Penn-Plax Cascade Canister Filter

Review
The Cascade canister filter manufactured by Penn-Plax, comes in five different flavors:

• Cascade 500, for aquariums up to 30 gallons, 115 gph
• Cascade 700, for aquariums up to 65 gallons, 185 gph
• Cascade 1000, for aquariums up to 100 gallons, 265 gph
• Cascade 1200, for aquariums up to 150 gallons, 315 gph
• Cascade 1500, for aquariums up to 200 gallons, 350 gph

We tested the 700 series with a 55 gallon aquarium. Inside the canister are two large stackable containers for housing your filtration media, such as filter floss, activated carbon, zeolite, ceramic bio-rings, etc. We used filter floss, activated carbon and the ceramic bio-rings in our filter. The 700 series came with two options for returning the filtered water back into the aquarium. The first option was a regular return chute like you see on many powerheads. The second option included was a spray bar. The spray bar is about 12 inches long with small holes about an inch apart. We chose the spray bar so we could get more surface agitation.Setting up was straight forward with the included directions and we had it ready to go in about 20 minutes. Once you have it hooked up, but before you plug it in, you need to prime the canister by pushing the primer button a few times. Water will flow from the aquarium into the canister. Once it sounded like the canister had filled with water (took about 30 seconds) we plugged it in. At first there were some noticeable air noises coming from the filter but they quickly subsided once all of the air was pushed out of the filter. After a minute or so we could barely hear anything coming from the filter. It is extremely quiet.

Maintaining this canister filter is a breeze. It has a water shut off valve on each of the hoses attached to the canister. You simply close the valves and then unscrew them from the top of the canister. Carry the canister by the handle to your sink or bathtub and pop open the top to get to the stackable media trays. Replace your filter floss and activated carbon but leave the bio-rings alone. They contain the beneficial bacteria needed in the nitrogen cycle. Hook up the two hoses, turn the water valves back to the open position, prime the pump, then plug it back in. That’s it.

About 12 hours after hooking up this canister fiter we noticed a visible improvement in the clarity of the water in the tank.

The replaceable filter media does seem a little on the pricey side. Here’s a tip: buy the big bags of filter floss and boxes of activated carbon. Get those re-usable bags and use them for the activated carbon. Doing this will save you some money when you need to replace the filter media.

Positives

• Easy to use primer button
• Large stackable media trays with handles allows for many filter options
• Very quiet operation
• Quick and easy to remove the hoses for maintenance

Negatives

• Replaceable filter media can be expensive (make your own)

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