Review on 🐠 Penn-Plax Cascade Canister Aquarium Filter (1200 Elite): Superior Filtration for Pristine Water by Doug Knight

UPDATE I've had this filter for about 2 years now. All but one of my fish are alive and doing well (1 tetracongo died of old age) and I have had no problems with my filter. I still like it! Very quiet. I can't hear him at all when I'm in the room with him. I clean it every few months(?). maybe not as often as I should, but I haven't noticed any side effects from it. I do 15-20% water changes weekly. 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. Every time I clean the filter, I swap out all the biofloss and activated carbon filters. From time to time I change my sponge. I never substitute ceramics - all your good bacteria live there, you want to keep them forever! My fish are still insanely happy! 5 Rainbow Bozemon, 5 Turquoise Rainbows, 5 Red Irian Rainbows, 7 Kuhli Loaches, 2 Congo Tetra, 1 Molly, 2 Angelfish. ---------------------- ------- ----- I have had this filter for my 75 gallon freshwater aquarium for about 6 months. This is my first canister filter so I was a bit intimidated at first with not knowing how to set it up and maintain it. I have to say that the installation went well. Easy to do, easy to understand and pretty quick. Thanks to him, my aquarium is sparkling clean and my fish are ridiculously happy! So, you know the bioburden of my aquarium, I have: 5 Red Irish Rainbowfish 5 Bosemani Rainbowfish 5 Turquoise Rainbowfish 3 Congo Tetra 5 Kuhli Char 1 Male Guppy :) I clean the filter about every two months. I change all the floss pads every time because they are always brown (wood tanning agents in my tank?) and tend to fall apart. I change the coal sack every time. I rinse the ceramic rings/biocarriers in chlorinated water. I change the black sponge as needed (not very often), I usually just rinse it in chlorinated water. Cleaning the entire canister takes about half an hour and is very easy. The only difficulty is how heavy it is when filled with water. I have to ask my husband to take it to the sink for me! I use my filter in combination with a linear heater, which works very well. I like the atomizer. The only issue I had is the cracked bottom of the canister, presumably due to its weight, but that's just superficial. This is not an area that carries water. This is an extra piece of plastic around the base. I contacted Penn Plax and they said they would send a replacement part. It's really not a big deal. I also noticed that the Elite (which I own) only has black nozzles while the regular model has black and blue, making it easier to distinguish between "inlet" and "outlet" hoses when taking them out for cleaning be removed. It doesn't matter, I glued the "intake" hose, but I think it's weird that they didn't include that feature in the Elite. Although the Elite came with plenty of removable storage, which is nice. Very convenient. Overall I am very happy with my purchase! I can only recommend this filter!