Odyssea Canister filter

[Orion]

I had heard about these filter for a long time and just now got around to actualy getting one and tring it out. You can't find them at any retail place that I know of, you have to get them from ebay. Basicly it's a chinese knock off of eheim.

The price was one of the best things of all. I got the large one, has 4 media baskets and claims to be rated for tanks up to 250 gallons, and GHP I belive rated somewhere around 350. With shipping it ran me around $60.

I'm pleased with it so far. You can't expect super quality however. Out of the box, the return water quick shut off valve leaked. I finaly got around to looking at it and found all that was wrong was a bad O-ring. Replaced the O-ring and it's working just fine. I would like to note that the seller I bought off of was more than happy to send me replacement shut off valves at no extra charge.

It comes with a ton of sponges, and all needed media to setup and go right out of the box. The only complaint I have with the design is that the water flows to the bottom of the canister though a passage in the media baskets, gets to the bottom then comes back up though the media and back to the tank. Filters like my XP the water flows around the baskets to the bottom, then though them. This design could pose a small issue with by-pass, but it wouldn't be much. It really drew my attention to it because all the media was in mesh bags and didn't cover all of the basket.

Over all I think it's well worth the money paid. Remember, Christmas is just around the corner and nothing says 'I love you' to that special someone like some new equipment!

 

[Lotus]

Thanks for the review I know I have seen them in some fish stores on the West Coast (where there tend to be more Asian imports).

Any ideas on how easy it would be to get replacement parts?

 

[Orion]

Good to know that they are slowly making it into retail stores. But, once they get a decent hold in the market (if they ever do) that the price will go up.

I have no idea about parts. The seller we bought ours from said that they will provide a warranty and replacement parts for 6 months, after that I don't know. I'm sure that they might be willing to sell some parts. From other reviews and over hearing people talking seems that the disconnect valve is the main problem seem to have with them, and if I've already figured out around that one then I'm in good shape

 

[Orion]

After over a month of actualy useing it I can say I've changed my tune a little. Right now it is in an unuseable state because of some unknown leak that I can't seem to fix. It is leaking where the quick disconnect fits into the top of the filter. It did this last weekend after I had it off, but it stoped shortly after it started. Now it won't stop.

Another unexplained leak: I was tring to prime it yesterday and water came gushing from inbetween the motor housing and media housing. Beats me what happened. I took it apart and didn't see any damage or anything that looked out of place. I put it back togeather and it didn't do it anymore.

These are all faults that may just be with the unit I have. However, one thing that I don't care for about the design is the way the disconnects work. If your going to take them loose from the filter, get ready to get wet. There isn't an easy way that I've found to keep water from running out everywhere when you remove the disconnects from the canister filter, unlike my Rena's and Fluvals which spill maybe some drops of water at most.

And the flow isn't much at all. I am running a XP1 right now on my 65 gallon and I swear just from looking at the water return in the tank it looks like the Rena has about twice the amount of flow to it.