Magnum 350 v. Fluval 305/405?

[TypicalNoah]

Hey guys,

My mom's upset at the latches of the Magnum 350. Every time she shuts it off to do filter maintenance, the pressure becomes too great as the water siphons down and the cap on the canister explodes open. the O-Ring seal is fine, but the damn little metal clips are to weak to hold the thing shut. I have only ever used Magnums/Marineland for canister filters, but I saw that Fluval has a heavy duty latch instead of weak little metal clips. Does anybody know a DIY for fixing the Magnum 350, or have any experience with Fluvals? I don't want to give up the perfectly good Magnum but I can't have my mom freakin out every time she has filter maintenance to do...

Thanks.

[CrazieEddie]

It sounds like you maybe closing the shut-off valves when you turn off the filter. I suggest turning off the filter, then closing the shut-off valves.

[k05salmon]

Hi:
I'm new to this forum, but have recently purchased the fluval 405. Prior to this, had tried the Cascade 1000 (by Penn Plax) and believe the exhaust tube had a crack and was unable to make it work. The Fluval is a quality filter, very high flow, but also capable of lowering the rate of flow. It's working very well; but I did have difficulty in setting up initially as some problems with the siphoning action and filling the pump. But all the clamps, assembly of the top to the base of canister is solid, plus easy to disconnect for service. Mine is set up for a 90 gallon aquarium and there is a stand below the aquarium. I had to set the intake tube (inside the aquarium) inline with the intake assembly on the canister itself, plus also needed to eliminate a couple of short horizontal sections of hose. These short horizontal sections were due to the stand construction and the tubes needed to "duck below" a 1" x 3" board on the back of the stand. I'm not sure my remedy was really needed, but I relocated the fluval canister partially behind the stand such that the intake assembly was slightly behind the aquarium stand. As soon as I did this, the priming took off and all has worked well.