Canister filter help

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CTWebb

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Dec 26, 2013
Messages
5
Location
Maine
I've got a 70 gallon freshwater tank that I've had set up for years. It was my parents and now I've inherited it. I've always used standard HOB filters but I'm looking into buying the SunSun 303B UV canister filter. I've never had any experience with these filters and the media is kind of confusing me.

Whats the best setup for the media? What order is best? How often should each type of media be changed or rinsed? This particular filter has 3 different trays for media. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated, as I am an absolute novice when it comes to this type of filtration.

Thank you!
 
There's 3 layers in this filter, I'd recommend the following (It's always in top to bottom order):
Tray 1:
Coarse Filter
Sponge Filter
Polishing Pad

Tray 2:
This depends, if you want to use anything like Purigen, Carbon etc put all that in here. Otherwise fill it with biomedia

Tray 3:
Bio media
 
The flow from the sunsun filters is bottom to top, so put your mechanical media on the bottom, before it flows to the bio and chemical media. I have a sunsun HW-304A. I love it, I'd suggest you get the 304 instead of the 303, more flow, more capacity, and only a few more dollars. I'd also suggest you get the 'A' version instead of the 'B' version, because the 'B' version has a UV bulb in it, though not nearly enough of wattage to do much for your tank, and the plastic trays are not UV resistant and will break down over time. If you really want UV, I'd get a separate UV sterilizer rather than the 'B' model of a sunsun canister filter. My 304A is silent, quieter than my hob and my air pump. I can't hear it unless I open the cabinet and put my ear within a few inches of it. It was very easy to prime with the blue pump ontop of it, i'd suggest filling the canister mostly with water, putting the cap on, then priming it. Also make sure you cut the tubes to the right length first, it is very hard to prime with the full length tubes if you don't need the full length.
Hope this helps.
-1998golfer
 
The flow from the sunsun filters is bottom to top, so put your mechanical media on the bottom, before it flows to the bio and chemical media. I have a sunsun HW-304A. I love it, I'd suggest you get the 304 instead of the 303, more flow, more capacity, and only a few more dollars. I'd also suggest you get the 'A' version instead of the 'B' version, because the 'B' version has a UV bulb in it, though not nearly enough of wattage to do much for your tank, and the plastic trays are not UV resistant and will break down over time. If you really want UV, I'd get a separate UV sterilizer rather than the 'B' model of a sunsun canister filter. My 304A is silent, quieter than my hob and my air pump. I can't hear it unless I open the cabinet and put my ear within a few inches of it. It was very easy to prime with the blue pump ontop of it, i'd suggest filling the canister mostly with water, putting the cap on, then priming it. Also make sure you cut the tubes to the right length first, it is very hard to prime with the full length tubes if you don't need the full length.
Hope this helps.
-1998golfer
Ahh Sorry I couldn't remember which way around it was, looked in to it and couldn't find any info on the flow! Presumed it was top to bottom because of the hose and tray layout.
 
Okay thank you guys so much for your replies. As far as choosing the filter goes, I'm basically at my budget when it comes to the 303B, and the 304A is a little more than I'd like to spend. The 303B is rated for up to 100 gallons, whereas is the 304 is up to 150. If the 303 is already rated for a tank much larger than mine, would it be sufficient enough if I'm looking to save a little bit of money?
 
Okay thank you guys so much for your replies. As far as choosing the filter goes, I'm basically at my budget when it comes to the 303B, and the 304A is a little more than I'd like to spend. The 303B is rated for up to 100 gallons, whereas is the 304 is up to 150. If the 303 is already rated for a tank much larger than mine, would it be sufficient enough if I'm looking to save a little bit of money?

I really wouldn't risk it. Get the filter rated for 150 gallons. You can't overfilter, and running filters at or near their rated max is living life too close to the edge in my opinion. I always overfilter.
 
+1. The first canister I got was borderline ok. Fine at start but didn't seem to cope as fish got larger. Ended up getting a second one.
 
Okay thank you guys so much for your replies. As far as choosing the filter goes, I'm basically at my budget when it comes to the 303B, and the 304A is a little more than I'd like to spend. The 303B is rated for up to 100 gallons, whereas is the 304 is up to 150. If the 303 is already rated for a tank much larger than mine, would it be sufficient enough if I'm looking to save a little bit of money?

Hehe... I have my 304A on a 27g cube. And the rated gph is with no media or anything, so I'd take about 2/3 of it for actual flow. Get the 304, you won't regret it.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
+1. The first canister I got was borderline ok. Fine at start but didn't seem to cope as fish got larger. Ended up getting a second one.
+1000000

When I first got my turtles, I got an Eheim Ecco Pro 130 (rated for 'up to' 130 litres). At the time they had a 40 litre tank, with turtles the bare minimum for filtering is that the filter is rated to double the tank size. They grew so quickly, that just over a year later I had to upgrade to a Fluval 406, I now run two 406's on their tank.
 
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