SunSun Tech'n'Toy HW-603B 106 GPH 3-Stage External Canister Filter, 12 Piece Set

Bought this to start a new 10 Gallon planted aquarium. This has been extremely quiet, efficient, and kept my water clear. I did use "Chemi-Pure" blue all in one filter media inside this canister and I have not once opened the canister to clean it and my water levels are perfect. I have only needed to clean the water exit plastic piece where multiple hole water spout that easily comes off is. It did take a bit to get the hose on the actual pump however once its done its good to go. This was well worth every penny spent on it. No water changes needed just adding water to my tank every few weeks. I have lost 0 fish and my plants have been flourishing. Pictures show the 7 month progress. I am buying a second one of these for my other tank.

I have a 15 gallon tall tank that a hang on back filter just couldn't keep clean. Was going to go for an expensive name brand cannister filter setup, and then found this for cheap. WOW I was impressed! Lack of instructions and stuff, but once I figured it out, this is the BEST filter I have ever used! Its quiet, SUPER efficient, and super easy to use! Lack of instruction on which filter goes where, but if you start out with the course filter (black?) on top, and then go finer and finer to the bottom (to the thinner white filter), its best. I actually put a carbon media filter bag between the finest filter and the sponge filter and it clears the water up QUICK. This thing filters the dirty water through the lid to the bottom out through the pump. I also installed a primer bulb from a cleaner pump into the inlet hose (cut the hose about a foot back and installed it there) to prime the filter. Works great!

This thing work so good that I bought 2. But both of them failed after 2 years and leaked water all over my apartment multiple times. I assumed it was something i did wrong initially. But after a certain amount of time the wheels fall off. The final straw was when my outtake pump failed and couldn’t stay up right. No matter what I did to try and tighten the nut, it just kept falling over, and either twisted the tube causing water to pump out everywhere or the last straw for me was this slow leak. The gaskets are its critical failure point. Having 2 of these helped me realize they suck. The 1st one I purchased did this so I just put away, then the 2nd one did the exact same thing. This happened after a couple of years. Save yourself a headache and most likely the health of your aquarium and pay the extra money for a name brand. All these no-name Chinese companies are the same. Pump and dump. Again it works fine up till a 2-3 years. Then the gaskets fail. This is a critical failure point. Thank god I was home when it happened, it could have cause an electrical fire. Don’t risk your family’s or pets lives on this garbage.

I'm a "canister filter" kind of aquarist - been using those primarily since the 90's on my 55 gallon tanks, both Fluval and Eheim but partial to Eheim. Recently acquired a 9.1 gallon rimless "nano" tank that is housing 8 Neons, 2 Corys and a male Betta. With this fish load, I needed a more efficient yet unobtrusive filtration system: a canister filter. Had no idea they existed for nano tanks and was pleasantly surprised to find this one. Out of the box, it's a solid, nice looking canister that comes with all the bells and whistles. By putting the inlet at the top and the outlet at the bottom, water has no way to circumvent the media. Perfect, this is what I'm looking for first in any filter. There is no media cartridge but it has two plastic spacer grates that you place to keep the media from clogging the inlet/outlet. It comes with a bunch of foam filter media. I only use two of them right now. Was able to fit the following media: 1 bag of ChemiPure 1 bag of BioMax 1 bag of Ammo Chips (iabout 6" x 2") A couple of handfuls of Eheim sintered glass beads (loose) 2 of the filter foam pads it came with (coarse and fine) I had to remember the reverse media order as my Eheim on the 55 gallon has its inlet at the bottom and outlet at the top, with the pump in the lid... The inlet comes in several pieces and is adjustable from long to short. The outlet offers a spout or spraybar. The filter has only one shut-off valve. It's at the top - the inlet. No quick disconnect may be the only drawback but it's not the end of the world. Since the hoses are standard size, I will look for a set of quick disconnect valves. After assembly, I was able to start it up without any problem relating to trapped air: Started suction at the inlet hose valve and then closed the valve. Hooked up the valve to the lid. With all the media in the canister, I filled it up with filtered water, then seated the lid and opened the valve. With everything in place, I powered it up. It took a minute or so for the filter to run so quietly, I had to check the outlet to make sure it was working. Any initial gurgling went away all by itself. No leaks. Surprisingly, the pump does have quite a bit of oomph, despite the reviews to the contrary... And that is even with all the media I propped into it. So esp. with a Betta in the tank, I adjusted the spray bar in a way to keep the turbulence at a tolerable level while still oxygenating the water. Happy to report he is doing great. :) I am extremely pleased with this purchase. The price is very reasonable for a filter that rivals big names like Eheim. We'll just have to see how long the pump lasts... :) I will be sure to update this review to report progress. ***8/6/2016 UPDATE After 1 1/2 months of use, pump slowed down significantly, to maybe 1/4 of its original output. Doesn't even move the water surface in my small 9.1 gal tank. Filter wasn't dirty but still, I took the pump completely apart down to the impeller to check for clogs - all was clean. Ran filter without any media to rule out problems there and I'm getting the same result. Very frustrating. I'm hoping the seller has some answers. For now I'm downgrading to 1 star because the filter is useless with a properly functioning and reliable pump. ***Update I replaced the pump and it's been back to working fine... has been running reliably for several months now. Maybe I caught one with a dud pump.

This is an excellent product.

Ok for price

I purchased this item from seller M/s. Cloudtail India for Rs. 2027/- . Its a bit on the expensive side. But it is cheaper than its counterparts available in the market. Though it is Cheaper, it is still one of the reliable products available. Its value for the money. I have a planted tank set up of size 2.5ft x 0.85ft x 1.5ft. I have used this SunSun HW-603 Multistage Canister Filter in conjunction with SunSun HW-302 External Canister Filter. I have used this filter as Mechanical Filtration medium only. The Filter has 3 types of sponge or foam (coarse, medium and fine) along with a fine mesh for filtration purposes. It has an inlet stop valve and a pump attached to the canister at the outlet which can be removed for attaching the inlet and outlet tubing provided with accessories. The quality of tubing is good. The tubing is firm and takes a little bit of getting used to handling it. The inlet and outlet accessories are also of good quality. The canister is of good quality plastic and is sturdy. The lid has a rubber seal (O Ring) which seals the lid to the canister tightly with its soft plastic clips (these clips are not so strong so be careful while using it). I used the inlet and outlet accessories of HW302 Filter since my tank was big and attached the same to inlet tubing of HW603 and similarly the outlet tubing to the inlet of HW302 Filter (HW302 Filter was used for Bio Filtration only). The tubing easily slides inside the bigger tubing hence forming a tight seal. Before finishing the setup, I filled the HW603 canister with water from my tank to the brim; applied petroleum jelly (vaseline) on the rubber seal of the lid to get a tight seal and long life ( a tip i picked up from an youtube video for canister maintenance); sealed off the lid, opened the inlet stop valve, switched on the motor and let the water from my tank to flow through the tubing to the outlet (inside a bucket). Once the flow was established removing any air bubbles in the line, switched of the motor and closed the inlet stop valve and then proceeded for the remainder of the setup. The pump works very well has a good flow and its very quiet. There was no leakage observed during operation. Its working very well. There is a small leaflet (instruction manual) on how to set up the filter. This filter can be used for both mechanical and biological filtration by removing one of the sponges and replacing it with biological media. I left all the sponges intact except for the fine mesh. I added ceramic cylinders both at the top and bottom of the separators inside the canister and its works perfect. I have only started using it and for long term results, I shall update its status after six months.

buen producto,cumple su funcion perfecto. es muy silencioso a la fecha quedo genial en el acuario de 100 litros.

Worth money