I bought this Zoo Med canister filter to replace a horrible submersible filter that came as a kit with my 6.5 gallon aquarium. It works flawlessly, is silent and does an excellent job on my tank. I have a pretty heavy load in my tank as I have a betta and 3 African dwarf frogs, in a planted tank. Setting up the filter was easy but I previously had an Eheim canister filter on my last tank, so I have experience with canister filters. I did run into 1 issue during set up as I could not get the top off, so I called Zoo Med and their customer service is excellent, which says a lot. They answer the phone, so there’s no waiting for an email response, etc. What I ended up doing re: the top, was to put my thumb in the fill hole and pull up from there, which worked perfectly! The canister has a divider in the middle, so it gives you plenty of options for any type of filtration, you want to add. It comes with a round blue sponge for mechanical filtration, that fits in one side, and has a bag of carbon and ceramic media that fits in the other side. I included a pic. of the ceramic media and carbon bag. I opted not to use either on the other side as my tank is live planted, I fertilize my plants and the carbon would filter it out. The carbon is great for filtering out medication in case a fish gets sick and you need to medicate it. Using the carbon bag when done, will filter the remaining medication out of your tank. Just a note, the carbon is very dusty, so be sure to rinse it well until water runs clear, before using it. Using the carbon in a tank that you don’t fertilize/has fake plants, would work fine imo, but I’ve only had live planted tanks. I also did not use the ceramic media included as I’m a huge fan of Seachem Matrix for biological filtration, so I’m using that in place of their ceramic media, which just boils down to personal choice. I see nothing wrong with the media included with this canister filter. I was extremely happy to find a canister filter for a small tank. This filter also gives you the option of using a spray bar or a diffuser, which is a nice touch. I opted to use the spray bar and I positioned the holes of the bar toward the back of my tank, to disperse the flow, so there wouldn’t be a lot of current for my betta and frogs. I included a couple pics of how I have the inside media set up in the canister. I love the versatility you have with the canister. One flaw with this is, there is no screw to secure the tubing to the spray bar, so it could end up disconnecting. I resolved that by placing a suction cup on the plastic elbow in my tank that connects to the spray bar. That way, if it does happen to disconnect, the elbow is held in place with the suction cup and the water will still stay in the tank. I highly recommend this canister filter to anyone, looking for a good filter, media versatility and to free up some space in a smaller tank. I had the original submersible filter in my tank for a couple weeks before getting this canister. I’ve already changed the floss, cleaned the sponge and rinsed the media in some tank water, as it filtered out plenty, in just over two weeks. Also, this canister filter needs to be at the same height as the bottom of your tank. My tank sits on my breakfast bar and when I first took it out of the box, it seemed pretty light and I was worried my cat might knock it over. But when filled with media & water, the canister is extremely sturdy and have had no issues with it being knocked over. Plus, Zoo Med includes rubber feet for the canister, which silence any vibration and stops it from being slippery/falling over, etc. All in all, this filter and Zoo Med’s customer service get an A+++++ rating, from me!!
