ok guys i finally broke down a while back and bought one of the cansiter filters that nickie sue recomended and the thing works great i have it on my 125 along with some hob help just to be safe now i am looking for a canister filter for my wifes oscar brutis ( bubbles and brutis cannot be housed together... bubbles is a bully) since he will eventually be housed in a larger tank than what he is in now and as i am looking i find the rena xp4 rated at 260 gallon tank i just dont understand how there rating system is working since the canister i use for my larg tank moves an filters more water than the xp4

Then buy another one of those silly! I would!

dugh thats what i told him but dose he listen Nooooooooo

most likely the other filter has a larger container to hold media. its not all about flow rate, the amount of media it holds and water volume needs to be considered too.

the xp4 contains ALOT of media lol, i have 2 of them .
they come with a set of filter sponges, some bio-star (rena bioballs)), and a carbon filtration pad. one of the 4 compartments comes empty to allow you to put your own media of your choice in it. i bought some fluval ceramic rings and put in mine. eventually im going to remove the carbon filtration and put ceramic rings in that section too. so far im happy with it


this particular filter in that photo was not running. i had "just" installed it in that picture. box states it flows 450 gph and has a rating for tanks up to 265 gallons.

in lieu of carbon, i suggest a synthetic fiber as polishing media.... it collects
the dust particles effectively making the water crystal clear....

yes, flow rate differ by wattage and filter media contents.....

if you have the funds available dont dick around with little filters and buy yourself an fx5. it holds more media than any other filter on the market. is rated for a 400 gallon tank and has a maximum flowrate of 925 gallons per hours.
they can usually get picked up off of ebay for around $250 and will satify all your filtration needs.

X2!!! Great filter!

hey win are those the hose clamps that come with the filter or did you pick those up seperate?? and necro if i could find a fx5 that cheap ill be on it like white on rice man lol all the ones i have found are running 300 or a little more of course if i didn't have silly things like the mortgage i could really have fun but then again i have my other check mechanism... the wife

BB, I bought my FX5 off of ebay for 186.00. Check there!!

I myself prefer Marineland products. Here is a great quality filter at a lower price of some of the less efficient filters.
Marineland Multi-Stage Canister Filter C-530.

ya i def agree with you codeman i run on both my tanks canisters and they run extreamly well never have a prob with the tanks when they are running