Reddit reviews SunSun HW-302 3-Stage External Canister Filter, 264 GPH

Sorry your NatGeo ones keep breaking. :( This is the filter I have, SunSun HW-302

I know it's the "cheaper" brand, but mine has been running since September 2013 and I haven't had any problems with it. It still runs quiet, doesn't leak, and simple to assemble. My only complaint was that the instructions that it came with were not for the model I bought, so I had to find a YouTube video to figure it out because it was my first canister filter, haha

$30 for a 3 stage canister filter, rated for 70g: http://www.amazon.com/SunSun-HW-302-3-Stage-External-Canister/dp/B00892EN22/ref=sr_1_69?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1371902926&sr=1-69&keywords=canister

Highly recommend the SunSun HW-302. Mine has run dry for hours multiple times because of power outages, etc., and it still runs great. I bought a second one because I thought my first one finally died but then it came back to life.

If you don't want to go the canister filter method (which I highly recommend) I would go with an aquaclear. They're much better than these, and you can put whatever media you want in there so it's much more versatile than these. I had the penguin 350 and it's ok, but an aquaclear 110 would be your best bet. It's more expensive than these but far far far far better.

http://www.amazon.com/AquaClear-110-Aquarium-Power-Filter/dp/B000260FV6

However, like I said, canister is the way to go. I use one of these on my tank and it's amazing. I used to use ehiems, but these are much cheaper and work just as well http://www.amazon.com/SunSun-HW-302-3-Stage-External-Canister/dp/B00892EN22/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1426534978&sr=1-3&keywords=sunsun+canister+filter

This should do nicely:

https://www.amazon.com/SunSun-HW-302-3-Stage-External-Canister/dp/B00892EN22

Sunsun HW-302 Theyre amazing

Yea, I recently through a sunsun 302 on my 20 long, because why not they are only $40. link for OP This seller has 20 and if you buy a couple he may give to a deal on shipping.

I'm two weeks in to my switch from a HOB to a Sunsun canister and I have no clue how I survived without the Sunsun. I love it. It's virtually silent, moved much more water, better flow... I adore it. Very easy to put together(Aside from the pipes, I had to stare at them for a couple minutes and try to find my center of peace). Make sure that you trim your hoses appropriately, though. It makes priming seriously easy.

This is the one I got. Pretty basic, but a great price for what you get! I have it in my 20 tall.

Here are the few pictures he has. We just moved into our own place a few months ago, and we've been so busy with house work., it's a little overrun with algae.

Here is what he wrote up about it:

My 29 gallon Amazon biotype.

Flora:

Echinodorus bleheri, Broad leaf Amazon Sword

Echinodorus 'Kleiner Bar', Kleiner Bar Amazon Sword

Sagittaria subulata, Dwarf Sagittaria

Limnobium laevigatum, Amazon Frogbit

Fauna:

3 Microgeophagus altispinosus, Bolivian Ram

8 Paracheirodon spp., Neon Tetra, Green Neon Tetra

4 Corydoras panda, Panda Cory

Equipment:

Marineland C360 knockoff: SunSun HW-302

Inline heater

108w T5HO fluorescent growlight fixture (2 6400k bulbs)

High tech CO^2 system: 20oz CO^2 tank with inline diffuser.

Substrate: black diamond pool filter sand​

http://www.amazon.com/SunSun-HW-302-3-Stage-External-Canister/dp/B00892EN22/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1426904661&sr=1-3&keywords=sunsun+canister+filter

This is what I have on my 40g Turtle tank. Get some Seachem Matrix or look for the sunsun media kits and fill the top 2 baskets with it. Get some plastic pot scrubbers for the bottom tray to put under the stock filter pads, and find some sort of coarse pad to go in between the scrubbies and the pad.

Also, get some thread seal tape for the intake tubes if your water level isn't to the top of the tank, or you'll have problems with priming.

You should easily be able to stay under $100 and get a solid filter going.

I actually will support SunSun- good quality for cheap. This one is great for your tank, I just ordered one too

The SunSun Filters seem to be the best bang for your buck but I never had them. I have had a fluval 405 for years and I love it but the next one will be a sunsun its half the price.

Sunsun 302

That Fluval filter is really good. I have the Fluval 406 and it has done extremely well. I know they're expensive but I also have the Sun-Sun HW302 without the Antibacterial UV light inside it on my hatchling tank, and it runs just as great. Here's a link to the sun sun I have.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00892EN22/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1453762040&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=sunsun+hw+302&dpPl=1&dpID=41YYhADjDJL&ref=plSrch

And as for gravel, I've never used it personally. The turtles don't care if they have rocks or sand or even just glass on the bottom. It's more aesthetically pleasing to the human owners though, the turtles won't care one way, or another.

Ahh okay, be careful with used tanks. Inspect the seals and make sure they're all intact and not coming off. Ideally, the guy would fill it to show that it still holds water too.

A drop checker is an indicator of how much CO2 is in the tank. Here's an explanation of how they work:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/26-planted-tank-faq/136571-~explanation-how-drop-checker-works~.html

I'm not sure how well this one would work on a 20g long (the output might be too strong), but it's certainly a cheaper option:

https://www.amazon.com/SunSun-HW-302-3-Stage-External-Canister/dp/B00892EN22

http://www.amazon.com/SunSun-HW-302-3-Stage-External-Canister/dp/B00892EN22/ref=sr_1_15?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1417406372&sr=1-15&keywords=filter

Just found this. Well within my price range and a canister. Go for it?

No worries! Sunsun is a brand of canister filter, I have a 302 on this tank

I have always used Fluval canister filters, and they work great for me. You should be able to get a nicely over powered one for even less than that. Here's one on amazon. I have two of them, one on a 70 gallon and one on a 55. One is about a year old and the other is about three years old. No broken parts, but the smaller one did start to drip a bit. It just needed a $10 replacement seal and it was as good as new. Honestly, it was my fault for never lubricating it to keep it from drying out. Other than that they work well. I have duckweed in my tanks and it hasn't let any get as far as the impeller, which would be disastrous.

Also, Sunsun is kind of an off brand but very economical. They come with a low powered UV sterilizer built into the canister which is pretty cool. It does have an on/off switch just for the UV, so you can leave it off until you need it to clear up algae or something. They don't come with any media, just some thin foam inserts that aren't good for much, but overall it is a great value. There is also a lot of room in these for custom media, which is nice. The fluvals have baskets as well, but only for half of the canister and the other half you are limited to using foam strips. The Sunsun is nothing but large baskets filling the canister with a hole down the middle for flow and the UV light. Here's a Sunsun on amazon.

I've noticed prices on canister filters go up and down quite a bit on amazon. I was shopping for one a few weeks ago and saw that the largest Sunsun was about $150. I waited a couple days and it went down to $100 and I snagged it. It just got here and the thing is absolutely massive. Lots of room to play with. I haven't started using it yet, so I can't tell you much about the quality and effectiveness, but all of the accessories (pipes, spray bars, etc.) aren't the best quality, but certainly not cheap feeling.

If you want to really have some fun you could easily build your own canister filter. Just get a wet/dry fountain pump and the proper adapters to connect it to some PVC tubing and some flexible tubing to go up to the aquarium. Get some 6" PVC to use as the canister and some large media socks to fill up and drop in. You can get some bulk foam to use for mechanical filtration and wedge those in there as well. Be sure to add stages of mechanical filtration, getting more and more fine as the water progresses. You can get a power head to pull the water back into the aquarium for about the same as the Sunsun or less. This would probably be the best quality of all the options since you could, if you wanted, have a few feet of of the 6" PVC, holding more biological media than any other canister. Also, with this you could customize the amount of flow, which would be nice for the betta.