Craigslist Canister

[44Paps44]

Didn't want to take over someone else's thread but was curious as to what the general consensus is on buying a used canister off of craigslist? Any real savings/deals to be had there or risky?

Anything in particular to look out for? Not familiar with canisters at all and probably looking to switch over after the holidays. Will likely go Eheim for my 56 tall.

what would be the price point to make it seem worthwhile? I'm assuming you'd have to buy replacement parts like seals, fillers, etc. Would that jack the price back up to point where it's better to go straight to Amazon and get it all at once?

Just curious.

 

[Krely]

I bought one of my canisters off craigslist. Eheim 2215. Id just make sure the canister part didn't have any cracks or anything in the plastic, and that it came on when plugged in. In my case, the guy had it up and running in his main tank so i could see it working.

If you do end up buying a used one, no matter where you get it from, I would buy new media for it and not use existing as you never know what you will get with other peoples media. And give the canister a good cleaning before use as well.

 

[CoronaBlue]

I've bought a canister off CL. If you can't see it running take a 5 gallon bucket, place intake in it and test it out. This way you can make sure it works properly and doesn't leak.

 

[44Paps44]

Thanks for the tips, think I'll end up going with Amazon unless it turns out to be a can't pass up opportunity while browsing CL.

 

[CoronaBlue]

A lot of people like the Sun Sun canisters. Relatively inexpensive but guess they work well. I don't have any so I can't testify to the reliability. I have Fluval, Marineland and Cascade canisters.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I got my canister with my tank. The guy didn't really press price wise and I found out later when it needed an impeller. I decided to be proactive and replaced all the seals when I ordered the new impeller. Price point put me around half the cost of a new filter after parts/media. It's been running for almost a year now and still going strong.

Knowing what I know now, I would definitely want to see a used filter running to verify its functionality.

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[gilpi]

You can't beat buying used! Dont worry about bringing diseases especially if the filter has been sitting dry for a while, I would still rinse it well though. You'll find many people that got tired of the hobby and just want to get rid of the stuff, I love the old Fluval canister filters and recently found on CL someone selling three Fluval 203 for around $50 !
You don't have to spend lots of cash on media either, plastic scrubies from the $1 store work great.


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