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Marineland Magnum 350

Discussion in 'Product Reviews' started by LemonDiscus, Mar 15, 2009.

  1. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Thread Starter Active Member

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    The Marineland Magnum 350 offers great power from a canister filter at a great price. The lower price is not without faults though.

    The Good
    The Magnum 350 is the BEST filter I have ever used (in my limited experience) for polishing water. Whether you use filter floss in the carbon can, or use the Micron Filter it makes your water debris free in only a few days of usage.

    Parts are sold in some fish stores just to repair bad seals and it seems built VERY well to last a lifetime if you keep fixing seals over its life... (Motor seems VERY well built)

    The Bad
    There are no media trays although it does have an optional media "tube" that is meant to hold carbon... I dont ever use it for that rather I stuff it with filter floss and have thrown peat moss bags in it too! There is no convenience to it though.

    The filter is REALLY picky about reassebly when you clean it... if you are not careful the O-ring that seals the lid may not set right and you will have a substantial mess in no time to clean up.

    Lining up the lid to the internal plumbing of the filter is at times quite hard. Again if not done right will make a BIG mess.


    The Ugly
    This is the big problem I have and it is a catch 22 because it is also the BEST part of the filter:

    The Micron Filter Cartridge! This cartridge is THE BEST THING TO CLEAN DEBRIS OUT OF A TANK! BUT it clogs up really fast if you have a fair amount of debris. After a few times of it clogging up it wont be able to be cleaned and you need a new one (like $20)

    I gave up on this cartridge all together.... As mentioned I use the carbon container and stuff it with filter floss and it works great!




    Summary
    The Magnum 350 makes a great filter for keeping your tank clear but does not offer what others do for just a few dollars more. The Micron Cartridge is one of the best parts of the filter but also the part that will cause you one of the biggest headaches. Running that cartridge full time will cost you money and your sanity!

    It would be nice to have media trays but for the price, you can modify it in a DIY kind of a way with parts they make for the filter like turning the media cartridge to the filter and just throwing what you want into it. I still often want to have real trays to make my own filter to say...

    It is a pretty powerful canister with a pretty powerful output jet even with me keeping the canister about 3' below the top of the tank.

    If you find a deal on this filter and maybe need to fix seals it is well worth buying, however if you are going new spend the few extra dollars for a Rena XP3 which has the same output but has media baskets.
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  2. moreless39

    moreless39 New Member

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    I'd have to agree with Lemon on the good points of this filter although I don't have much trouble when putting it back together after cleaning. I would like to see different media containers but, I do as he/she does (fill with floss) and the water is sparkling. I also have the Bio-wheel pro 60 hooked up to mine. And as far as customer service, they've been great to me...I was trying to find the bio-wheel and they did take the time to tell me it was no longer made in one letter, after pestering them a bit....they ended up sending me the "body" (where the wheels sit it) for free because they couldn't be bought seperately.
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Top Poster Of Month

    Lemon is Dead on!....I replaced mine with a Fluval 305...MUCH easier to use!
    What i did with my 350.....I got the idea from my local fish store.

    I bought some longer more flexible hose material....made one end a "blower", and the other end the vacuum....I use it to clean the tank, vacuum etc...
    Or, i just use it to polish the water...I clean the cartridges with bleach, and then rinse forever...salt dip, etc...let them dry. I have 3-4 and keep one ready at all times!
     
  4. gsoul55

    gsoul55 New Member

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    That 350 is a piece of crap. Pardon my language. Do yourself a favor and spend the x-tra money on a fluval or an AC 110. In the aquarium world as far as aquipment goes YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
     
  5. fllszbrnc

    fllszbrnc New Member

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    Having the shut-off valves makes life a lot eaiser with the 350, but I tend to agree with gsoul55. I just break mine out every so often to polish up the water. Too much of a pain in the butt to run all the time.