Thoughts On This Off-Brand Filter

True, it happens with a lot of people, but in my case I was extra careful with the jebo can because I noticed how flimsy the plastic was. For the short time I had it worked ok up until the leak at the motor head.

Looks like this new can might be better made than the older units. I might pick this up before a sun sun.
 
mott said:
Well you were lucky, I had a csf4 that leaked at the motor head all over my cabinet and floor, ran fine for a year or so before that.
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mine leaked the same way.had water squirting out the power cord the primer and the whole head would fill with water.. once i took the moter head apart there is 2 o rings inside the top on the arms that hoses hooked to . replaced thoes and never leaked again.. i pumped half a 40 gallon breeder onto my floor and cabnet before i noticed it started to leak. but was a vary simple fix with a screwdriver n some Vaseline and new o rings. its still running super strong
 
I wasn't going to mention this but my modified Fluval 404 cart filter sprang a slow leak under my 244 rebuilt tank. I noticed the carpet damp around my PS4 sump filter and mistakenly took it apart to find a leak, the problem with the Tom's PS4 sump is that once you mess with it after its been in use for a while it doesn't like to work again without a through cleaning and some new parts (hoses, Ts, pre-filter), so its off line. However the carpet remained damp the following day and followed it to the Fluval 404 Cart filter where the carpet was wet under it even though there was no sign of a leak until I turned the filter around to the side that was facing the wall and hidden from view, the hidden side showed calcium deposit run marks from just one side of the canister just under the handle and lid seam as if the filter was trying to hide the leak from me it leaked from just one small side :hypnotized:.

I took the Fluval 404 off line and discovered no obvious flaws between the lid, O-ring and canister body seal. But what I found is that the lid is made up of in outer and inner shell that houses the motor, that inner shell which is held in by loose plastic pegs moves and has a tendency to sag and push on the O-ring seat and may have cause the leak. So I plan to disassemble the lid housing and silicone the inner and outer components together making them ridged and non playable and also prevent yet another source of water bypass between the pump and canister body. The Fluval 405 series has the most built in bypass passages for water around the filter basket media I have ever seen in a stacked canister design, and while they are known for not clogging, they also don't filter much water IMO.

Anyway the good news is my 244 tank is not leaking and neither is my FX5 or Mag 250, but then that is why a round circumference design is so superior. I truly believe that this thread topic filter "Odyssea CFS500" is the first clone attempt at a circumference design mimicking the FX5, and just by what I can gather of its photos it is a bottom motor design like the FX5 and Magnum meaning it has a simple flat lid with lug nut and bolt hold-down design very unlikely to leak since there is no bulky top motor housing to leak and lose prime. The intake strainer is clearly in the center of a hollow tube sponges attached to a base motor that pulls water toward the canter from the outside circumference of the filter sponges where incoming tank water is distributed into and around a 1/4" void between the inside circumference of the acrylic canister walls and outside circumference of sponges, the sponges are only stacked for convenience and different type, no possible way this is not a vertical flow filter like a basket type. Just by what I can see, this filter should not have any of the inharent weaknesses "stacked basket top motor canisters" have.
CFS500_400x800.jpg
 
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It doesn't look like much room between the sponges and the canister wall unless the picture is fooling me.
Sure looks like a FX 5 top LOL.
One of the "inharent weaknesses" I see with this filter is the ability to chemically filter the water, come to think of it is there a way to turn off the UV?

It's funny how they make it look like a course to fine vertical flow path filter.
I think they should have spent a little more time designing the media because it doesn't look to configurable.
 
mott said:
It doesn't look like much room between the sponges and the canister wall unless the picture is fooling me.
Sure looks like a FX 5 top LOL.
One of the "inharent weaknesses" I see with this filter is the ability to chemically filter the water, come to think of it is there a way to turn off the UV?

It's funny how they make it look like a course to fine vertical flow path filter.
I think they should have spent a little more time designing the media because it doesn't look to configurable.
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Well here are the clear cut characteristics: Note that the motor like the Mag 350 are at the bottom with the large clear strainer intake in the center and the outflow tube offset center slightly which leads up the the larger center hole in the top sponge white & blue (1st photo). Also note that there is another smaller hole in the all three sponges near the edge, this is where the incoming tank dirty water (see 1st photo below sponge stack white & blue) drops in and distribute incoming tank water on-top of, inside of top-bottom, and all around the sponges. So yes it may be doing all three providing even more surface area.
CFS500_400x800.jpg
 
I have no doubt that you are correct in your assumption that the filter is in fact a "circumference filter" as you like to call it, the thing I was trying to point out is that they make it "look" like a stacked vertical flow filter, flowing from course to fine sponge media layering.
Also, I would imagine that the bottom black sponge has to be cut very different from the other two because of the pump on the bottom.
Still it looks "interesting" enough and if I needed another filter I would pick it up
BUT it seems unlikely I would pick one up since my Eheims are the best and first canisters filters ever made and the only true 100% bypass free filters! (Classic line)
 
For 70 bucks you may as well try it. It should have a factory warranty which will make it pay itself off.
 
Did any of you try this filter? I just ordered 2 of these for $58 each (& free shipping) from Topdogsellers on Ebay. I had also just ordered 2 Catalina canister filters for the same price 2 days before I found these on Ebay. I've had 3 of the Catalina filters up and running for 3 yrs now with no problems whatsoever. I've got 3 FX5's running also but have had to replace parts on 2 of them over the past few yrs-go figure. Great filtering capacity but for the money I'm really hoping these 500 gph Odysseas do well.
 
I've had a few Fluval's over the years and have never had a problem with them. One of them a 304 being over 10yrs old! And to be honest the parts on it seem a lot more sturdy then other brands. I was about to get a "SunSun/Prefect" filter but I read a few reviews on them being a lot more fragile then most common brands and you have to almost baby them. Money isn't too much the issue for me, I just need to my filters to last me ATLEAST 10 years.
 
ksane said:
Did any of you try this filter? I just ordered 2 of these for $58 each (& free shipping) from Topdogsellers on Ebay.

I've got 3 FX5's running also but have had to replace parts on 2 of them over the past few yrs-go figure. Great filtering capacity but for the money I'm really hoping these 500 gph Odysseas do well.
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No, but please let us all know how the Odysseas work out. I did call the seller and they conformed that the circumference of the sponges sit too tightly against the housing to allow water draw, so all water is drawn from the top down. I would have to trim the circumference of those sponges so that water would have a much greater surface are to be filtered.

As far as part ware on your FX5, the FX5 is so powerful that after the filtered water reaches clean point (about 30 mim to 1 hour) the FX5 spends allot of time spinning its wheels wasting energy and ware. Place you FX5's on $5 timers like I have running either (1 hour on and 30 minutes off 24/7) for tanks 125 gal and above or (1 hour on and 1 hour off 24/7) for tanks 100 gal and below. You will not notice any difference in performance, the tank will still be crystal clear and beatifically bacteria will not be affected at all. But your power bill will drop and ware & tear will drop considerably, becasue like a refrigerator compressor there is no reason to run it continually and actually the same go's for power heads.
 
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