I am thinking up upgrading my filtration on my tank. I am looking at getting the Rena Filstar XP3. Does anyone have any experience with this or like filters? Right now I am running two HOB penguin power filters. I know it is an upgrade (vastly) on the amount of filtration. But I am concerned on the noise this will make. I have never used a canister filter before. Are they noisy? My Oscar tank is in my bedroom... and my girlfriend already complains that my power filters are to noisy.

Thanks

I haven't used one of the filters you are referring but canister filters aren't normally noisy, the noisy part is the water coming back into the tank.

ive got 4 fluval canisters running in my garage and u can hear anything,if yr canister is a good make it shouldnt be noisy i hv heard some of these cheap chinese rip offs that r pretty noisy

Is the RENA brand a "cheap chinese rip-off" brand?

The Rena Filstar is a much overlooked canister filter. It is very reasonably priced, easy to set up, reliable, easy to maintain and is available in four different sizes. I've been running an xp2 on my 55 for the last year with no problems at all. It has extra media baskets in it for any kind of media you want to add. I'm going to invest in a second one soon for my 125.

I have a rena running on my discus tank and it is very quiet. As OFL says the only noise will be from the water going back into the tank but if you have your water level right you will not get any noise. You need to set things up so that the outlet pipe ripples the water without causing it to be noisy. One of the reason i like fluvals so much is that you can adjust the outlet pipe to any height you like whereas a lot of others are at a fixed height (like the rena). The reason for this is that the rena has fixed sections of pipe that connect together whereas the fluval has a flexi pipe and a guide that the pipe bends and clips into

If you afford it go for the XP4, you cant over filter and if you upgrade your tank you will not have to buy another filter

Thank you everyone. I just put in my order. I went with the XP3. It is enough for my tank... and if I do end up upgrading my tank, it will be more of an addition than an upgrade. I would need another filter anyways.

Thank you all

I have been running the cascade canister filter by Penn
and it isn't noisey at all again just the return of the water which you should be able to adjust to be less noisey.
The only think I didn't like on the cascade was a big filter and they give you these short intakes when I went to the aquarium to see if the had extensions he said do you know you are the first one in 5 years that every asked for them. I have a 150 high and the intake only comes down 1/2 way. I would like and think that if it were closer to the bottom it would clean better ????