Canister experts, lend me your ear!

[dsmalls]

Long time fish keeper but took about 5 years off from the hobby and am back in the swing of things.

I picked up a 55G and am trying to find a decent filtration setup. I used to be a big HOB filter person, but the 2 AquaClear 50's I just bought sounds like a truck, as does the TopFin 60.

Today I bought a Fluval 305 and it's buzzing/humming a bit. I tried shaking the filter, tilting it back and forth, because I'm thinking it's an air bubble issue. No luck, the thing has been buzzing for the last 2 hours or so.

Cost isn't that much of an issue, so which canister can I buy that's very, very quiet and has a decent GPH? I'm leaning towards the Ehiem classic or one of the Rena XP's.

Thanks!

 

[mfdrookie516]

i have both a 305 and a 405 and they are absolutely silent... i can barely hear them if i put my ear to them. I would take the impeller out, clean it real good, then while the top is off, use the valve on the hoses and fill the can up to the very top... put the top back on (it may spill just a little bit of water, open the valve for about 5 mins with the output up above the water line just enough to get some air, and then turn it on. You may need to shake/tilt just a bit, but it should be silent. If its not, there may be something wrong with it. IMO fluval is one of the best right alongside the rena xp's...

 

[newfound77951]

I have a Rena XP3 on my 55. It isn't silent, but it is very quiet. I had an AquaClear 70 before and the XP3 is much quieter, particularly because it's in an enclosed stand.

You might want to give the Fluval a few days...particularly when they are brand new or just cleaned, most filters will be a little noisy for a few days. Once everything breaks in it might quiet down.

 

[dsmalls]

I've about had it with this POS. I've taken the impeller out twice, cleaned it (not sure why as it was brand new), put everything back together, and now it's having a hard time getting primed. Everywhere I read, this filter is awesome and ultra-silent. Maybe I got a bad one.

I poured water into the can, like you said, took all of the filter holders out, but it's still not working. Either I'm too dumb or I got a bad filter. I swear, I never had an issue with my old TopFin HOB's on my old tank. I'm gonna head up to PetSmart tomorrow and give 'em back this wonderful piece of machinery.

 

[mfdrookie516]

You had to have gotten a bad one, or its not set up right one. Do you have the output above the water line? Its a fairly simple setup that will eat at you until you figure out just how to get it primed. I had a hard time figuring mine out until i finally got it to work easily and have done so every time since. Once the hoses are full of water, there is virtually no priming needed as long as the output is above the water as it will just us a natural siphon to fill up the can and push out the air through the output