My review of the Sunsun External filter for 250g Aquariums HW-304A

[Turbosaurus]

I saw this thread resurrected and I wanted to add my 304 (the big daddy) has been running no problem for 4+ years- in the mean time my EHEIM classic went through three impeller replacements and has been relegated to the attic and my Pro II leaked all over the floor and required two gasket replacements before it was also retired.

I will suggest NO fine filter media- get rid of poly fill or any similar superfine media- this thing moves so much water you're going to be cleaning it weekly if you don't use something large pore. Its not difficult to take apart- the quick connects have worked great IME- but its BIG and when its full of water, its HEAVY

As for Volume of media- if you don't want to guess, its easy enough to calculate. The filter is square, length x width x height, divide by # of trays. If you're working in metric it super easy since 1cubic cm= 1ml of volume. I want to say there is probably about 3- 4 inches of height lost for the powerhead. The rest is internal volume.

 

[1998golfer]

I got my canister. I'm running it (304-A) on a 27g marineland cube... way overkill but it works wonders. Even with driftwood it looks like my fish are floating in air... great canister. Very easy to prime

 

[Redfokker]

I now have two Sunsuns running. I moved my 302 down to a 40 long and the head pressure is better. I have a new HW 303B running on the upper 55, at a 370 gph flow rate, there is a noticeable difference in flow. No where near the rated number though. It has to work pretty hard to pump water up 5' in the air to the top lip of that tank. I'm running coarse foam pad with 30ppi pads in the bottom tray and a mix of ceramic rings and about 4 liters of Seachem Matrix between both filters. I can't hear either of them running. I also added a packet of 250 ml of Purigen on the 55. I'll keep my HOB running on the 40 gallon with a purigen packet in it until I'm sure the BB is good in the canister. I have never had experience with the Ehiems, Fluvals or Hydors that seem to be the BMWs of canister filters, these two Sunsuns seem to be fine for my tanks.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Mike, out of curiosity, how do you configure your media in your 302?

IIRC, on mine, I've got sponge on the lower two trays and various bio-media up top: plastic pot scrubbies, plastic bio balls and ceramic rings.

I stopped using the floss pads and loose floss because of how it would restrict flow so soon. I don't run chemical media unless I have to.

 

[Redfokker]

I have looked into using kitchen scrubbies in the bottom tray. I ended up going with the coarse foam pads provided. My first cleaning with the 302 showed that the white Sunsun pads are junk. They were mush in two weeks. I replaced them with some API 30ppi fiber pads cut to shape. Jury is out on how they will hold up. I rinsed the foam pad out in tank water and it was good to go. For my top two trays I have invested in a couple 2 liter Seachem Matrix "stones". Did quite a bit of research online and went with this media. Bio Balls seem to be a standard, but the idea that the BB can grow in the permeable pumice(?) rock of the Matrix seemed better. There is a European brand of media (name escapes me now) that is the Cadillac version of this type of media. Really expensive on Ebay. I had some of the supplied ceramic media from the original Sunsun so I mixed it in with the Matrix media. Both of the filters have been running less than a month, but everything seems great right now. Cleaning the 302 when I moved it to the Tanganyikan tank yielded a bunch of schmutz in the media. Seemed to be doing the job.