Odyssea CFS 500 Can-filter review and circumference modification

[taksan]

I was comparing the ENTIRE internal and external surface area of the sponge with the entire surface area of bio media. Its still over a 50-1 ratio.

First of all, with sponges, it's not all about surface area. Seeing how water flows through the pores of the sponge, the area that bacteria in propagate exists throughout the entire sponge, not just on the surface as you try to imply.

Which is 45ppi still over 35 times less surface volume ... if anyone thinks this filter will do a 125g well stocked tank they have no idea ..... it won't.

And I never said anything about 30 PPI sponge material. I SPECIFICALLY have always refered to sponge material as used on the hydro line of spnge filters.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/203832/product.web

That filter can handle up to 125 gallons, so go on and tell me how poor a bio media it is. The problem with sponge filters is there is no profit margin, so stop drinking the kool-aid.

 

[nc0gnet0]

I was comparing the ENTIRE internal and external surface area of the sponge with the entire surface area of bio media. Its still over a 50-1 ratio.

Until your precious little micro poors become clogged, an issue which I see you convienently forgot to address. And please tell me, how did you achieve the TOTAL surface area of the sponge? From the expensive media's PR brochure?

Then the 125 gallon tank I have with 12 discus must be in terrible shape....oh wait....it's doing great! Admittadly I have two of them, not because one wouldn't do it, but I like to keep an extra one cycled.

Obviously you never have used one, again stop drinking the Kool-aid.

 

[taksan]

Correctly prefilterd and maintained they do not become clogged .... As for you ignorant assertations about us not having used sponge filters on the contray we used to have over 200 of them in operation..... we have moved on.
When you have been in the business for 20 years and run over 200 tanks and are the biggest discus importer in your country... then you can tell me to stop drinking Kool Aid ....

Until your precious little micro poors become clogged, an issue which I see you convienently forgot to address.

Obviously you never have used one, again stop drinking the Kool-aid.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

OK guys (nc0gnet0 & taksan) as much as you two would like me to help you beat this dead horse, As a military man I keep to the high-ground as I don't like it under that bridge. So as rithunder916 wisely tried to point out, time for class to move on.

Alrighty-then, for those actually interested in buying this canister, as you know I posted earlier on the new O-rings you will need for the IN/OUT valve ports at a cost of about $0.58 a pair at Lowes. Well good news I found a better price at Home Depot at the plumbing section matching the workable ID, OD & wall thickness. In fact these fit and work even better. The really good news is they come in a package of 10 O-rings for less then $2 and since you require 2 for each port and they also fit the IN/OUT ports on the FX5 and Fluval 404/405, for the price they are good to have on hand. OK nc0gnet0 & taksan let not get into a drawn out debate over the use of replacement o-rings compared to rubber-bands and epoxy.:shakehead:

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

Well I sent 2 emails to the vendor “Topdogsellers” about the O-ring problem causing cracking problems with the valves and lid ports and how my low cost solution can prevent and save them from having to send out new lids whenever the defective O-rings cause cracks complete with photos, but so far no response. So I gave positive feedback to for my 1st CFS500 purchase before I found out about this problem but my the 2nd purchase only gave neutral feedback since they want to ignore the problem.

After 3 weeks of filtering a new 60 clean tank with only a few small feeder fish decided to pull the filter out and see if its working. Just like the FX5 this filter is strong enough to pump itself ¾ empty by disconnecting the inflow hose and turning on the pump the water pumps back to tank and empties the canister ¾ for easy dry and light weight maintenance. Since the MOD required both white & black sponges to be glued together like 1 sponge, the entire sponge and batting comes out intact for inspection and replacement. Otherwise if you did not follow that MOD step you have to dismantle the entire media.

As you can see the entire batting surface has turned off color because dirt is being pulled in from all sides except for the clean white ring at the bottom where I did not trim the tight fitting sponge. Also you can see dirt accumulation in the lower middle only because suction is strongest there and there is not that much dirt in a new cycling tank. So it is apparent that this media has a long way still to go probably 4 to 6 months before the batting is used up and needs changing but I will do another photo report in 3 months. But so far its working just like a circumference filter should polishing the water but with such a huger surface area allowing maximum water throughput with low-slow current inside the filter maximum biological inhabitation. The best of mechanical and biological filtration and ease of use to boot.

FYI: Circumference filtration also provides a superior biological filtration environment becasue although the surface area allows maximum water throughput like a super wide river, water current-speed is much much lower and slower at the filter surface and core and the even distribution of surface area in this slow even environment is much more conducive to biological growth. In fact between the top surface of the circumference batting and the canister wall with enough space like 2 inches, you could fill that area with micro bio-balls or mini-rings and even get better bio. But I think it would be overkill. But in the basic MOD this is why both the FX5 and any circumference filter can go months without nitrate spikes like in sumps becasue the accumulation of debris in a circumference filter is evenly distributed over a much larger area conducive to beneficial bacteria growth.

 

[RodInCALIFORNIA]

Gunner why leave him that neutral rating for a flaw in the filter design? He does NOT own the factory in china that designs and makes them, he is just a seller of a product. I think you were wrong and you need to send the original factory maker in china your "solution" and not be negative toward the seller. Its not the resellers job to redesign the parts used its the builder of the products job to do it.
I feel you made a error in the way you handled it but its my opinion. I have done business for a long time with topdog and never had any problems and have sent him alot of business from my friends. Would you blame a car dealer for selling you a new car with a defective engine or blame the company who built the engine? .............

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

Gunner why leave him that neutral rating for a flaw in the filter design? He does NOT own the factory in china that designs and makes them, he is just a seller of a product. I think you were wrong and you need to send the original factory maker in china your "solution" and not be negative toward the seller. Its not the resellers job to redesign the parts used its the builder of the products job to do it.
I feel you made a error in the way you handled it but its my opinion. I have done business for a long time with topdog and never had any problems and have sent him alot of business from my friends. Would you blame a car dealer for selling you a new car with a defective engine or blame the company who built the engine? .............

Well lets see... Since I couldn't praise him for the defective O-rings that are causing owners cracked spouts and gate valves, I at least expected 1 response to my 2 emails, so I graciously gave him neutral feedback so that others could read of the feedback remarks, and request a pre-purchase explanation. Or perhaps do a little more research and find my posted fix. Are my efforts to good for the concerns of others seen as wrong in your eyes? Is it not my choice to post feedback for a good cause? Please Rod take your avatar to heart and leave, or stay on the topic objectively.

 

[taksan]

These o -rings sound like a design fault at the factory. People really shouldn't have to change the o-rings on a new filter for third party ones just to get it to work. I would have left him neutral feedback too. If someone comes in with a problem with something they have bought we fix it or if its a design fault we offer a workaround. The only thing you have is your reputation and if people pay me money I expect to do my very best to see to it that they get their moneys worth.

 

[thebrandon]

I expect to do my very best to see to it that they get their moneys worth.

well...judging by the price of this particular filter in the first place...lol

If this were a name brand filter, I could understand. This is what I would call a "knock off," but not a bad one. I think the quality already exceeds the price you are paying for it. Something as simple as an oring swap is cheap. Inconvenient no doubt, but at the same time cheap.

I still can't help but think that the quality of the plastic it self could be part of the problem here. Not everyone with this filter experiences breaks, and they most likely all have the same orings on there. I'm not saying the oring theory is wrong, but I don't think it's 100% at fault.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

Im not going to thank you taksan becasue I know what you said is based purely on merit and truth, nevertheless as a vendor I appreciate your wise words.

OK moving right along away from the drama lets look at CFS500 easy maintenance. You already seen how easy it was for me to pull out the entire media block in one piece because the top and bottom sponge were glued together. Now lets suppose its time for filter cleaning months down the road and compared to your other high maintenance basket and sump filters your wondering how long and how wet the job will be. Well with my MOD all you have to do is (1) pump out the filter in place, (2) Pull out the sponge block out and throw away the Poly batting wrap, (3) squeeze rinse the sponge block in treated water and (4) wrap a new pre-cut Poly batting around the sponge block and reinsert the filter-block into the canister. Now you done and ready to restart the filter which is able to self prime using the 1/3 remaining water, all of about 5 minutes once every 4-6 months. Now isn’t that smarter then cleaning filters on top of water changes every week.

Of course the main part is the filter wrap so here are a few detailed photos of my 2nd CFS500 being wrapped for use on my 100 Oscar tank.

BELOW THE TRIMMED FILTER BLOCK WRAP

BELOW ENOUGH POLY-BATTING IS USED TO TUCK IN BOTTOM AND TOP

BELOW THE CENTER STRAINER SECURES THE TOP-TUCK AND IS TOPPED OFF WITH A PRECAUTIONARY POLY-BATTING PATCH.

TOPPED OFF WITH THE BLUE PAD PROVIDED CUT TO DEFUSE AND ALLOW WATER ENTRY AND NEEDED TO TAKE UP ROOM BETWEEN THE LID AND FILTER BLOCK.