Marineland Magniflow Canister Filter 220 GPH For aquariums, Easy Maintenance

Initially I gave the Marineland magniflow 220 a poor review for my turtle tank. The freshly changed water had gotten cloudy after only two days, faster than my previous smaller filter and I was disappointed. However on the 3rd day I came home from work and the water had become almost clear. I had not cleaned the tank. On the 4th day I couldn’t believe the clarity! The 1st pic is a comparison between the 220 external filter and a smaller size L Tetra Whisper filter (with a much smaller turtle) the day after tanks were cleaned. The next 2 pics are 2 weeks later. Neither tank has been cleaned yet (but I have to do the little turtle’s tank today). The Marineland Magniflow 220 is doing very well for my blind snapper rescue…and, as are all turtles, Dylan is a pretty dirty boy. Thumbs up for this product.

OK. This is a long review but it's 100% an honest one. I've never used a canister filter before, and honestly was really only getting this one as a hail Mary because I didn't know what else to do.A few weeks before my decision to buy this canister filter, my 75 gallon gold fish tank with 8 gold fish (none really very big) that had been up and going fine for 3 years crashed. To this day I don't know what happened-i came home to find my fish floating on their sides and gasping and their water was near the consistency of foam. I've never seen anything like this and I've got dozens of tanks and types of fish and have had fish for years.I lost all except for my black moor and one gold fish. I downgraded them to a 36 gallon (and got the other 3 smaller fish in the pics as their new roomies) and had their tank set up for 2 months. Water tests were fine but my water was frustratingly not clear like all my other tanks. Then my ammonia levels started getting ridiculous.I decided to try to get this canister filter, figuring if it didn't work, I'd literally tried all that me, my husband, 2 FB groups, and my local ma and pa pet supply shop could think of. I'd never had a canister filter before and didn't wanna buy a really expensive one for my first one because, to be honest, I was 100% sure I was throwing away my money.I watched a couple YouTube videos to get the gist of what I was doing. I filled the canister up with water from my tank, then added new water as a water change to my fish, primed it and got it running.Honestly for the first few days I was unimpressed. The same cloudy was visible, and we were not really seeing a difference but I figured I'd give it a bit and see.Wow. Wish I'd taken a before picture now.Before, you couldn't see halfway to the back of the tank---now, it's like crystal clear and sparkling! My water tests are perfect and my fish are definitely more active and happier.I'm not saying I'm gonna replace my aquaclear filters-which are tried and true and doing great one every other tank I have, but I am definitely saying that this filter not only exceeded my expectations, but has also greatly improved the health of my fish.I also want to say, I only really had -and honestly probably still have- just the most basic of ideas of how canister filters worked and I got this thing up and running entirely on my own in under 40 minutes. Yeah I had to pump that button to where I thought my arms were gonna fall off but take a hint: put water from your tank in it to get it started! I don't know that I'd put this on a huge tank but for my 36 bowfront and 5 fancy goldies it's doing incredible and was well worth the risk and time and money!

Update Review:I changed my review from 4 stars to 1 star because my Magniflow 360 still leaks and Marineland doesn't seem to actually want to help me resolve this, despite me being patient. Here is a timeline of what's happened:1. I ordered the Magniflow 360 on August 15th, it arrived on August 17th, and I tried to hook it up on August 18th, when I discovered the leak. I tried adding silicone grease to the gasket, as others have suggested, and it didn't work.2. On August 19th, I called Marineland for advice and they concluded that they should send me a new gasket.3. On September 2nd, I didn't have the gasket, so I emailed their customer service rep to ask her about it and patiently waited for her to respond.4. On September 12th, I called their support again because I hadn't heard anything. That rep said he saw me in the system, but it looked like the first rep hadn't taken any action on it. They were out of gaskets, so he sent me a new one.5. On September 16th, I received the new unit and hooked it up on the 18th. That one also leaked badly.6. I emailed the rep to let him know and to ask him if I could just get a refund. The Amazon return policy expired on the September 16th, so I couldn't return it to Amazon. He didn't respond to my email, though.7. Today (September 23rd), I called customer service again. The person I spoke with said they don't do refunds or credits except in exceptional circumstances and it's up to me to get it working. He also suggested that I didn't hook it up according to the engineering specifications which are:a. The inflow/outflow must be < 12" apart (mine are 13.5" in a 105 hex)b. The tubes must be the same length (mine are 1/2" different in length)c. There shouldn't more than 2" of slack (mine has about 4" of slack)I'm going to try to call them again on Monday (when the customer service manager is back) to see if that person can help me out. Right now, I feel like I burned $145.00 and their customer service reps don't seem to acknowledge that this product is faulty (just see all of the other reviews complaining about leaks).Original Review:I have bought all three of these filters (160, 220, and 360) for three different tanks. Overall, they are pretty good with some flaws:1. Good filter media included.2. Easy to prime.3. Fairly quiet.Some flaws:1. The tubing is too rigid. The rigidity of the tubes makes the outflow, in particular, difficult to place with the suction cup.2. My 220 produces a lot of microbubbles. I had to re-attached the tubing a few times to get it to stop doing that.3. My 360 has a serious leak. It leaks a few gallons per hour and the leaks come from under the handles. I called Marineland and they are sending me a new gasket. I'll update this review once I get it.