Canister filters used or preferred

Just make sure the 1500 fits in your cabinet, if you use one.
The difference between the 1500 and 1200 is an extra media basket, and 35GPH flow rate.

 

Oh for sure it will fit nice in my cabinet got enough space for it, thanks for the heads up, I also see there is only a little price difference between the two so will rather pay it and get the extra tray and higher flow rate

 

I have 5 hydor 350
And 1 hydor 450

They are very quite and easy to clean.
I have been useing them for almost 2 years with no problems.
And they are good looking too you dont have to hide them in a cupboard.

 

I know of one place so far which sells the Cascade canisters online then they drop it off at the LFS, does anyone know of a place on the east rand that also sells them, If I dont need to drive all the way to centurion for no reason then I will be happy The Dophin and Cascade look very similar these days also seems like no one really keeps them in stock they rather have the dophin range. Will I go wrong buying a dophin canister? I dont want to spend more then R2500 on a canister.

 

Yeah i will be able to access it easily my cabinet has got double doors so I have a empty side on the right which will only house the canister filter so all good on this side

 

Dophin is fine, I have the c1000, its dead quite. I also have 2 aquis 800's for my smaller tanks, they are cheap but works fine with no problems not as quite as the dophin tho.

 

BTW on a 4ft a dophin c1600 might be overkill, these things pomp! My c1000 is on a 6ft.

 

I said I am looking at the Cascade 1500 not the dophin c1600 for me personally the cascade is better quality build found a place in the eastrand that sells them

Thanks for the input bud.

 

hahaha @BoelderBeestie I found a LFS near my place they got my Cascade 1500 canister will get one next month

 

If I could chose I would also go for the cascade. Whats the flow rate on the 1500.

 

For sure I personally feel the Penn-Plax Cascade 1500 is a better quality and will rather pay the few extra hundred for it, it pushes 350gph(1350 liters per hour)

 

Thats perfect. The dophins does have a cheap feel to them haha.

 

Yeah thought so I could see it hahahaha

 

Agreed on the build quality.
The Cascade feels well build and solid, where some of the other brands feel inferior.
I tend to do a lot of homework before committing to a purchase, and that was the deciding factor for me.

With Fluval, Eheim and the other premier brands out of reach for most people, the Cascade was the natural choice.

 

Yeah for sure, I always do some research before buying something. I went to go look at a few canisters during my lunch time. eheim tetratec dophin fluval and my decision after seeing all these filters are the Penn-Plax Cascade 1500 this is a beast of a canister got the measurements 47cm high 28cm wide and 22cm in length cannot wait to get this next month. Will leave my one 500 lph eheim internal filter in the tank with only filter floss in it for extra polishing all my other media will go into its new house yes I agree yeah I could buy a eheim experience 350 for nearly R900 more then the cascade but why? yes it is a better filter but is it really worth the extra nearly R1000 more.

 

The nice thing about the Cascade is the large "vortex" area at the bottom of the canister.
I filled that space with a 1kg bag of ceramic rings to act as a first buffer. It works like a charm.
Fry and such that may get sucked into the filter happily survive down there, and even grow.

With 5 baskets you are going to be spoilt for choice.

I have a course sponge in my fist tray, topped with some blue filter matting that I got from the LFS.
Tray 2 + 3 have Seachem Matrix.
Tray 4 has filter floss, with a 100g of Purigen.
The filter floss acts as a polishing medium, and catches fine impurities that may have escaped the first couple of baskets.

You can do a visual inspection of the water in the canister without having to remove it, and the ceramic rings in the bottom are a good indicator of the level of dirt in the filter.

 

Wow that is awesome, would you mind taking a few photos of your 1500 and posting it in here

that is the main reason I want to get a canister is more space for media the 2 current internal filters dont have lots of space for media, trust me those eheim internal filters are doing there thing but yeah canisters are the BOMB

I also like seachem matrix the best stuff out there, I once bought a similar type of media from Petstop which they get somewhere that also worked good and way cheaper also want to get some purigen in my tank again had it the last time with my previous tanks and it does make a difference and yes filter floss polishes the water even more. That is why I will leave the internal filter inside with filter floss.

 

If I had read your last post 10 minutes ago, I could have taken pics of the cleaning process.
As it is, I have just cleaned it and replaced the filter floss.

I wouldn't even bother with an extra internal filter in the tank.
Buy filter floss in bales of 10 packets, and do weekly exchanges.
You will be amazed at how quickly it gets saturated with dirt.
Once the tank has settled down, you can do fortnightly changes, and then once a month.

I exchange and refresh my purigen about once every month or 2.
Left in the filter it takes a while to darken, and I recharge it once it has become a dark brown, almost black colour.