It was a spur of the moment purchase. I was using a 15 year old canister filter while cycling a 20 gallon tank when I stumbled across a deal on a used 55. Needless to say, my old filter was too small, so I spent a few hours researching and decided on the RENA Filstar xp3.
I took about an hour to set it up, with most of that just determining where to position the spray bar. I wanted to get good surface agitation and even circulation and ended up with the inlet on the right side of the tank and the spray bar centered, angled maybe 10 degrees up with excellent agitation across the entire surface. Admittedly, the np3 is rated for a much larger tank, but I am a fan of my equipment being overbuilt for the task at hand.
I have only had it running for about 4 hurs, so I can't speak about durability. Other than that, I would gladly recommend this filter to anyone.
You can expect to receive many more orders from me.
