the bio wheels with a small powerhead and these sell quickly on ebay.

RodInCALIFORNIA said:

i would get the mag 350 pro with the bio wheels and if you decide not to use the wheels you can sell them on ebay for 20.00 each and make 40.00 back off your mag 350's cost. alot of people run the bio wheels with a small powerhead and these sell quickly on ebay.

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Smart idea especially since you can list them as new and allot of old Magnum 350 owners want to try the bio wheels yuck without the added expense of buying a new canister.

northwindtucker said:

Gunner- what do you use for media in the mag 350's?

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Pretty much the same configuration as the mag 250 posted here below using the blue bonded pad on the center large hole screen, Its very important you make this inner sock for the large hole center screen.

The two big differences in my Mag 350 configuration is I install two carbon bags in the Mag 350 becasue of the added room available and back-filling any voids with Poly-wool. Also becasue of the Mag 350's added room its very important to add the split 1/4" thick cut-to-fit Poly batten under the blue bonded sock which really make the Mag 350 a powerhouse filter rivaling the cart but with with far better endurance.

Below what the canter sock looks like for both 250 & 350

Below a pic of dirty batten second layer removed from underneath the blue bonded layer which did not catch the dirt as well. I have pulled out batten layers that were so black and heavy that they were more like a mud layer then filter LOL.

Below you can see the blue bonded circular layer on the outside of the MAG350 basket with a batten cut to fit later on the inside. This is made by turning the blue bonded sock inside out first, cutting a section of batten to the same size and raping it around the "inside-out" blue bond, then holding them together as one piece turn them both "right-side-in". Now you just slip both over the basket like slipping on a turtle-neck sweater. You will also notice that I use Polyester wool to fill in voids between carbon bags to prevent bypass around the carbon using a chop stick to poke it in place here and there. Polyester wool is great for voids but not good in place of woven batten because it sticks to other media in pieces whereas batten peels off cleanly.

Oh! And don't forget to cover the bypass grate with a piece of split batten as well, see grate covered below