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Bargain filter unit with UV

They are actually pretty good.. price is superb and build quality/reliability is excellent... have a google on reviews and have a look yourself.

I use/have used most of the range and i know many others that have and they all have nothing but excellent things to say about them.

The only fault i can come to is the spray bar isn't the best and has a habit of becoming a little brittle and can crack, other than that i would say go for it :)
 
I have only heard good reports about them on a number of forums that I use,they seem to be well built and do exactly what they are supposed to.
Although there are a couple of down sides one is that the media supplied is not the greatest,most people dont use bio balls in a canister filter there is far better bio media available,also most dont use carbon all the time.
The uv is next to useless at the flow rate of the canister,I have always been told that 10 GPH per watt of UV is the generally accepted rate required to kill most aquarium pathogens,so if we assume that the filter will turnover roughly 70% of advertised figure of 2000 liters(440 uk gallons) that is 1400 liters(307 gallons) the fitted 9 watt UV it suitable for about 410 litres(90 gallons).
But it seems to be a good filter if you accept its shortcomings.
 
Mine arrived yesterday, its the 1400ef. im amazed, I ordered it at 11pm Sunday night and it arrived Tuesday AM.....

As for the quality, I was expecting a cheapy feeling/looking unit for this sort of money but what i got was far better. The unit feels well built and sturdy (heavy too) there is plenty of room for media - although i swapped the carbon for eheim substrat as I don't normally use carbon. There is a handy viewing port for the UV so at the least you can tell the bulb is lit. Having never owned an external before i cant compare it however i will say i am impressed. There is a noticeable difference in the clarity of the water just 24 hours later.

The downsides.....
The inlet / outlet pipes are very cheap plastic however this doesn't matter as i plan to change them for glass ones anyway. The pump isn't as silent as i had hoped for however it is still quieter than my air pump.

Gave it and the tank a good clean before use and managed to get it up and running within the hour, having added my filter media from my internals into it.

So far so good.....
 
I've had one for 4-5 months. It works fine, no leaks, massive capacity (though if I overfill flow does drop off fast - this maybe be partly due to too much solid waste getting sucked in - a pair of tights over the filter inlet solved that), UV thrown in. Priming is a bit manual and the tubes are ugly and a pain to manage, plus being transparent become homes for algae etc (though at least you can see it to clean). The unit is very quiet. The spray bar is a bit rubbish but hasn't broken yet. The media baskets are very fragile. There is a useful surface skimmer however the attachment has an inflexible length and doesnt fit in my tank (35cm height).

All in all, for the price (sub £50), very hard to argue so far.
 
I got mine about a month ago. The're really good for their price and the filter arrived in 2 weeks (good compared to the estimated delivery). The only drawbacks i can find are the spraybar and the activated carbon which came inside. When i first opened it i took out all trays and found a whole pile of carbon powder which had been broken off from one of the trays. It was fine after i cleaned it up, just a bit of a nuisance.
 
I have the sunsun one which looks the same, and if they are the same and for the price you cant go wrong.I am very happy with it. :D
 
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