Goodbye HOB!

In the last 2 years I've gone through 6 HOB filters and I'm done with it.

I woke up today, my AC70 not working on my 46g. It drained itself for some reason and the motor burned itself out. Not the first time this has happened either.


Cleaned it out, let it sit, refilled it and plugged it back in, nope its dead, won't run.

To heck with that, so much money down the drain with HOB. Decided to splurge on a canister. Looked at a few to get an idea what I wanted, went to price around.

Theres a Fluval Fx4 on black Friday sale for $100 off. Done deal lol


So gonna play musical filters and put this one on my largest tank.

Fun on the horizon, huh? Enjoy the install and larger capacity!

FLUVAL LESSS GOOOO.

Lol, I know people always scoff at the price of canisters, and they ARE on the pricey side. I do love my 207 though, worth every penny, low profile, whisper quiet.
If I was able to find a 107, I would have gone with that, as the flow rate is pretty quick, but for anything larger than a 15gal, I’ll stick with my canisters...

Not sure why you have had so much trouble with the AquaClear HOB filters, I had an AC50 on my old 29 gallon setup for over four years and never had a problem. One thing I did have a problem with a Fluval C4 HOB. But I am almost certain that had to do with my sand substrate, getting sand sucked up into the motor impeller and ruining it. But it never stopped running it just got unbearably loud.

Lately I have setup a new 29 gallon tank, with an AquaClear 70 and it is so quite, loving it. On my 55 gallon I have a Sunsun HW-3000, but only for about a month now and so far I'm loving it also. It is half the price of the Fluval FX4, leaving more money for other things.

Woohoo, congratulations on your sale find!!! I assume with a broken filter you already set the baby up, how did it go?

HOBs just sound way too fragile and expensive. I am a big fan of over filtration, with an internal filter and a sponge filter in all my tanks. both of which are very cheap filters.

2tank said:

HOBs just sound way too fragile and expensive. I am a big fan of over filtration, with an internal filter and a sponge filter in all my tanks. both of which are very cheap filters.

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absolutely right on those accounts. But I had the budget, and the desire and want for the canister, and it was the right choice for me.

there is a time and place for every type of filter (arguably). I can guarantee there is going to be a sponge filter that has a place in my setups in the near future...

Never had a canister filter, just maybe never saw the need for it. (I also don’t have that big of tanks)

PheonixKingZ said:

Never had a canister filter, just maybe never saw the need for it. (I also don’t have that big of tanks)

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that is exactly why I would never advocate for canisters as be all and end all to filtration. I just had the budget and the want, so it fits for me.

Naterjm said:

Lol, I know people always scoff at the price of canisters, and they ARE on the pricey side. I do love my 207 though, worth every penny, low profile, whisper quiet.
If I was able to find a 107, I would have gone with that, as the flow rate is pretty quick, but for anything larger than a 15gal, I’ll stick with my canisters...

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Well I was gonna go for the 207 or an eheim classic, but checked in store to see if the prices were better there than on Amazon.
The fx4 was more money but for a far better deal for what it is. Was $100 more than the 207 that was on sale, but 207 good for tanks up to 45g, the fx4 up to 250g ill take the fx4 thanks lol
Ive spent as much money on the HOBs that broke than I did buying the one canister today.

Utar said:

Not sure why you have had so much trouble with the AquaClear HOB filters, I had an AC50 on my old 29 gallon setup for over four years and never had a problem. One thing I did have a problem with a Fluval C4 HOB. But I am almost certain that had to do with my sand substrate, getting sand sucked up into the motor impeller and ruining it. But it never stopped running it just got unbearably loud.

Lately I have setup a new 29 gallon tank, with an AquaClear 70 and it is so quite, loving it. On my 55 gallon I have a Sunsun HW-3000, but only for about a month now and so far I'm loving it also. It is half the price of the Fluval FX4, leaving more money for other things.

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AC50 #1--shell cracked and leaked.
AC50 #2--motor fried sucking up plants
AC20--filter drained itself and motor fried
Topfin20--sand got in the motor
Topfin75--hand sanitizer contamination in the tank and filter was thrown out.
AC70--drained itself and motor fried.

I took the motor from the leaky shell and put it on the 50 that the motor fried, so thats gonna run until its done, then it'll be swapped out too. But that's gonna go on my 46g. The cannister is on my 55 now.

mcordelia said:

Woohoo, congratulations on your sale find!!! I assume with a broken filter you already set the baby up, how did it go?

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Got the canister all set up and running, took some time as ive never put together one before nor ever ran it. The fish are loving the flow. The canister is on my 55, and the filter that was on the 55 is going onto my 46 since I've got fish who hate flow in that tank anyways lol

PheonixKingZ said:

Never had a canister filter, just maybe never saw the need for it. (I also don’t have that big of tanks)

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I dont think I'd bother putting one on my smaller tanks, but I do run 2 filters on every tank anyways. Usually 1 sponge and 1 HOB or Internal. Just a bit extra for mechanical filtration. Been really happy with the pennplax cascade internals for my smaller tanks particularly.

Naterjm said:

that is exactly why I would never advocate for canisters as be all and end all to filtration. I just had the budget and the want, so it fits for me.

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Yes, this. If HOB didn't keep failing on me... lol theyre cheaper up front but im finding I do not work well with them. On my last HOB now, once it's gone, forget it lol
The cost of the canisters is what has kept me from them before. But ill view it as an investment for something thats actually gonna last me since I have weird bad luck with HOB. And sponge just isn't enough mechanical filtration for me, but I love sponge too so I run those as well.
Despite a filter breaking down, no cycle lost because my 46 has 2 sponge filters in it as well anyways just needs the better mechanical filtration.

NCaquatics said:

AC50 #1--shell cracked and leaked.
AC50 #2--motor fried sucking up plants
AC20--filter drained itself and motor fried
Topfin20--sand got in the motor
Topfin75--hand sanitizer contamination in the tank and filter was thrown out.
AC70--drained itself and motor fried.

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There seems to be a common theme here. And from the look of the tank in your first post, the water level is down a few inches from the top. That could be part of the problem.

The motors on hang on the back (HOB) style filters needs to be lower than the water level in the aquarium. If the motor is higher than the water level, there can be problems.

If you have a power failure, the motor will stop drawing water into the filter and the water level in the filter will automatically drain down to the water level of the tank. If the tank's water level is lower then the motor, the intake pipe will not be primed with water and the filter will not automatically refill when the power comes back on, and the motor will run dry.

External canister filters like Eheim and Fluval normally sit lower than the tank (although they can sit next to the tank) and are connected by hoses. If there is a power failure, the hoses remain full of water and the filter remains full of water. This means the motor and filter case are always primed and ready to start as soon as power is restored.

Have you had any power failures lately?

While I'm reluctant to toss in a sponge filter permanently, I like the idea of a one in reserve for emergencies, like a power outage. When this item comes to the top of the "things to do" list, this kit would include a dedicated UPS, plug-in or battery air pump, a HOB refugium and a complete sponge filter. For a reletively small price (depending on the UPS) I'll have life support capacity in a power-outage.

663 said:

While I'm reluctant to toss in a sponge filter permanently, I like the idea of a one in reserve for emergencies, like a power outage. When this item comes to the top of the "things to do" list, this kit would include a dedicated UPS, plug-in or battery air pump, a HOB refugium and a complete sponge filter. For a reletively small price (depending on the UPS) I'll have life support capacity in a power-outage.

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You could also find different options. Instead of investing in battery back up USB equipment, you could look into a portable battery bank, it will store enough power to run your aquarium and other devices. They are available in different wattages and amp hours, can be charged off of a car battery, so you can skip the generator etc. It will more than support an aquarium in a short term power outage.

Colin_T said:

There seems to be a common theme here. And from the look of the tank in your first post, the water level is down a few inches from the top. That could be part of the problem.

The motors on hang on the back (HOB) style filters needs to be lower than the water level in the aquarium. If the motor is higher than the water level, there can be problems.

If you have a power failure, the motor will stop drawing water into the filter and the water level in the filter will automatically drain down to the water level of the tank. If the tank's water level is lower then the motor, the intake pipe will not be primed with water and the filter will not automatically refill when the power comes back on, and the motor will run dry.

External canister filters like Eheim and Fluval normally sit lower than the tank (although they can sit next to the tank) and are connected by hoses. If there is a power failure, the hoses remain full of water and the filter remains full of water. This means the motor and filter case are always primed and ready to start as soon as power is restored.

Have you had any power failures lately?

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I can preach from the same book as this post.

my canister has a priming function on it. However, whenI’m doing large water changes, and the water dips below the output, I get some weird gurgling sounds. Once I refill the tank and try to prime the filter, nothing happens. The canister always seems to be filled with water and ready to go.

The HOB on my 10 gal though, I don’t dare plug it back in during a water change unless I have scooped water into it to have it ready to pump water.