Aqueon Quietflow 300 vs. Fluval 307/Performance Canister Filters

Hi all-

I am in the process of considering replacing one of my Marineland Magniflow 360s. It's hard to explain so I will try to give you the background. I've always been a big fan of Marineland - I know they're not popular here- but I've had nothing but success with Bio-Wheels , for the last 30 years off-and-on, and when I decided to go with a Canister Filter a few years back, I found a great deal on the Magniflow 360 on Amazon and snapped it up. When I got it, it looked like it might have been a return - there were water spots in it and what I suspect was repacked part packages. I sent them an email and basically said, "Listen I've been a customer for almost 30 years, I love you guys, but I got something on Amazon that I think might have been a return. Can I make a notation into a file so if I have (extended) warranty concerns, you know beforehand and I have already stated this info?" - The lady was awesome and said, "Listen, we don't want you to have anything but the brand-new best, we will be sending you a new one." - I was psyched, when it came, I replied back, "Where should I send the original?" - And she said, "Don't worry about it, do whatever is easiest for you with it...'

Well I just set it up and used it, and have been ever since. Eventually I got another, bigger aquarium and the replacement went on IT, and has been 100% ever since. But the original one has , while given me outstanding filtration, several leaks. The first one occurred earlier last year, 2020, after about a year of operation. I immediately broke it down, cleaned and serviced it totally, and it was fine - for several months. A few months later, after a routine cleaning, it started leaking - and from Friday morning to Sunday evening, it would not stop. It was a nightmare. Monday their CS Rep suggested I replace the O-rings. Which I did - I ordered several (spares, especially since I'm operating two) and it was not cheap - they're almost $15 each plus like $10 shipping minimum. But, when they arrived, it fixed the problem immediately. So, I had the thoughts - it lasted about a solid 1.5 years before needing new O-Rings, I guess I can live with that? - Except yesterday, after another routine break-down and cleaning, it started again. I just broke it down and repacked everything, because I have read that minor misalignments or packaging problems can affect it - and at the moment it's not leaking, but it hasn't been very long.

It occurs to me that I might replace it at some point. I'm not talking about clicking the Buy It Now button right now but Standing By to Stand By. My two favorite companies are generally Aqueon (who has always been good to me and their products I have used have always been solid to great.) - and the universally beloved Fluval (whom I have less experience with - but I know they're popular.) I am curious what the opinions on them are here?

The Aqueon Quietflow 300 Canister Filter looks quite solidly constructed (that is huge for me now, I don't want MF'ing leaks anymore!) and has some unique attachment options that look pretty cool. In contrast, the Fluval is apparently Higher Tech - I admit I am not quite sure the difference between the Standard & Performance Models, but the Performance models - but the Performance model is only about $20 more - looks like about $170 , versus about $150 for the Aqueon. That is pretty close to me - sure I'd save the $20 if it was a wash but it's not going to be any real factor.

The biggest factors for me - one major factor is quietness. The Magniflow is not that quiet. It changed my sleeping experience having it in my bedroom. The Bio-Wheels have virtually zero "engine" noise, but quite a bit of "water" noise - it's reverse for the Magniflow ... quiet negligible water noise but it's got some "engine" noise. So noise is a factor - but certainly quality is important to me - I don't want to be changing seals once a year unless that's just par for the course for Canister Filters and I didn't know that. And of course maintenance - a lot of people complained that the Aqueon was hard to clean, but I wonder if they were just new to Canister Filters (as I was once too) and didn't realize it's not nearly as simple as swapping a HOB tray out. The Mangniflow has always done great in actual filtration - their plastic Bio-Balls work great, their ceramic Bio-Rings I combine with a goodly amount of SeaChem Matrix, and there are generic options for the actual filter padding on Amazon. As long as the other two brands work similar , I'd be happy with either as long as it was the better choice.

Thank you very much to all!

 

A lot of these filters are a bit of a muchness, myself I have 6 fluval and find them quiet but like all filters they can spring a leek and I believe mainly because when people service them they clean everything and put dry o rings back in this gives them problems almost immediately after the service, if only they used food grade grease on all o rings this would solve most of the problems, on the fluval range mots have a gray leaver to stop the water for servicing when this is operated you can sometimes get a small drip which seems to stop on its own
I find a lot of people with any canister puts them in a bowl or bucket just incase, not a bad idea.
I also check mine through the day after servicing just incase

 

I have a Magniflow 360 on iur 55g African cichlid tank. I agree that it is not quiet, ha.

3 of its baskets have 2" thick layers of foam sponge.

I have a Hydor 600 also and it is super quiet. I find it superior to the 360 in every way.

The YouTube channel "PondGuru" has a review on them. Very well built, quiet and look nice.

I also have a 307. It is very quiet also but probably has 1/2 the media capacity and flow compared to the 360 or Hydor.

 

Thank you very much -

Islandvic, thank you particularly , that really is helpful information.

I am going to have to replace my Magniflow 360. I can't turn to Marineland because they technically already replaced it. And it's just not fixing. I wasted one of my O-Ring and Gasket packs earlier today and now it's leaking worse than it did before. So, I am definitely going to replace it. I was leaning to the Fluval, but the media capacity and flow is something to think about. Thank you very very much, got some thinking to do.

 

How is the tank currently stocked ?

 

It's my bedroom tank - a 60-gallon Tropical Community tank - (I guess Marineland makes their 55-gallon tanks like an inch taller or an inch bigger in one of the dimensions of common 55-gallon tanks and therefore calls them 60-gallons) ... 8 Tiger Barbs, 9 Black Neon Tetras, 4 Glowplug Tetras, a female Lemon (Bristlenose) Pleco & a female Rubberlip Pleco.

I wound up going with the Fluval Performance 407 last night , I pick it up later today. (Although I woke up at midnight and haven't been back to sleep, so I am sure I will start crashing as soon as the stores open.) - Your point about the media content made me do a little thinking - I noted that the 307 had only 3 trays but the 407 had 4 ... and under the principle of "Buy Once Cry Once" , I figured, better safe than sorry. (Again.) - I really liked the Marineland because I felt like it was "as good or better" than the premium brands at better price... and one thing they do have is very big trays, deep and plenty of room.

Ok thanks again for your help, hope this works out.

 

So I just finished setting up the new Fluval 407 Performance canister filter I got this morning.

First initial impressions - It really is much smaller than the Marineland Magniflow 360 I have. I think if I had purchased the 307 that I initially asked about, I'd have had to try to return it. In addition to actual physical size (I am too lazy to measure nor look it up right now, but I would not be surprised to find out that the Marineland holds more than double the amount of water. Which is an important if oft-skipped consideration - if your canister filter holds 5 gallons of water and you have a 55-gallon tank, you have an extra 10%-ish of water column in the filtration system. A HOB has a fraction.) - the actual media capacity is much smaller. I pretty much didn't even get all my previous media (SeaChem Matrix & Ceramic Bio-Ring mix and plastic Bio-Balls) into the containers, had to jury-rig a little to fit the SeaChem Purigen bag, and didn't even touch the included stuff. Obviously this is supposed to be more than compensated for by the Bio-Foam "pre-filter" column. But still, a much smaller container.

However- extremely quiet. I mean if I had realized, I would have just bought these originally. I read that Fluval is a Canadian-owned company that sources German-engineered & designed products to be built by high-quality Italian manufacturers. So it's like Porsche asks Ferrari to build them some coffee makers. Seems legit. Obviously very high quality. I thought I got bamboozled by the one hose that you have to cut, though. They could at least give you two hoses.

Anyway so far so good, thanks everyone for the help.