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Your cart is empty.Penn-Plax Cascade 300 Fully Submersible Internal Filter – Provides Physical, Biological, and Chemical Filtration for Aquariums and Turtle Tanks
Thetipdragon
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2025
I love this filter. I have two on each side of my 20 gallon long. It creates good surface agitation and you can adjust the flow, or just turn the output nozzle towards the glass to reduce flow. I emptied out the carbon and refilled with bio rings since I have live plants. The sponge will shrink over time so just have some extra sponge on hand that you can cut to size and put in there. As far as noise goes it is quiet. If there's noise just put a little Vaseline on the shaft and impeller (people do this on you tube with other filters). Cleaning is easy. Just pull it apart and squeeze sponge in a little bowl of tank water. Also, sometimes it touches tank glass and the vibration can be a little loud. The way you fix this is press a small suction cup,one from this filter works, against the glass and position the filter over the suction cup so it creates space between the filter and glass. That takes care of any vibration noise. I highly recommend this filter. As long as you squeeze that sponge once a week it should work well and for a long time.
AH
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2024
UPDATE: I reached out to the company and they sent me a replacement part. I have not yet tested it but I am giving an increase in rating due to the good customer service. Although I may not recommend this product, I would buy from this company again if needed.It's a decent filter, while it lasts. I used this for my 5.5 gal betta tank. The flow is a bit too strong, and the slider to adjust the flow is pretty finicky. I pointed the output towards the glass to disperse the flow a bit.Recently, however, only 4 months after purchase, a small plastic piece inside the filter fell off, and would not securely attach back on. This caused the filter to completely fail. It caused an immense amount of bubbles to be created inside the canister, and the flow completely stopped, rendering the filter useless. I have attached a photo of the piece that fell off.I do not recommend this product if you're looking for a filter that will last you a while. I'm sure some people have had good experiences with this, but I have not. I've switched to a sponge filter.
Max cutmore
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 5, 2023
Tank is much healthier 🙌Fish much happier 🐟
Joe C.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2023
Performs well, but really quite loud. Better not to use in a tank within or near bedroom.
Strauss
Reviewed in Canada on May 19, 2020
Decently easy to clean but died in less than a month :(
macvw
Reviewed in Mexico on October 30, 2020
El filtro hace muy bien su función, es como tener un filtro "mini canister", en un compartimiento le puse purigen y eheim substrat pro y el agua esta super cristalina. El problema es que hace un ruido excesivo que es muy molesto.
RockAndIsland
Reviewed in Canada on September 5, 2018
I just installed the Penn-Plax 300 filter to my daughter's 10 gallons tank as the second filter. It works great.She has the Top Fin 10 gallon tank starter kit. The HOB filter that came with the starter kit is really not a great one. After adding the Penn-Plax 300 filter for less than 2 hours, the water became crystal clean.....nice.The Penn-Plax 300 does make tiny humming noise, but it is acceptable to me. Make sure you use the sway bar if you want to keep that as quiet as possible.The other thing is the bottom sponge filter compartment does not have a good locking mechanism. When I moved the filter around the tank to position it, it came right off. Anyway, it is not a big issue as long as you are aware of that when you service the filter.
Meg MacDougall
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2013
I bought this as an upgrade from from a little ZooMed filter that's been chugging along for years. This one is definitely larger, as well as louder, although it's still not unreasonably loud. The Cascade it has a really good flow rate and so far seems to be working well in my tank containing one smallish turtle in about 10 gallons of water.The filter seems nicely sturdy, easy to clean, and comes with the accessories you need for various aquarium or terrarium setups, like a spray bar, nozzles, air induction attachment, etc. It has a mechanical (sponge) filter in a cup that allow you to chose a different medium if desired, and a carbon/charcoal cartridge that can be either replaced or refilled. The replacement sponges and cartridges are reasonably priced, which is nice, as some filters seem to suffer from that 'inkjet printer problem' of the refills costing as much as the filter.I appreciate how flexible it allows you to be with both what's in the filter and how it is set up. It can be placed in the tank fully submerged in a variety of orientations, and the flow rate is also adjustable.EDIT: After several years of use, I'm here to update with my experience. My turtle has grown, and is now in closer to 20 gallons of water with the same Cascade. Filter motor is still going strong, although maybe somewhat louder than it was when new. All the major components are intact BUT the suction cups totally gave out after about the first year, and I haven't found them to be easily replaceable. Overall it seems like this is a filter with quite good build quality, particularly as I am using it with a turtle, and they are notoriously messy and hard on filters.
hickchick67
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2013
i had a "hang on tank" style filter that came with the tank kit. it was woefully undersized and could not keep the tank clean, always had cloudy water. i spent quite awhile researching filters and reading reviews. i decided to give this one a try since it had the options of verticle or horizontal placement and it came with a spraybar.i was a little skeptical about how well it would work since it was smaller than i expected. it proved me wrong! within a couple hours of installation, the water was clear! it is really versitile with the spraybar and bubbler attachments plus the flexibility to set it upright or sideways in the tank. i played with a few different placements until i found one that both the fish and i could live with. (hidden behind a plant) be aware that even on the lowest setting, it does have a powerful flow. my fish love playing in the current, but yours may not.it is so quiet (incredibly so especially when compared to the old filter we had that "snorted" & "growled") after i installed it, i would keep going back and checking on it, thinking that maybe it stopped working because i couldnt hear anything. there is a very very low humm which you can only hear when everything else is completely still. (doesnt happen often at my house!) i was concerned about any vibrations it might have, but my fish are fat & happy. no problems at all.I really like the fact you can refill the carbon and does away with the need for constantly buying filters. a quick rinse and the sponge is good to go. replace the carbon (i toss in a few ammochips too) and you are back in business. i may do what some other reviewer have said and put some filter floss in the bottom portion with the sponge for a little extra filtration. i like the fact you have the option to customize the filter media to what you need.I have had this filter about a month now. there has been no decrease in effectiveness, no increase in noise. it is running like a champ!this filter is powerful, it is quiet, it has adjustable flow, it can be used with or without the included attachments, it can be placed nearly anyway you want inside the aquarium. its very versatile. i definitely recommend it!
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