# Mini Canister Filter: Zoo Med 501 vs Toms Rapid Mini



## Choco (Dec 8, 2007)

Planning to get either one for a small 3g planted tank, and I am wondering how do they compares. Is there much difference between the 2? From the photos, the filter itself looks almost exactly the same, and their flowrate is pretty much the same too (501 = 79gph, toms mini = 80gph). Are they actually the same filter? I.e. just rebranded

The only difference I see is the tubing they use. The spray bar & inflow thing look the same too.

Anyone had experience with both filter here? (if they are the same, i'd go with the toms rapid since it is $35 vs zoomed 501 $50)


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

Try here, both filters have been discussed in depth numerous times.


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## Reeferton (Aug 16, 2007)

Can't speak for the zoomed, but the rapids I had barely worked sitting next to my 2.5 gallon, it needs to sit lower to get proper suction.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

^^^Actually you are not supposed to sit the can any lower than the aquarium,This goes for both the Zoomed and the tom's mini.Both are great for nano tanks but I wouldn't use them in anything above a ten gallon.
Not sure of the flow design on the tom's but it looks like the in and out takes are at the same location on the can?
The Zoomed flow as follows, intake goes through top of can down through mechanical,bio then through a little opening at the bottom of the divider to the other side where a prefilter looking sponge sits on the out take out to the top.
Does a good job of cleaning small tanks.
I read somewhere that you have to clean out the flow indicator to get decent flow on the tom's mini, that could be your problem refferton...


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

I wouldn't use either in a tank larger than 5.5 gallons. Neither were enough for my 10 gallon tank.


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## swylie (May 10, 2007)

Reeferton said:


> Can't speak for the zoomed, but the rapids I had barely worked sitting next to my 2.5 gallon, it needs to sit lower to get proper suction.


The height of the canister itself does not affect the flow rate.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

^^^Um yeah if you have it lower than the tank it won't work at all.


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## Fishwood (Feb 1, 2008)

Hated the Tom Rapids. Never had the zoomed.


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## Blacksunshine (Oct 11, 2006)

swylie said:


> The height of the canister itself does not affect the flow rate.


yes actually it does. the lower it is the harder the pump has to work against gravity to get water back into the tank thus decreasing flow rate. 

Having both of them I can say they both suck and are not sufficient alone for a 10 gallon tank. even a 5.5 gallon could use some supplement for filtration. on my 6 gal I have a mini HOB as well as my 501. that handles it. 
on my 10 gal I have the toms and a AC30. 

Of the two I prefer the Zoo med. only because the intake and returns aren't fixed in horribly retarded positions and are much easier to place in the tank. aside from that they are pretty much the same filter. 

Both are a waste of money with alternatives out there. The only reason I would use either is if you are using CO2 injection and simply cannot have surface agitation.



As mentioned this has been discussed multiple times monthly. Please use the search feature.


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## swylie (May 10, 2007)

Blacksunshine said:


> yes actually it does. the lower it is the harder the pump has to work against gravity to get water back into the tank thus decreasing flow rate.


BS. That's a common misconception, apparently. Have you ever done any measurements, or is this just based on your intuition? Intuition is a funny thing when it comes to physics; it's often wrong.

This was discussed extensively in another thread where a poster wanted to put a canister filter in his basement, one floor beneath his tank. Assuming that the intake and the outlet are both submerged, it's a closed system. The water enters the tank at the same height and same potential energy as it leaves. Another way of saying this is that the water leaving the tank works with gravity, while the water entering the tank works against, and the two cancel out to equal zero. The only force that the pump has to overcome is friction inside the filter material and hoses and such. If your theory about fighting gravity were correct then the outlet hose would drain when you turned off the filter. Does it? No.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I have had a toms mini on my ADA Mini-M (~6.6g)for a few months with diy co2 plummed into the intake and have had no issues to speak of. It sits next to me in my office it has been totally silent and flows great for and I havent even cleaned it yet!

Here is the thread.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-nano-tanks/51007-10-x10-cube-mini-m-5.html

hope this helps alittle.


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## Blacksunshine (Oct 11, 2006)

swylie said:


> BS. That's a common misconception, apparently. Have you ever done any measurements, or is this just based on your intuition? Intuition is a funny thing when it comes to physics; it's often wrong.
> 
> This was discussed extensively in another thread where a poster wanted to put a canister filter in his basement, one floor beneath his tank. Assuming that the intake and the outlet are both submerged, it's a closed system. The water enters the tank at the same height and same potential energy as it leaves. Another way of saying this is that the water leaving the tank works with gravity, while the water entering the tank works against, and the two cancel out to equal zero. The only force that the pump has to overcome is friction inside the filter material and hoses and such. If your theory about fighting gravity were correct then the outlet hose would drain when you turned off the filter. Does it? No.


Why would it drain it? the filter is a closed system. it finds an equilibrium and the seals on the filter keep it from draining out on the ground. Have you never had a filter leak and drain your tank? that does happen. 


Now if you consider the design of a cannister in general you have two hoses coming from the tank. thus creating two siphons. so the tank exits the tank with the 2x the force. thus the motor is the key component to keeping this equilibrium. Thats why motors of filters and pumps are rated with Head heights. because the further vertical from the pump you are the less force it has because it is fighting gravity. 
so a jet of water that may dribble out of the spout 20 feet above the motor where 4 ft from it it shoots out 10 feet into the air. 
Now keep in mind that the water coming into the tank is slowed down dramatically by the filter media that it has to pass thru so the motor has to overcome that as well.
the higher the outlet the more water weight the pump has to fight against to get it back into the tank. this creates more load on the motor as well.


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## swylie (May 10, 2007)

Blacksunshine said:


> Why would it drain it? the filter is a closed system. it finds an equilibrium and the seals on the filter keep it from draining out on the ground. Have you never had a filter leak and drain your tank? that does happen.
> 
> 
> Now if you consider the design of a cannister in general you have two hoses coming from the tank. thus creating two siphons. so the tank exits the tank with the 2x the force. thus the motor is the key component to keeping this equilibrium. Thats why motors of filters and pumps are rated with Head heights. because the further vertical from the pump you are the less force it has because it is fighting gravity.
> ...


Oof, that makes my head hurt to read. You should check this thread, the one I referred to earlier. In it, a number of people say similar things in different ways, including me. I always like getting more than one explanation. Grubs explanation is particularly good.


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

Reeferton said:


> Can't speak for the zoomed, but the rapids I had barely worked sitting next to my 2.5 gallon, it needs to sit lower to get proper suction.


It's already been pretty much said, but I've seen technical info on the Tom's stating not to place it lower than the tank. 
In fact they sell brackets to hang it on the side of the tank rim.


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## capricorn77 (May 6, 2005)

I don't mean to dig up an old thread, but felt I should share my personal experience with a Toms Rapid Mini Filter that I bought and used for only several weeks. 

It was for a 9G tank at work. I left one night, and came in the next day with about 1/2 ~ 1 gallon of water missing from the fish tank. :icon_eek:
The water ended up on my cube wall, all over my desk, and all my paperwork was soaked. Someone in my office was kind enough to lay tons of paper towels around the filter so it soaked up the water spilled. :fish1: 

I took a look and found out that the leak came from where the power cord exited from the filter. 

I cleaned it, drained the water out of the filter and re-plugged it back in. Within 1/2 hour, the darn thing started leaking again. 
Oh, I also removed the red flow indicator piece, thinking that was causing the issue. But that didn't have any effect. Still leaked.  

Decided to turn it off and will be throwing this piece of junk away and getting either a Zoo Med 501 or a regular HOB filter. 

Anyway, that's my experience. I will never buy another Toms Rapid Mini filter again, eventhough they were quite cheap (perhaps there was a reason they were so cheap  )


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

The zoo med works great on my 6.6 gallon, better overall design than the toms IMO.


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## Overfloater (Jan 12, 2004)

I had the Tom's Mini on a 10G for a few weeks. I would never buy one again. The hose attachment fitting broke off and I'm not surprised considering the overall build quality of the filter. The flow rate was very poor also.


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## Gar (Mar 3, 2008)

Love my Zoo Med 501. 'nuff said!


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## icom (Mar 14, 2008)

Overfloater said:


> I had the Tom's Mini on a 10G for a few weeks. I would never buy one again. The hose attachment fitting broke off and I'm not surprised considering the overall build quality of the filter. The flow rate was very poor also.


mine broke off too...after the cheap hoses split....after the suction cup holders broke.....after the empeller housing came apart in 2 pieces ( naturally I couldn't find the small piece)



Gar said:


> Love my Zoo Med 501. 'nuff said!


I would too if I could get the thing to quit pumping loads of air out the spray bar every few minutes


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## ZID ZULANDER (Apr 15, 2008)

Sorry to say that you are wrong.... The pump or canistar filter still has to fight the head pressure going up. If the unit was one floor below and it needed to pump back up it would not pump water. The only way it would pump water is if you put a booster pump on it that could handle the head pressure.




swylie said:


> Oof, that makes my head hurt to read. You should check this thread, the one I referred to earlier. In it, a number of people say similar things in different ways, including me. I always like getting more than one explanation. Grubs explanation is particularly good.


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## daFrimpster (Mar 7, 2005)

I think this sentence from the thread Swylie might clear things up a bit
"Head can be broken into static (fight against gravity) and dynamic (resistance to flow). "
I think the difference on thinking here is semantic.


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## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

I had good experiences with the Zoo Med 501. It was too strong for my 6g so I sold it. It did keep the tank very clean all the time.


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## Goanna (Jan 23, 2008)

capricorn77 said:


> I don't mean to dig up an old thread, but felt I should share my personal experience with a Toms Rapid Mini Filter that I bought and used for only several weeks.
> 
> It was for a 9G tank at work. I left one night, and came in the next day with about 1/2 ~ 1 gallon of water missing from the fish tank. :icon_eek:
> The water ended up on my cube wall, all over my desk, and all my paperwork was soaked. Someone in my office was kind enough to lay tons of paper towels around the filter so it soaked up the water spilled. :fish1:
> ...


I bought my TOM Rapids over a year ago and I just found a use for it today as I got a great deal on a tetra 6.5 Long Minibow 

Well I hooked it up and all looked well, come back 15 minutes later and there is a puddle on my shelf and it's starting to leak down onto my Printer :icon_excl.

I break out the old Sham-Wow to soak up the mess and when I move the filter water just starts pouring out of where the power cord exits! Not a slow leak, it was like I was pouring a never ending pot of coffee!

So now I am back to using an aqua clear HOB filter on this tank and I am going to order a new 501 to replace this disappointing TOM product.


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## tuffgong (Apr 13, 2010)

Same thing happened to me. The Tom's Mini Canister is a terrible product. I think an o-ring or some sort of sealing mechanism around the head would improve quality tremendously, but until then getting it to seal is pure luck.


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## spunjin (Apr 7, 2009)

I just ordered the Zoo Med 501 so when it is up and running I'll post to share my experience as well. Never had the Tom Rapids but I read enough about it to choose the Zoo Med for my 5.5.


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## TeamTeal (Mar 31, 2010)

i have a zoomed 501 for a 10g bowfront, been very happy with it so far.


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## born2lovefish (Dec 29, 2006)

swylie said:


> The height of the canister itself does not affect the flow rate.


I know this is rather old, but have to comment on this. Recalling Bernoulli's Principle from my Fluid Dynamics class in college, height is a factor in the flow. It is commonly referred to as 'head' or the 'head loss' for a flow. In Bernoulli's equation the loss from friction is calculated by a sumation. This depends on the number of turns/angles and a couple other factors, which can be obtained from a fluid flow for pipes table. The head loss term in Bernoulli's Equation typically always exceeds the loss due to friction for a fluid flow. In fact, the loss due to friction is often ignored for relatively short pipe distances. If one looks up a water pump on a manufacturer's website, one typically can view graphs for the pump output at different height differentials. Notice on these graphs that the manufacturer only displays data for different heights and the related flow outputs. If the loss from friction was so high and important, why do manufacturers leave this data out and why has someone not proved Bernoulli's equation wrong by now?...


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## MoeBetta (Feb 5, 2011)

Closed loop system.

That's all I'm saying.

Whoa... Forgot I was google searching. Sorry to dig up an old one.


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