Aquatop CF-series canister filter (aka SUNSUN)

[bertie 83]

Now if I had a tight budget I would buy another. But I have many many eheims and even the most basic has impeccable build quality. They last forever. I have run down some of my tanks so the sun sun will soon be retired to the cupboard, where it will likely stay until I move

[Puffer King]

you can't knock eheim for build quality , pretty much the same for anything german made ....only thing they lack is raw power

[Dadof4]

Did have a panic when i opened the box , it had a chinese plug !! , flapped about for over half an hour on the ' interweb ' trying to find a solution then realised there was an adaptor staring me in the face , sticking out of the box !

This would worry me immensely. The adapters are know for being a moisture collection point due to some heat being given off and can short out.

[Puffer King]

nah gotta admit this adaptor is spot on , absolutely no chance of getting any moisture in it whatsoever . I simply wouldn't allow any moisture to be present around my electrics full stop . I don't know what a chinese to us adaptor looks like , but the chinese to uk one is very compact .

[Puffer King]

...oh and as for heat being given off , its stone cold .

[Puffer King]

All in all , I'd say pound for pound ( or dollar for dollar ) , sun sun and the many other rebranded names they use are fantastic value for money and with a eheim kits fitted , are pretty much bang on . Not really much else on the market if at all , that offers , big power , built in UV(which can be switched off for those who wish not to use it ) , and huge media capacity ....and all at a price that is almost to good to be true . Does make you question other manufacturers prices . Must be all in the profit margins i guess . 8/10 and with eheim kits fitted 9/10 .

[sevenyearnight]

Ok, I've been running my Sunsun HW303B since the 30 th of Dec, and thought I would add my review.
Appearance: 10/10 This canister looks like a sexy robot. It's larger than I thought it would be, but it does house a 9 watt UV internally.
Build Quality: 8/10 I would give this a lower score if everything were not made much cheaper than they used to be 10 - 20 years ago. The canister is solid enough, but the intake attachment is very flimsy. The spraybar however was not as dinky as I was expecting. There are a lot of pieces you can attach, but if you just use the elbow and spraybar piece it's solid and did not restrict the flow any significant amount. The unit is dead silent and had an American plug. The UV can be turned off, so that is pretty important.
Ease of use: 10/10 Even though the instructions are Engrish Fail, they were still understandable. With the attachment mounted properly in the tank, and the canister placed under the tank, the large priming button is "pressing forcibly and leave it immediately The blue buckle will rebound." After the canister filled, I plugged it in and it started working with no issue. Also, when I needed to open the canister, it was as simple as unplugging it, pulling the lever to close the input and output hoses, then they easily remove from the main unit so you can carry it away for maintenance.
Energy Efficiency: 7/10 This unit runs on 35 watts of energy, an Eheim of similar specifications uses 16 watts, and a Fluval 22 watts.
Overall: 8.75/10

[J-P]

Energy Efficiency: 7/10 This unit runs on 35 watts of energy, an Eheim of similar specifications uses 16 watts, and a Fluval 22 watts.
Overall: 8.75/10

Do the Eheim and Fluval canisters have the UV also? That may be where some of the discrepancy lies.

[sevenyearnight]

I should add that the Sunsun model HW303 without a UV also uses 35 watts.

[Puffer King]

Energy Efficiency: 7/10 This unit runs on 35 watts of energy, an Eheim of similar specifications uses 16 watts, and a Fluval 22 watts.
Overall: 8.75/10

Do the Eheim and Fluval canisters have the UV also? That may be where some of the discrepancy lies.

The UV in the sun sun 's are usually 9w , which is calculated seperately to the motors usage ...ie a 35w with UV running would push power consumption upto 44w .
They seem to do 2 versions of the 1000, 1400 and 2000lph one with UV and one without .

[Puffer King]

Quoted power consumption and flow rate claims especially do vary a lot with filters , especially some of the big brand names . One of the key things is media capacity , which is probably one the most important to . Example a canister with small media capacity will/should have a high flow rate and low ish power consumption , whereas a canister with a higher media capacity may also have a high flow rate , but will have a slightly higher power consumption ..ie it has to do more work to draw the water through the larger amount of media .

[bertie 83]

Or the eheims which hold masses of media and use naff all electric. Also will last forever. You just cannot generalise like that. It's all about build and technology, you cant compare a ford with a mercedes for example

[Puffer King]

Or the eheims which hold masses of media and use naff all electric. Also will last forever. You just cannot generalise like that. It's all about build and technology, you cant compare a ford with a mercedes for example

yes but what eheims lack is high end flow rate , hence low power consumption .

[bertie 83]

I have to disagree I get the flow promised with eheims not necessarily with others. I think one of the only other people who will agree with me here is rtr, you get what you pay for full stop.

[Puffer King]

I have to disagree I get the flow promised with eheims not necessarily with others. I think one of the only other people who will agree with me here is rtr, you get what you pay for full stop.

No canister filters pump out there stated flow rate . What im saying is that eheim fall short of top flow rates compared to what other manufacturers have on the market. You certainly do get what you pay for . The question is , is it really worth paying over the odds when there are other products out there that do the job for a fraction of the cost . Then again i suppose its all about ' branding ' , people do like to pay for a name .