172GPH Canister Filter, External Aquarium Filter with 5W UV Sterilizer Ultra-Quiet Water Cleaning Machine with Free Media for Fish Tanks and Aquariums Up to 30 Gallons (172GPH)

I purchased this canister filter because I was fed up with all of the filters that we had tried before. There were internal filters which clogged quickly and were a pain to remove for cleaning, poor quality hang on back filters which broke the first time I cleaned them, and giant hand on back filters which filtered great but were an eyesore. This filter is the bomb. It has worked very well to improve the water quality in our 10 gallon tank. It wasn't the easiest to set up because we wanted lilly tubes rather than using the provided inlet/outflow tubes. It was worth the trouble though because the tank looks amazing. There hasn't been any trouble with leaking. Setup took a bit of planning to find tubing and connectors that would connect the lilly tube to the canister connectors. Of course they weren't the same size... The pump is pretty quiet once air worked out of the canister. The flow is adjustable to a level that works with the shrimp. We used the UV light for the first few days to clear up the water, but now we don't use it every day. This aquarium canister filter has worked great for us. It cost far less than some of the more well known brands, but has performed very well. We are happy with the result and the aquarium looks great.

This is my first canister filter and I chose this because of the price point just to get my feet wet on canister filter. I have kept fish for more than 40 years. Overall, everything which is advertised worked as they should. It is very quiet. If yours is not quite enough, stop it and open it up. May sure that all of your trays are correctly installed. If you still feel that the impeller is making too much noise, get a small can of Trident Silicone food-grade grease and apply some on the surface of the impeller be unscrewing the plastic holder. It should cut down the sound by more than 70%. If everything is running correctly (trays seated right), you should wondering if it's ON because it's that quiet. If yours is noisy, something is not seated right or your connection are not securely installed. Applying some silicone on all of the connection point is also a good thing to create a good seal. How effective is the filter? I added SeaChem Purigen and Matrix to the tray. By the second day, the clarity is 90% there. By 4th day, the water is crystal clear like a new swimming pool. If there is one thing which they can improve on, it will be the blue pilot light to indicate the ON status of the UV light. That light could be brighter. The current one used in their product (as of March 2025) is very dim. You cannot see it during day time. Overall, I think this is a good product considering the price. As for durability, I will report back after a few months to see how it stood up in time.

WARNING before you buy! This filter randomly stops siphoning water even after checking all hoses and priming multiple times. This product is a great idea, but it lacks reliability. On multiple occasions, the filter would run smoothly then the siphon process would stop with out rhyme or reason. I followed all the steps- filling the intake tube with water, using the check valve to prime, even cut the hoses shorter to prevent kinks. None of that worked. One time I got home from work I noticed no water was flowing. I had no idea of knowing for how long the filter was not operating, and that could be dangerous for the fish. If my electricity cuts off while on vacation, that could be a disaster because it will not come back on unless im there to fix it. I can't afford to risk it. I recommend spending a little bit more to get a better quality filter.

Works well. The tubing that comes with it is too stiff to route it anywhere and the suction clamps dont have enough power to stick, but these issues can be resolved with more flexible tunes. The filter works great and have had no problems with it.

My tank is a 100 gallon tank. I received the pump a few days ago. Finally got to install it last night and the first thing I noticed was that it was very short. However, for me, that’s not a dealbreaker. One thing I will tell anyone is that when you get this short pump the hoses that they send are not but maybe 2 1/2 to 3 feet long and when you have a tank sitting on top of the cabinet, the hoses do not reach so I had to incorporate my old hoses from my old canister filter to make up the difference. Thus far as of this morning the pump is running well. It looks great. It does not leak and it doesn’t blow my fish all over the tank. I will come back in about a month and write a final review when I can see the full performance of it. I have included some pictures so future buyers will have a courtesy heads up on being prepared to buy additional hose if you use this as an under cabinet filter, you can always set it on top of a 5 gallon bucket, or maybe even some kind of a stand external to the tank.