Marineland Magnum 350 Pro System

[ADCISCO]

Does anyone have this system??? I just have a year under my belt now and about to get a 55 gallon and was wondering if this was a good set up. And also can you a use the cleaning tool and attach it to the filter and just clean the tank without it sucking the water out of the tank??? The Magnum H.O.T. pro says that it can but can the 350 pro do the same???? Big Al is having a sale on it and I want to save some money.$94.99 Most catalogs they are over $100. Any suggestions? Need honest opinions..... Any help is greatly appreciated.

[TankGirl]

I will have to defer to others who own this unit but I do know that that diatom filter feature is a nifty thing to have. I prefer Eheim and Rena Filstar and am currently running a Filstar XP3 on my 55, which I believe I got for just around $100 from bigalsonline.com.

[jsoong]

I have a used one. See this thread on my <mostly negative> opinion.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=29576

The manual says you can hook it up to a gravel vac & clean the tank with it. I don't see why any pump or canister can't be used this way. I haven't tried it since it is a pain to disconnect & reconnect the hoses, plus, when you gravel vac through the filter, all the stuff get caught in the canister & you end up having to clean the filter ... too much trouble for me!

The micron cart. is a good feature for water polishing. However, I would use a HOT magnum for that & run it only as needed. I am finding that running the 350 pro 24/7 is a bit of a pain - needing daily attention.

[Madame_X]

I have a HOT Magnum Pro (with the biowheel) on my 29 gallon tank. The thing I don't like about it is the media basket. The manual says to fill it with carbon--that's a LOT of carbon. I'm having hair algae problems in that tank which I think may be a result of the carbon releasing phosphate back into the water.

I love the biowheel but I'm seriously thinking of replacing this filter. Its a bit of a pain to clean. I was wondering if the Magnum 350 would be easier to deal with.

As for the gravel vac thing--I thought it was a great idea at first, but you still have to change the water in the tank so what's the point? I guess you can do a more thorough vacuuming but jsoong is right--it clogs up the filter pretty quick.

I like most Marineland products (including their powerfilters) but their cannisters leave something to be desired.

[grimlock3000]

I have a HOT Magnum sitting in a box right now. It works great to hold up some other boxes in my hallway. Here is the review I posted on another site:

I purchased the Bio Pro version of the HOT Magnum and never had much luck with it. For what it does, there are a lot of parts involved. The whole thing goes together with a lot of O rings and snap fit seals designed to make the filter easy to use and maintain.

I got everything assmebled per the manual and it was leaking air. The parts for my unit seem very poorly molded and I had to keep trying re-lubricate and re-seat the ring seals to get everything working right. It took me almost two hours to get it going with no air leak.

Once running, it did a good job for a few weeks. Then when it came time to clean the filter out, and the trouble started all over again with air leaking into the water stream. Marineland sent me new tubes and O rings but I still had trouble and eventually gave up on the filter. Seems like the problem is now with the filter lid seal.

I put the filter back in the box and it went into the closet. I feel like keeping the thing running on the tank is like asking for a disaster =/

One more thing, these are not "real" canister filters. They require much more maintence than a standard canister and the media options are severly limited.

I got a Eheim ECCO to replace the HOT Magnum and have never looked back. The ECCO is much better built and something I actually trust. The parts that make up the Magnum are very cheap feeling and do not fit together well.

[jsoong]

Originally Posted by Madame_X

I was wondering if the Magnum 350 would be easier to deal with.

.

I have a used HOT Magnum too (the lady threw it in free with the 350. And no, both the HOT Magnum & the 350 are just as difficult to deal with, and the 350 use the same (inadaquate) media basket (& filter) as the HOT Magnum....

I have to agree wiht the general feeling here that the Magnum's are a pain & not worth the money. I think I would use the magnum for water polishing on an occasional basis & get something else for the main filter.

[TMA82]

Just adding a complaint..

we have the bio pro system as well. it worked at first, but when it came time to clean out we put back together and placed into tank and the filter wouldn't draw water back in. We took the thing apart and the parts still look brand new. Have been working on this thing for 4 days trying to get the suction to work again. Finally called Marineland and they said to soak the magnetic component in Vingear.. we did it, but it did nothing when it came time for the suction to work.

Just wanted to add a complaint. I've spent an hour on the computer looking for other complaints to see if anyone found a solution.. once i found this thread figured id add my two cents to ease my frustration.

I have to say the filter works great, its a GREAT filter, the water stays clean and such but god forbid you clean the filter out.. trying to get the thing to work again is a pain.. and we still haven't got it working.

Thanks feel much better.