Penn-PlaxCascade Canister Aquarium Filter (1200 Elite)

This filter is amazing. It is initially hard to prime as others stated. I ended up giving up and letting it go for a few hours and it eventually kicked on. I haven't had any issues since. I also fill up the canister before putting it back on. My tank has never looked better. It's on a 55 gallon south american cichlid tank. I just got it and now I'm turning their tanks into full ecosystems where I won't even need the filter. But it does kick a** and is worth the money.

I am overall very pleased with both of my Penn-Plax 1200 filters (one is this "elite" model, the other is the blue one). I used them for a turtle tank, so I need serious filtration with low water levels, and the Penn-Plax filters do an excellent job of keeping the water clean (gotta get that nitrogen cycle going first, of course). The motor on the filter is pretty quiet. I found the company's customer service both nice and helpful when I called about what I thought was a leaking filter - the issue was resolved with their advice. I love that the company sells just about every part of the filter as a replacement so that when there are problems people can repair it or only replace part of the filter. A thing like a filter is going to wear down over time, and it's much nicer to not always have to throw the whole thing out. I am giving the filter only 4 stars for the following reason, although if it was an option I'd probably give it 4.5/5.1. It can be really hard to prime the filter when you have a low water level tank. It's a heavy filter when it's full of water, too. The instructions that come with the pump make it sound easy to prime, but it isn't and I've had to search out some tricks all over the internet (like uncoupling the tube on the intake valve and pouring water into it to fully fill the canister). Sometimes I just can't get it going again after cleaning and walk away in frustration. Sometimes it manages to get itself going an hour or two later, and then other times it doesn't.2. The waster spray can be really loud in a low water level aquarium especially. I solved this by turning the spray against the back wall of the aquarium.3. The suction cups that hold the spray bars up regularly fail. My turtle doesn't care, but it's loud when it happens in the middle of the night and annoying to have to keep fixing. It would be nice, though, if the spray bar could be positioned lower.Yeah, that's about it. The difficulty priming is the big thing, really. It *can* be primed, I promise you, but it may never be easy.

UPDATEI bought a second one. The first one I bought is still going strong but I decided I wanted to increase my filtration so I could add more fish. I love this canister! I've been so happy with it. The gasket did break in the first one after several years of use. I contacted the manufacturer and they sent me a new one for $10. Great service. I highly recommend!UPDATEI've now had this filter for about 2 years. All but one of my fish are still alive and well (1 congo tetra died of old age) and I have had no issues with my filter. I still love it! It's very quiet. I can't hear it at all when I'm in the room with it. I clean it every couple of months (?)... probably not as often as I should, but I've seen no ill effects as a result. I do a weekly 15-20% water change. I have biofloss in all 4 filter baskets plus a carbon pack in one basket, ceramic rings/pellets in 2 baskets and a sponge in one basket. Everytime I clean the filter I replace all of the biofloss and the carbon pack. I change out the sponge every other time. I never replace the ceramic - that's where all of your good bacteria live, you want to keep those always! My fish are still ridiculously happy! 5 bosemoni rainbows, 5 turquoise rainbows, 5 red irian rainbows, 7 kuhli loaches, 2 Congo tetras, 1 molly, 2 angel fish.--------------------------------------I've had this filter for about 6 months for my 75 gallon freshwater tank. It's my first canister filter, so I was s little intimidated at first not knowing how to set up or maintain it. I have to say that set up was a breeze. Easy to do, easy to understand and pretty quick. It has kept my tank sparkling clean and my fish ridiculously happy! So you know the bioload of my tank, I have:5 red Irian rainbow fish5 bosemani rainbow fish5 turquoise rainbow fish3 Congo tetras5 kuhli loaches1 male guppy :)I clean the filter about every other month. I change all of the floss pads each time because they are always brown (tannins from the wood in my tank?) and they tend to be falling apart. I change out the carbon bag every time. I rinse the ceramic rings/bio media in chlorinated water. I change the black sponge as needed (not very often), usually I just rinse it out in chlorinated water. Cleaning the whole canister takes me about half an hour and is easy. The only hard part is how heavy it is when it's full of water. I have to get my husband to carry it to the sink for me! I use my filter in conjunction with an in line heater which has worked extremely well. I like the spray bar. The only issue I've had is the base of the canister cracked, presumably from the weight of it, but this is only superficial. It is not an area that is holding water. It's an extra plastic piece around the base. I contacted Penn Plax and they said they would send a replacement part. It's really not a big deal. I've noticed also that the Elite (which is what I have) only has black nozzles whereas the regular model has a black and a blue making it easier to distinguish between "in" and "out" hoses when disconnecting for cleaning. It's not a big deal, I tied a ribbon around the "in" hose, but I think it's weird that they didn't include that feature in the Elite. The elite came with lots of replacement media though which is nice. Very convenient.Overall, I'm super happy with my purchase! I highly recommend this filter!