Magnum 350 question.

[nealio]

I recently was handed a used magnum 350. It needs a couple of the o-rings but it seems to work fine. I read a couple reviews and I heard when you go to clean it, water spills everywhere because of the way the top is engineered.

I'm going to put it in a tight area, so I was wondering if anyone has ever used this filter, and if so if there is a trick to not let the water spill.

thx *GOLDFISH*

 

[homebunnyj]

I love mine. Im just very careful with it; I take it off the tank, holding it level, let any excess water drain into the tank, then set it over the sink while I change out the media filter for the polishing filter, or de-gunk the media or whatever. No prob.
BTW, if you didn't get a polishing/clarifying filter with it, you gotta get yerself one. Whenever I'm expecting company I run it for awhile on each of my tanks. Makes the water crystal clear. And the magnum's so portable, it's really easy to move it from one tank to another for water polishing, you just hang it in any convenient spot, on the front of the tanks or whatever. Then I put the regular media back in and put it back in its usual position on my 55 gallon.

 

[nealio]

I'm glad to hear a good review. I'm going to have to drill some holes in my cabinet close to my fridge, and run the tubes under there to the bottom of the cabinet to where I’m going to house the filter, so I won’t be able to move it around too much. Right now the tank is breaking the room between the kitchen and the dining room, and the HOB filters are very intrusive when your in the kitchen looking into the dining room. I was going to set up the canister underneath the cabinet so you couldn’t see all that junk.

Is there a way to bleed out some of the water before you turn it off so it’s not "topped-off" when you take the top off?

I'm going to petsmart when I get off to get the media for it. Ill make sure I get that polishing filter, thanks for the advice

 

[GIS Guy]

The 350 is the floor canister, the 250 is HOT.
I am currently running 2 of the 350's on a 28g bow front.
One has a polishing cartidge the other carbon/floss.
I have the quick disconnect on the hoses.
With those I don't actually have to take the hoses from the water.
But what you will want to do is hold a towel around the disconnects to prevent a small amount of leakage.
Everything else should fine.

 

[GIS Guy]

"Bleeding" can be done by raising the intake hose out of the water.
This will let the filter pump the water out of the canister so the level will drop.

 

[nealio]

The 350 is the floor canister, the 250 in HOT.
I am currently running 2 of the 350's on a 28g bow front.
One has a polishing cartidge the other carbon/floss.
I have the quick disconnect on the hoses.
With those I don't actually have to take the hoses from the water.
But what you will want to do is hold a towel around the disconnects to prevent a small amount of leakage.
Everything else should fine.

Thanks for the tip! I"m gona run this on my 28g bowfront as well!

Where did you purchase your quick disconnects?

 

[GIS Guy]

I got mine on ebay.
I'm sure Dr. F/S and Petsmart also sell them.
If I remember correctly they can be a bit $$.

 

[nealio]

Magnum Quick-Disconnect Valves
for anyone else that wants them.

I'm gona end up spending about 100 on this set up, and I got a free filter! lol

oh and should I use anything special to clean it out. The guy I got it from used it for saltwater and freshwater, freshwater last. Its kinda dingy so I just planned on getting a new scrubber sponge and putting use some elbow grease for a while. Is there anything I can use to help the process?

 

[nealio]

"Bleeding" can be done by raising the intake hose out of the water.
This will let the filter pump the water out of the canister so the level will drop.

great advice! *celebrate

 

[GIS Guy]

When I clean out the canisters, I use a bleach solution.
My method includes a 5g bucket, HOT water, and 350.
I let the 350 circulate the water in the bucket.
This way the hoses, impeller, etc all gets clean at the same time.
Just DO NOT run it with those sponge gaskets unless you have an extra set.
The bleach will destroy them.
After running for a while, hour or 2, I break it all down into component parts and rinse thoroughly.
I have been using this method for years w/ no problem.
Any 'residual' bleach is taken care of w/ Prime.
And you could always reassemble and run with declorinator to make doubly sure.

 

[Endl98]

i have a 350 that came with my tank and its a nice filter. its a bit noisey, has a hum to it. by putting a mouse pad under it, it quited it down a bit. i also have quick change connectors on it. i just take the whole canister to the sink, and pop the top off, rinse, add water to the line and reassemble. doesnt make a mess. pretty straight forward and primes on its own.
i put the blue filter over the canister added some fluval ceramic noodles to it and some carbon. seems to do its job nicely. the polishing filter is nice too.

you can also attach a gravel vac to it and they make a bio wheel set up for them.

not a bad filter.