Did the Pre-Filter Make a Difference with this SunSun 704-B Canister Filter?

[@CATFISH1972]

I added a pre filter last week and can't imagine what the inside of my can would look like without it considering how much load rinsed off the sponge after just a week. Thanks for the tip.

[@rantsandreviews]

I clean my 2 FX6's and 4 FX4's annually each January. They all have intake sponges that I rinse bi-weekly. Contrary to what most hobbyists seem to think a filter full of mulm and "gunk" is actually running at peak efficiency. They are little "ecosystems" working hard for us. That "gunk" is chock full of micro organisms doing work. In a perfect world we really wouldn't break these big cans down until the flow is substantially reduced. After years of research I determined (for my use) that coarse and medium foams and pot scrubbers are the ideal medium.

[@Nomadistar]

And here I am thinking why would anyone want a canister filter? It looks like a pita to clean...then I see this video & think to myself it's one a yr or more, not a biggie at all. Water changes make this look like a cool breeze on a hot summer day. Thank you for sharing.

[@willparsons32]

JFYI.... If you ever have to remove the rubber O-ring seal that keeps the canister from draining the aquarium, you decide to do a casual maintenance cleansing and you need to remove that o-ring for really any reason, you'll probably soon discover that when you attempt to replace it after doing your casual maintenance cleansing that suddenly and for absolutely no reason (...or idea!!) The rubber o-ring has just increased in size by an easy 1½ inches... I know, this happened to me on a Sunday evening. The quick fix to this is rather really simple and you can continue using the exact same o-ring. Lay the original o-ring on a flat cutting surface... straighten a short length of it with your fingers and disect the o-ring. Now you have a straight rubber "string!" Reform the o-ring into a "O" shape but not before making sure you cut off any extra length by wrapping it in its proper groove on the canister head. Once you have determined the correct re-sizing, making sure it is snug but not tight in the groove. Get your Loctite crazy glue GEL (NOT liquid) and simply add a pinhead size drop of the gel glue on only one end where you disected the o-ring. With both hands VERRRY carefully align the two ends back together and hold it in place for about 15 seconds. Congratulations, you just repaired the o-ring and now let it set somewhere it's not going to come in contact with anything - especially the joint area as any tiny amount of crazy glue will be tacky for a n hour

[@dimitrijekrstic7567]

I'm not sure that the hardened glue is an ideal seal but anyways, these o ring seals are easy to get and very cheap. Just buy a pack from sunsun, replace them, and sleep happily knowing your stuff works properly

[@JCL51475]

Amazing filters. I clean my 704’s once a year. And that’s on a turtle tank and an overstocked American cichlids tank. I’m setting up my 4th one now for a discus tank :)

[@budiawan1784]

Jika Anda memakai powerhead sederhana sekali pun. Anda tetap bisa menerapkan pre filter yang dipasang persis di inlet cone powerhead tersebut. Prefilter menghalangi debris kasar terhisap ke dalam impeller powerhead. Impeller lebih awet, karena tidak terluka oleh debris kasar. Powerhead akan lebih awet. Terimakasih Anda telah membagi pengalaman ini kepada kami.

[@NorthLVLowRoller]

This is awesome, I was going to put a sponge inside the circle basket of the intake but I like the idea of the fish eating the pellets off the exterior of the sponge. Im thinking of getting one of those Prefilter attachments as well that is like a mini filter itself that connects to the canisters tubing. Trying to get my tank over filtered before I add my next huge Oranda in the next few months.

[@carolbadger2386]

Thank you for valuable info on Sun Sun will add to my oase filter

[@KGcichlids]

Looks pretty clean for 5 months of running. Great video Ben.

[@BenOchart]

Thanks Kevin. Appreciate you stopping by.

[@zwgrafos310]

Well what to say, I bought the gw-603 and used it as prefilter to my 704A sunsun. All connections was good but I was hearing a noise from time to time like the filter pump had problem to bring the amount of water that needed. I removed it now and all are good.

[@814tonyp]

I like the large Marineland pre filter for my African Cichlids and Cichlids in general. It's large enough it doesn't clog but it has the awesome ridges that catch all the poop and hold it in place from the poop machines. Plus it's a rectangle instead of being round which in my opinion fits in the tank better.

[@FrozT99]

We have a 150 gal african cichlid tank with 2 aquaclear 110s, 2 sponges and a fluval 404 as well. Got a sunsun 304b for free in December, person i got it from said it wasn't working. Today I cleaned it out and now it's up and running in place of the fluval 404. It turned my water green but hoping it clears up soon (noticed green water on the filter pads while i was cleaning it). But i was watching one of your videos on sunsun filters while I was setting up mine. Cheers!

[@BenOchart]

The 304's are sold at a great price, but free is better, LOL! That green will pass. Probably some dried out algae residue. Thanks for stopping by!

[@NDorobek]

Love the channel and content

[@tonetoner8789]

That’s Impressive. It took me far to long to realise I need a courser pre filter. The finer stuff got blocked too fast and reduced the flow of the filter. My filter wouldn’t be that clean at the bottom after that long. I might try a medium and see how it goes. Thanks for the content

[@BenOchart]

You’re welcome

[@XCaliKev]

👍😎 You could probably go a year, that was way better than I would’a thought.

[@soniareynolds4320]

I'm amazed

[@diggydiggs]

I am taking the pre-filter a bit over the top with my 125 gallon. I just finished installing 2 corner filters from swiss tropical, and the intakes for my FX4s are behind these huge pieces of foam. It should give a ton of additional surface area for bacteria as well as acting as a massive pre-filter. With black sponges/foam for those and a black background, they are not all that visible and to me they look better than pipes in the tank. And I am stashing my heaters behind them as well. Hoping I get to skip filter maintenance for 9 months like you, and just pull the corner filters every few months for a rinse. I am also running 100% sponges/foam in the FX4s as well. I just converted my Oase 600 to 100% sponges too.

[@BenOchart]

I've seen those corner set-ups from Swiss Tropicals. Like a wall of filtration+beneficial bacterial. Just don't forget about those hidden heaters and lower your water too much. Out of sight, out of mind. Thanks for watching.

[@diggydiggs]

@@BenOchart I have the intakes above the heaters so if the water were to drop to the heater level, the intakes would be out of the water. A corner filter setup would make for a great video :)

[@paulneuman6021]

Cool video Thanks for sharing

[@frankiefingerz8047]

I opened up both my 704b’s after 6 mos running the polishing pad was completely covered w gunk im gonna clean em at 4 mos from now on

[@BenOchart]

Yup, that's how you dial them in. And that might change if your bio-load changes.

[@catfishcave379]

My prefilters I made from Swiss Tropical too

[@brianp6180]

I typically do not like pre-filter sponges because they are ugly and bulky like a sponge filter. But I do like the way you cut that out of a block. Much smaller profile and you are able to use the strainer on the bottom of the input tube. Most are designed to go over the tube itself with out the strainer. Then when the clog they collapse. I might give it a try. Especially on my South American cichlid tank with fine sand. The fish dig and some of the sand ends up in the filter. Plus your results of this experiment were great.

[@rantsandreviews]

If you just slip a pre-filter sponge of the end of an intake (without the strainer) you will only be utilizing the bottom of the sponge and will will rapidly clog and collapse. If you have to remove the intake strainer (like on FX series cans) you should drill holes in the intake tube the length of the pre-filter. Or...you can buy an intake kit on Amazon that replaces the large Fluval FX series strainer with a conventional style strainer that will allow the installation of pre-filter sponges as they were designed to be used.

[@brianp6180]

I didn’t know they offered a kit for the Fx6. I’ll check it out. Thanks

[@ronrussell5676]

You mentioned that you have both the SunSun and a sump filtering that tank. What is the flow rate of the SunSun, and what is the flow rate of the sump? Which filter do you think is doing most of the work? Could the sump take care of the tank by itself? Could the SunSun?

[@BenOchart]

The Sicce 9.0 pump in the sump is rated at 2500gph, the canister, a SunSun 704-B, is rated at 525gph. With head pressure the Sicce is probably 2200gph and with media the SunSun is probably 350 (est). Without question the sump does more and could handle the tank by itself. The canister would not be able to.

[@scottgordin9709]

Hey Ben, I watched your video last night about prepping your 704b after it sat in storage for awhile. Pulled mine out of storage and started messing with it and found out I had too much media in two of the baskets, making it hum which annoyed me enough to buy a FX6 and put the 704b in storage as a back up cause I thought it was the impeller was bad. Needless to say I leveled out the media, gave it a good cleaning, filled it and put both hoses in the sink and let it run for over an hour and it was back to being more quiet than both FX6’s and the 307 I have on multiple tanks. Now I have an excuse to buy another big tank, cause I can’t just have it sitting collecting dust if it works great.

[@BenOchart]

Any excuse for a big tank is a good one, LOL. But in the meantime you have a great back up canister. If one of the ones you are currently using fail you can transfer over some of the media and not miss a beat.

[@dominic9279]

Morning from Australia. I have tried a pre-filter and like them but funnily enough when I feed nothing reaches the bottom with my piranha cichlids 😁 and my sun sun filter internally is no dirtier then you had there....

[@stlconsulting8462]

Ben remember Pond Gurus setup on not having floss on top for fear it would trap the “muck” as he puts it? Did you notice a difference in flow rate with the floss on top versus without it and just matrix as the last layer?

[@BenOchart]

Flow has been very strong. Those Sera polishing balls will catch what they catch but water can easily go around them should they get blocked. We'll see how they look when I open up the canister in 9 months.

[@stlconsulting8462]

@@BenOchart Yes that has definitely made me interested because it’s not a complete layer and the water can move around from what I saw in your video. I’ll give them a try. Thanks Ben.

[@gunnerneikoify]

The Aquarium Coop prefilters are wayyyyy to course. They'll stop LARGE pieces of food, debris etc etc but that's about it. I feed mostly Tetra XL Tropical Granuals to my Discus and other fish and have watched them get sucked right through the Coop pre-filter. Same goes with medium sized flake food and smaller pieces of beef heart. They do work excellent for keeping pieces of plant debris from getting sucked up though.

[@BenOchart]

I’ve had good results with the CoOp filter on my Fluval. The pre filter on the SunSun is not as coarse and does seem to hold more water when I rinse it. Both canisters go 9 months between servicing.

[@Jayr2374]

I clean fx 6 once a year

[@BenOchart]

A lot of factors to consider. Are there other filters on the tank? Is there a pre-filter in place? How heavily stocked is the tank? Size of the tank and how often do you vacuum and do water changes? "It's a fluid situation" with a lot of connecting parts.

[@jamesdoyle7317]

Great video, on your fx6 prefilter, do you cover the original strainer with a round prefiller, make your own, or do you remove the strainer and use a prefilled only.

[@BenOchart]

I removed the strainer and drilled some holes in the pipe, then slipped a large CoOp sponge on the intake pipe

[@Rick-xy4bt]

Ben.... in several of your videos I have heard you mention the Sunsun canister. Sounds like you are quite happy with that canister . Correct assumption? Is there a point, or a size of tank where you would say moving away from HOB'S to a canister makes sense? I am considering setting up a 110gal Severum tank, with perhaps a Geophagus and Electric Blue Acara, along with a clean up crew. I keep going back and forth between a couple HOB'S, or an HOB and a Canister. The Sunsun looks like a nice filter and easy to work on.

[@sidneywhite749]

Need help. I have a Sunsun 704b and need to replace my impeller. Can’t find a listing. Will a 4 series impeller duplicate the 704b impeller. I know the three series impellers are smaller. Is Sun Sun out of business?

[@lightlyme]

I just got my new sunsun canister filter and its oily creamy inside on the top edges and on the top black part... is this normal??? Should I return it??? :/

[@BenOchart]

Sounds like it was over-lubed at the factory. I’d wipe it down really well and keep it but if it’s going to bother you call the seller and see they can explain or send a replacement.

[@moestanks]

Thanks for the video, Ben. Does that pre-filter have any effect on your flow rate, or is it negligible?

[@BenOchart]

Negligible Moe

[@PeterKnopp-h8n]

Hi Ben have you ever owned a sun sun HW5000 if so what’s your opinion on them please Regards

[@BenOchart]

Sorry, never owned one. I’ve run 704-Bs and 304-Bs and those were workhorses.

[@tulioalopez]

Question, will 2 fx6 to much for a 75 gallons with cichlids? I just want to have as a back up just in case or will a sum sum 704b good enough as a back up?

[@BenOchart]

I’ve kept a 100 gallon looking great with one FX-6. 2 on a 75 might be too much but if you’re going to stock it heavily and feed twice a day it would be good to have.

[@dethstormpx4]

Definitely wouldn't work that good without the sump.

[@BenOchart]

The sump carries a lot of the load.

[@Rick-xy4bt]

That was my thought as well. The sump is carrying most of the load and the canister is almost like a secondary filter. Would be real curious to see how it performs without the benefit of the sump.

[@CherokeeAquatics]

Hey Ben can you or someone on here help me with something. I started using a carbon reactor and day three water was crystal clear now on day five water is really cloudy. started doing water changes but it's still cloudy. This has never happened to me before. Thx for any help

[@davcar872]

You may be going through a bacterial bloom cycle. New tank setup or a severe cycle disruption. No amount of filtration will clear it up. It will take time to clear on its own as it cycles through, a few days to weeks, but during this time watch for ammonia as it will decrease your oxygen. Watch for lethargic fish and gasping. Make sure you have proper and increased aeration during this cycle. It will eventually correct itself.

[@dimitrijekrstic7567]

People... You gotta think about stuff when you do it. Whatever you are doing, think about it. For example, here in the top tray, Ben put these questionable rocks that somehow serve as filter media. On top of that are some balls that should be doing polishing. Let me ask you this. How are they polishing anything if there are gaps between them that offer water a path of least resistance? They aren't. The water goes around a low resistance path rather than through the high resistance path. Same goes for electricity, and many other things in nature. You want some proof to what I'm saying? Just check out how the balls are the dirtiest on the sides. That's where the water is flowing. Around them. If it was flowing through them, the balls would be dirty in the centers also. But they very clearly aren't, as water is not flowing through them. Same goes for all the fads such as ceramics and pumice products. The water will not flow through microscopic cracks and into the tiny holes in the material, which is their main claim to fame. The increased surface area due to those tiny tiny holes. Why would water go through there when it can go around the bioring, or through the middle? Next question, what happans when the bacteria develop their slimy brown gel and plug all those holes so even less water is getting delivered there? No bacteria grows there people! Wake up. You are being sold a product that takes 2 seconds to debunk. It's all about the money

[@BenOchart]

It’s all arranged to work with the direction of water flow. In a SunSun the water goes from tank to the bottom of the canister. Water is then pulled back up to the tank. So, we run through coarse, medium and fine sponge and then, last, run clean water over BB media, whatever that media might be (Matrix, biohome, MarinePure, or, in this example, Big Blue bio balls. Some think the dirtier water should run over the BB media. All that does is clog it all up in gunk. That being said, I no longer use that type of media in canisters. I also don’t use dense polishing products in canisters, like polyfil, pinky floss, etc because in that high water flow it clogs in a week. Watch my most recent canister filter videos to see how things have evolved. If what you’re doing is working, don’t change. The set up in this video did a great job. The set up in recent videos is even better. Thanks for watching!