Jayba Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 Well I purchased a Sun Sun 303b canister off of Ebay as merely a bio filter/water circulator for my 125 gallon cichlid tank. I currently have an fx5, i thought about power head to get rid of some dead spots at one end of the tank. I figured for 8o bucks why not give this a try, after all the fx5 doesn't have a ton of room inside for bio media. So this will help with bio filtration. It also has a 9w uv to boot. Well it rolled in earlier this week and first impressions are good. A little physically smaller than I thought, it claims to be able to run a 130 gallon tank. 370 gallons per hour. It comes with a filters and some carbon as well as a small handful of bioballs and biomax rings. After topping those up I set it up. Easy to prime, you just hit the big plunger on top to start the siphon, once it stops plug it in. It is quiet, and seems to move water pretty good. The instructions are not great, poorly translated, but anyone who is mechanically inclined wont need them. There are pictures Good enough for what I am doing with it. Would be perfect for a 55 or 75 o0r maybe a 90 gallon tank. We will see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishyFishy! Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 So this has a UV light built in? I was thinking of picking two of these up for my 110 Gallon cube. Bow valley aquariums has a bunch of these for cheap. They have the bigger ones for $150.00 too. Keep us updated. I'd like to know how well it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayba Posted March 27, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2010 I have been told they bear a striking resemblance to marineland filters, the pads etc are quite similar. Not sure who makes who but some of the reviews I have found have been favorable, and yep 9 watt uv built in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkangel Posted March 27, 2010 Report Share Posted March 27, 2010 They are a chinese knock off of the marineland filter, but work the same. I have the EFU-45 with built in UV, It's been running for 5 years without any problems. I have bio-balls in the 2 bottom trays, ceramic rings in the third tray, and a sponge in the top tray. I have mine on a 72 gal planted with an old school fluval 303 and I only clean them out once or twice a year. I have'nt replaced so much as an O-ring on mine and it still runs quiet and no leaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayba Posted May 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 Well this little bad boy has been running for about a month. I have zero complaints, packed it full of bio media and let 'er buck. It is incredibly quiet. I am thinking of adding one to my planted tank. Heck of a deal for 130 bucks landed at the door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceAquatics Posted May 22, 2010 Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 (edited) They are a chinese knock off of the marineland filter, but work the same. I have the EFU-45 with built in UV, It's been running for 5 years without any problems. I have bio-balls in the 2 bottom trays, ceramic rings in the third tray, and a sponge in the top tray. I have mine on a 72 gal planted with an old school fluval 303 and I only clean them out once or twice a year. I have'nt replaced so much as an O-ring on mine and it still runs quiet and no leaks. Actually, SunSun is the manufacturer of the marinland filters, so you do in fact have a simpler looking marinland canister. Bow Valley/Source Aquatics has the slightly larger ones on sale now for $125.00, however, ours do NOT have the built in UV light. A 9Watt UV is simply too weak to be pushing 370 gal/hr through and it really is just a gimmick. A minimum 30 watt UV would be needed to push that sort of volume through to get any real use out of it. Edited May 22, 2010 by SourceAquatics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baos Posted May 22, 2010 Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 Thought my sunsun powerheads were decent =-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceAquatics Posted May 22, 2010 Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 (edited) we have those too as well as internal filters (powerheads with prefilters) and they sure do pack a lot of power...quite too. Edited May 22, 2010 by SourceAquatics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLake Posted May 22, 2010 Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 What are your larger sunsuns rated for? I mean what size tank are they practical for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceAquatics Posted May 22, 2010 Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 we carry the HW-303A The ONLY difference between the 303B and 303A in the size of the canister and amount of media. the pump is the same and therefore the rating is the same. "upto" 120 gallons http://sourceaquatics.webs.com/filtersaccessories.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy Posted May 22, 2010 Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 How often do you have to replace these UV bulbs? I was under the impression UV lights stopped outputting UV after X hours of use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3LittleFish Posted June 13, 2010 Report Share Posted June 13, 2010 With the SunSun, to get enough circulation, do you need an additional power head for your size of tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceAquatics Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 With the SunSun, to get enough circulation, do you need an additional power head for your size of tank? what size of tank are you thinking of using one in? I ALWAYS over filter tanks. so for a 90 gallon tank, I would use 2 of the 303A's, a sponge filter and a internal filter or powerhead. THATS me though. most would say one 303A is more than enough for a 90 gal tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayba Posted June 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 With the SunSun, to get enough circulation, do you need an additional power head for your size of tank? Hard to say, I am using the spraybar with the end out of it just to move water, kind of like a hose running into the tank, more for the extra bio media than anything. So I really don't know, my FX5 moves alot of water, so it's hard to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolution Posted June 17, 2010 Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 A 9Watt UV is simply too weak to be pushing 370 gal/hr through and it really is just a gimmick. A minimum 30 watt UV would be needed to push that sort of volume through to get any real use out of it. Why support a company that deliberatly rips off people by misleading them with products that will not work? Is not what they do actually illeagal in this democratic society? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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