This may be common sense to most owners of Rena Filstar xP3/xP2/xP1 filters... but if/when you purchase one of these filters, follow the recommendation in the user manual and trim the intake/outtake hoses down to the "proper" size. The hoses are manufactured at 48" I believe??? Keep reading...
When I installed xP3 on a 55-gallon (48 x 12 x 18) on a standard height (?) wooden cabinet stand, I simply hooked up all the accessories, placed the canister under the cabinet and fired it up. However, I noticed that after a month or so, the hoses which I believed I had "coiled" as to eliminate the excess length and prevent the hose from "sagging" or "crinkling" was not as I intended it to be. Immediately above the connectors to the canister main unit, the hoses had indeed folded over, thus impeding the flow rate over 50%. Nothing I tried short of duct taping the hoses to the wall behind the cabinet would work... the hoses kept "sagging".
This morning, after working the night shift, I arrived home and decided to do some much needed maintenance on a 55-gallon that houses 19 x Tropheus Moorii "Nkonde", 12 x Syno. Multipuncatus, and a SURPRISE, 1 x Atyopsis Gabonensis who was bought with two others, one of whom passed away while I was on vacation in August and another who vanished without a trace. Don't blame the Syno... the A. gabonensis are larger than the Syno! ANYWAY... after a struggle, I was able to remove the hose clamps from the connector interface, and I prcoeeded to cut the hoses down to a length where they are "tight line" with little to no slack. I cleaned out the filter canister while I was at it... and proceeded with a 50% water change as it had been over two weeks since my last one! Well, everything is back up and running and to make a long story short (I kind of failed at that already, eh!?)... I am seeing flow rate like I have never seen from xP3 filters before (I own two of them!).
Follow the instructions and cut the hoses to a proper length for the height/length of your cabninet/aquarium, and save yourself 3 months of pissing around with the hoses like I just solved!
When I installed xP3 on a 55-gallon (48 x 12 x 18) on a standard height (?) wooden cabinet stand, I simply hooked up all the accessories, placed the canister under the cabinet and fired it up. However, I noticed that after a month or so, the hoses which I believed I had "coiled" as to eliminate the excess length and prevent the hose from "sagging" or "crinkling" was not as I intended it to be. Immediately above the connectors to the canister main unit, the hoses had indeed folded over, thus impeding the flow rate over 50%. Nothing I tried short of duct taping the hoses to the wall behind the cabinet would work... the hoses kept "sagging".
This morning, after working the night shift, I arrived home and decided to do some much needed maintenance on a 55-gallon that houses 19 x Tropheus Moorii "Nkonde", 12 x Syno. Multipuncatus, and a SURPRISE, 1 x Atyopsis Gabonensis who was bought with two others, one of whom passed away while I was on vacation in August and another who vanished without a trace. Don't blame the Syno... the A. gabonensis are larger than the Syno! ANYWAY... after a struggle, I was able to remove the hose clamps from the connector interface, and I prcoeeded to cut the hoses down to a length where they are "tight line" with little to no slack. I cleaned out the filter canister while I was at it... and proceeded with a 50% water change as it had been over two weeks since my last one! Well, everything is back up and running and to make a long story short (I kind of failed at that already, eh!?)... I am seeing flow rate like I have never seen from xP3 filters before (I own two of them!).
Follow the instructions and cut the hoses to a proper length for the height/length of your cabninet/aquarium, and save yourself 3 months of pissing around with the hoses like I just solved!
I'm glad to see I am not the only one who went through this minor bit of ignorance in regard to installation of this quality filter. 
