Magnum 350 Pro System

[1800higgins]

Anyone have any experience with this system? I have a 55g tank and plan on housing African Cichlids in it and I'm thinking about grabbing this. I just wanted to know if anyone else had it and could give me feedback on this system.

 

[Tolak]

There's one on the 72 gallon at work. I don't like the inflexability of media compared to other canisters. The hoses & connectors are flimsy, the owner of the tank had to buy another after a few years due to leakage. The gaskets started to leak as well.

I can't figure why he bought another one, other than 350 magnum sounds manly. He gave me the old one, it's sitting around until I get a chance to rebuild it with automotive gaskets & some serious hoses. I would spend a few extra bucks & get an Eheim 2215.

 

[srolfe]

I agree that it is somewhat inflexible. I disagree that the connectors are flimsy. I have the quick disconnects on mine and they work very well. I would not use it as the primary filter on a non planted tank. But it is superb as a mechanical filter when using the micron filter or using the media container and stuffing it with floss.

For a 55G, I would first get a Emperor 400 or a AC110 power filter.

 

[1800higgins]

I was thinking first about the Emperor 400... But for some reason this system really appealed to me.

I'd like to hear some more reviews of this system. Anyone else have it too?

Also, thanks to you 2 for posting so far.

 

[srolfe]

If you want to use this as your primary filter consider this:

You need to have mechanical, biological and (sometimes) chemical filtration.

The Magnum has a media container that you can use in several ways. You can fill it with biological media and use the filter sleeve for mechanical filtration. The sleeve, however just filters coarse material and does not do a very good job in removing fine material.

You can use the micron filter which will give you outstanding water clarity, but will have to be cleaned in 4-7 days as it clogs rapidly. Also no Biological Filtration.

You can use the media container with floss and the filter sleeve-almost as good as the micron filter.

If you want to use this filter as your only filter, I would buy the Pro kit which includes the BIO-Wheel Pro 60
which would give you your biological filtration along with mechanical filtration.

The times in which you would need to use charcoal, you can fill the media canister with charcoal and use the filter sleeve for a few days.

 

[1800higgins]

Heh, I was planning on the Pro system... Hence the thread title.