# PennPlax Cascade Cannister Filters???



## The Baron

Can I please get some opinions on these canister filters.

I dont want it to be Eheim or FLuval is better, but do they work well
enough and is there any known problems that I should know about?

How about leakage issues?

The pricing seems decent enough, but I havent decided between a couple of 
good hob;s or the cannister for a 55.

I;m scared to death of hoses bursting when no one is home all weekend or when power goes out. I know a couple of hobs have the motor submerssed so
no priming is required.

It seems that I say about 40% favour cannisters while the rest are hob;s and sponge/internal, etc..

The bio load would be light for a soon to get 55 as it would be corys, blue rams and some tetras..

Thanks,

Dan


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## The Baron

Anybody not use Cascades?


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## arinsi

i dont use this canister filter but i dont think you should be worried about tube bursting
________
justin bieber fan


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## dogger99

i have had a 1200 running on a 60g tank for over a year...runs great, does a good job no problems


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## The Baron

Any issues with noise or leaks?


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## dogger99

not at all for the money it does it job well


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## The Baron

Thank you!


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## dl88dl

The Baron said:


> Can I please get some opinions on these canister filters.
> 
> I dont want it to be Eheim or FLuval is better, but do they work well
> enough and is there any known problems that I should know about?
> 
> How about leakage issues?
> 
> The pricing seems decent enough, but I havent decided between a couple of
> good hob;s or the cannister for a 55.
> 
> I;m scared to death of hoses bursting when no one is home all weekend or when power goes out. I know a couple of hobs have the motor submerssed so
> no priming is required.
> 
> It seems that I say about 40% favour cannisters while the rest are hob;s and sponge/internal, etc..
> 
> The bio load would be light for a soon to get 55 as it would be corys, blue rams and some tetras..
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Dan


I have a brand new still in the box Cascade 1000 if you are interested then PM me...thanks


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## AquariAM

If I may play devil's advocate, I'd still buy an eheim 221X used for the same price and still have a better quality pump head if nothing else.


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## dl88dl

AquariAM said:


> If I may play devil's advocate, I'd still buy an eheim 221X used for the same price and still have a better quality pump head if nothing else.


I have used many many different types of canister filters for example Eheim 2215/2217/2227/2229/pro II 2126, Rena Filstar XP2, Jebo 829, Fluval 301/401/302/402/303/403/304/404 and Cascade 1200 and some other brand. All these filters work the same more or less...it is the media inside those filters that counts. I use Kaldnes K1 media in all my canister filters and they have a very large surface area and very very light. The only one that has a motor failure was the Fluval 403 due to a power loss and did not re-start and I did not notice until couple weeks later since I had other filters running in the same tank. The 403 was also very old and in use for a very long time but I am still using it and drive it with a AC802 and branch off to a non-working AC500. Still have 2 working 403s.

So AM tell me why you think one filter is better than another? Have you try all the other ones and come up with the conclusion?

BTW, I still have most of those canister filters except I sold the Eheim 2229 and sold one Eheim 2227 to a member here in GTAA. Also the Fluval 301/401/302/402 are not working now but I still have one or 2 hanging around...I think these filter are older than you AM


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## AquariAM

dl88dl said:


> I have used many many different types of canister filters for example Eheim 2215/2217/2227/2229/pro II 2126, Rena Filstar XP2, Jebo 829, Fluval 301/401/302/402/303/403/304/404 and Cascade 1200 and some other brand. All these filters work the same more or less...it is the media inside those filters that counts. I use Kaldnes K1 media in all my canister filters and they have a very large surface area and very very light. The only one that has a motor failure was the Fluval 403 due to a power loss and did not re-start and I did not notice until couple weeks later since I had other filters running in the same tank. The 403 was also very old and in use for a very long time but I am still using it and drive it with a AC802 and branch off to a non-working AC500. Still have 2 working 403s.
> 
> So AM tell me why you think one filter is better than another? Have you try all the other ones and come up with the conclusion?
> 
> BTW, I still have most of those canister filters except I sold the Eheim 2229 and sold one Eheim 2227 to a member here in GTAA. Also the Fluval 301/401/302/402 are not working now but I still have one or 2 hanging around...I think these filter are older than you AM


I've used 2213 on 2 tanks and 2215 on one personally. I know people with XP and Fluval who agree with me that for its price range 22XX is the best.

I actually like 2215 and 17 more than 2213 because the media basket gives the 2213 the same fallback as any other filter that uses baskets- slight bypass. I like that the 2215 and 17 can't really bypass at all because the media is just straight in the canister.

I've taken apart and looked at Marineland's C canister, an XP and a Fluval 03 and 04 series and the Eheims always have a better, heavier motor head, a much heavier duty impeller, and the ceramic shaft, which can't warp. I find their sealing O'ring to be of a higher quality, as well as their hose. I also personally think Eheim's included media is hugely superior to anyone else's first party media (ie fluval rings, API biostars, etc)-- and you get all the media you'll ever really need included in the package. You may need to replace the blue foam pads, but those take at least two years to start to wear out.


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## dl88dl

AquariAM said:


> I've used 2213 on 2 tanks and 2215 on one personally. I know people with XP and Fluval who agree with me that for its price range 22XX is the best.
> 
> I actually like 2215 and 17 more than 2213 because the media basket gives the 2213 the same fallback as any other filter that uses baskets- slight bypass. I like that the 2215 and 17 can't really bypass at all because the media is just straight in the canister.
> 
> I've taken apart and looked at Marineland's C canister, an XP and a Fluval 03 and 04 series and the Eheims always have a better, heavier motor head, a much heavier duty impeller, and the ceramic shaft, which can't warp. I find their sealing O'ring to be of a higher quality, as well as their hose. I also personally think Eheim's included media is hugely superior to anyone else's first party media (ie fluval rings, API biostars, etc)-- and you get all the media you'll ever really need included in the package. You may need to replace the blue foam pads, but those take at least two years to start to wear out.


Ok you have only used Eheim but you hear from others that the other filters are not good and Eheim looks like it is better. I have used them all and they all do the same job more or less. Anyway, for a given amount of media and a given flow rate in one filter and the same in another filter...should it not have the same effect or work the same? And yes I think maybe the Eheim is made better but dose it mean it will work better...not always 
Heavier is not always better...take for example the media that you like Ehfisubstrat media and they are lot heavier than Kaldnes K1 media. This K1 floats in the water because it is so light and have a surface area of 800m2 and the Ehfisubstrat is much heavier and have a surface area or 450m2 so which media do you think is better? Also with the lighter media it is easier to work with. So what I am saying is that it all depends on what media you use that makes a good filter. Don't get me wrong I have use Ehfisubtrat before and they are good too but I have moved on to new and better media.
In this fishy hobby you have to try and master the art of keeping excellent water and this water will keep the fishy for you.


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## AquariAM

dl88dl said:


> Ok you have only used Eheim but you hear from others that the other filters are not good and Eheim looks like it is better. I have used them all and they all do the same job more or less. Anyway, for a given amount of media and a given flow rate in one filter and the same in another filter...should it not have the same effect or work the same? And yes I think maybe the Eheim is made better but dose it mean it will work better...not always
> Heavier is not always better...take for example the media that you like Ehfisubstrat media and they are lot heavier than Kaldnes K1 media. This K1 floats in the water because it is so light and have a surface area of 800m2 and the Ehfisubstrat is much heavier and have a surface area or 450m2 so which media do you think is better? Also with the lighter media it is easier to work with. So what I am saying is that it all depends on what media you use that makes a good filter. Don't get me wrong I have use Ehfisubtrat before and they are good too but I have moved on to new and better media.
> In this fishy hobby you have to try and master the art of keeping excellent water and this water will keep the fishy for you.


I like Ehfisubstrat. It promotes a cylindrical, barber shop pole-shaped flow because it is round. Prevents channelling. Also the fact that it's porous sintered glass means water can get inside too. It's not just the outside surface area. There's a bit of water getting inside the media.

The bottom line is that there's no reason, IMO, unless you're running a massive bioload, to replace the perfectly good included media.

Heavier is better. It means it's well made. You want a heavy impeller and motorhead. The weight of biomedia is obviously completely inconsequential.


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## dl88dl

AquariAM said:


> I like Ehfisubstrat. It promotes a cylindrical, barber shop pole-shaped flow because it is round. Prevents channelling. Also the fact that it's porous sintered glass means water can get inside too. It's not just the outside surface area. There's a bit of water getting inside the media.
> 
> The bottom line is that there's no reason, IMO, unless you're running a massive bioload, to replace the perfectly good included media.
> 
> Heavier is better. It means it's well made. You want a heavy impeller and motorhead. The weight of biomedia is obviously completely inconsequential.


No, the Ehfisubstrat will channel if not keep with regular maintenance but the K1 has no way at all to channel and also the K1 has a total protected surface area of 500m2 and not much at all for the Ehfisubstrat. Again I have use both types of media. I never said to replace your media but if you run your Eheim with Ehfisubstrat and I run my Jebo which is 3 times less money with the K1 as long as the flow rate is the same...my Jebo will do a better job then your more money Eheim. Don't get me wrong I have 4 Eheims. The point I am trying to say is that the media makes the filter.


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## AquariAM

dl88dl said:


> No, the Ehfisubstrat will channel if not keep with regular maintenance but the K1 has no way at all to channel and also the K1 has a total protected surface area of 500m2 and not much at all for the Ehfisubstrat. Again I have use both types of media. I never said to replace your media but if you run your Eheim with Ehfisubstrat and I run my Jebo which is 3 times less money with the K1 as long as the flow rate is the same...my Jebo will do a better job then your more money Eheim. Don't get me wrong I have 4 Eheims. The point I am trying to say is that the media makes the filter.


Ehfisubstrat pro absolutely categorically does NOT cause channeling. It's round. It's impossible.


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## dl88dl

AquariAM said:


> Ehfisubstrat pro absolutely categorically does NOT cause channeling. It's round. It's impossible.


It will channel if you don't do reqular maintenance


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## AquariAM

dl88dl said:


> It will channel if you don't do reqular maintenance


I don't see how dude.


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## dl88dl

AquariAM said:


> I don't see how dude.


Any solid media will have some kind of channelling build up but it all depends on how long before your next cleanup.

BTW, have you heard of this media "bacteria house" made in Japan...might be the best media in the world but you have to mortgage your house to get some


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## AquariAM

Looks like its part of a wet/dry koi system. It's a little house .

http://www.hyggedam.dk/images/koi-karantene-07/bakkishower-01.jpg

http://www.hyggedam.dk/images/koi-karantene-07/020307-bakki.jpg

http://www.hyggedam.dk/images/koi-karantene-07/090407-bacteria-house-1.jpg


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## dl88dl

AquariAM said:


> Looks like its part of a wet/dry koi system. It's a little house .
> 
> http://www.hyggedam.dk/images/koi-karantene-07/bakkishower-01.jpg
> 
> http://www.hyggedam.dk/images/koi-karantene-07/020307-bakki.jpg
> 
> http://www.hyggedam.dk/images/koi-karantene-07/090407-bacteria-house-1.jpg


That is correct...I was going to build one of those Bakki filter but the media cost too much but I know some people use small lava rocks but it is no where near as efficient as bacteria house. I might still build one sometime in the near future and get my hands on some bacteria house.


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