canister filters?

[jwalser18]

I'm looking into purchasing a canister filter for my 55 mbuna tank, but I'm having a hard time with what one I want.
 
I want it to be my primary filtration on my tank (with ample filtration for an overstocked tank)
good flow
no bypass
easy prime
QUIET!! <--hate how loud HOB's can be with sand!
and, safe for a fine sanded tank.
 
What's your experiences with them? the good, bad, and the ugly! :p

[Steve]

I have dual canisters on each of my 55g tanks right now. Each tank has a Rena XP3 & Rena XP4 per tank. I use Home Depot fine grit commercial paver sand. My filters are pretty quite I would say. With the doors of the stand closed you can barely hear them when the TV is off so I would not say dead silent, but about as silent as you can get IMO. They need to be primed when you first set them up, but after that there is no priming because the quick release holds the prime when you do cleaning of them.

They have pretty good flow and with a spraybar on each side of my tank the whole surface is nice and rippled. I did run single XP3 on the one tank for awhile and it did a good job at filtering but didn't quite agitate the entire surface of the 55g by itself so that's why I added a second one. The price of them is very reasonable if you by used though so running two is not very expensive if you watch ebay. picked up my four filters for $40-$60 each used.

That's the only canister I have experience with so far but hope that helps some.

[runawaypencil]

Most of the newer filters have a decent amount of bypass IMO.  But if your looking for something that has no by pass you need the old school magnum350, or a dantom.  I use magnums and have used dantoms to use as a super polisher for a show tank.  As lately I'm in love with the fx5, which is really to big for your tank but you can pick up used ones for $100-140.