# My Rena XP2 vs Fluval 205 review



## hale4david (Aug 6, 2008)

Nice to see someone else here saying good things about Fluvals. My first canister was a 305 and have since added a 405 to my 75 gal.. I don't see why so many people have a problem with the ribbed tubing as I have never had a problem with it. I do however run regular vinyl tubing on my 305 now since I added a UVS and needed new lengths of hosing. I haven't tried any of the other canisters out there so I can't really do any comparisons but I thought I'd chime in and say that I've been very pleased with the Fluvals.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Hey- do a followup in a few months, after you've had to do maintenance for a bit, and let us know if you still feel the same way! :smile:

I love my Renas, but I've also never owned a Fluval.


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## hal3146 (Jan 21, 2009)

I had to cut my review short a little bit, thats what happens when you have a 2 year old.

One question I have for the Rena owners is how do you set-up the media baskets. In my fluval I had effimech and polyfill in the bottom tray. In the top two trays I ran ceramic biomedia. In the XP2 I currently have the 2 sponges in the bottom tray. There is about an inch of empty space on top of this. Then is the second basket I have all the biomedia from the fluval then the one of the plastic grates that comes with it followed by the micro filtration pad and then the other grate.

I am using the grates correct? Are they suppose to surround the micro filtration pad?

Can I load media directly on top of the sponges in the bottom tray?

How are other people running theirs. The rena diagrams shows 4 sponges in the bottom 2 each of the fine and course.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

hale4david said:


> Nice to see someone else here saying good things about Fluvals. My first canister was a 305 and have since added a 405 to my 75 gal.. I don't see why so many people have a problem with the ribbed tubing as I have never had a problem with it. I do however run regular vinyl tubing on my 305 now since I added a UVS and needed new lengths of hosing. I haven't tried any of the other canisters out there so I can't really do any comparisons but I thought I'd chime in and say that I've been very pleased with the Fluvals.


Same here. I've used them for over 20 years and currently have a 404 and 304 on my 75. I'm happy with them and have had no issues. I've never used another canister either so I can make no comparison. Some people have had issues with them and some people have had issues with Eheims and Renas. A lot of people have had no issues with Fluvals because they have never owned one but it doesn't seem to prevent them from speaking about them as though they have owned them and had problems.


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

I have owned fluvals in the past and have an FX5 currently. I personally would never buy another.

I have never owned a Rena.

I am an Eheim guy.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

fshfanatic said:


> I have owned fluvals in the past and have an FX5 currently. I personally would never buy another.
> 
> I have never owned a Rena.
> 
> I am an Eheim guy.


Well, when you've got something constructive to contribute to the discussion, then let us know. :flick:

I've got my Renas more or less set up like this:

From bottom to top:
Ehfimech, coarse sponge, fine sponge, biomedia, Purigen, filter floss, micron pad.

Sometimes I'll put more filter floss in other places if I've got more "space" to fill, depending on which Rena it is (I own all 4 models) and how much space I've got.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I have my XP1 set up like this

Bio-slab media 
Filstar Foam 30ppi 
Purigen satchel 
Filstar Micro Filtration Pads (x'2)


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## hal3146 (Jan 21, 2009)

I have not studied the design of the Rena closely but people that experience leaks say they leak around the power cord. How is this happening? Is there no gasket where the power cord is?


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## daverockssocks (Dec 1, 2008)

If they're experiencing a leak there it's because they didn't seat the inlet/outlet correctly when they last worked on it or the O-rings need replacing.


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

wow. great review for the Fluval. i have a 305 on my 29 and i love it. it has great compartments for customization. and i agree, i really do wish they should have a better output choice, like a spraybar.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

monkeyruler90 said:


> like a spraybar.


You can purchase a spraybar separately.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/ind...-95F3-DD11-80C2-001422107090&mr:referralID=NA


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## hokuryu (Jan 6, 2009)

I like my Fluval 205 for my 20H. 

The only issue I'm having is precisely the ribbed tubing. 

I built an external reactor a' la Rex Griggs's idea, with helpful guidance by Hoppy, including a bleed valve up top for use when priming the filter:



















So far, so good.

Now, this morning, though, I noticed a drip leak out both hoses, coming from the reactor. I tightened the worm screws. I noticed the leaks got worse. Then I realized that the ribbed hosing was getting damaged by the crimping, and all tightening did was worsen the "split" along a rib-ridge. I've tried to patch the connections up with plumber's putty, but so far, I'm not too sanguine I've got a permanent seal, and worry I'll go away for a weekend with a blown line, and emptied tank.

Beyond that, the hosing seems to be a proprietary, odd diameter - seems to me, the company designed it this way so that you cannot use generic hosing to connect to the filter mount, and have to buy the (expensive) hosing set anytime you want to do a major reconfiguration. 

I'd prefer standard tubing in a filter. I actually am at a bit of a loss as to what to do, to secure the intake and outflow hoses to the reactor.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

If you've removed the rubber ends from the fluval hoses and are trying to make connections with the ribbed part of the tubing you're probably SOL and should be more surprised if it doesn't leak than if it did. The rubber ends connect quite nicely to the correct size barbs. If you need to connect something inline you can use clear vinyl tubing that's available at most home improvement stores or buy more fluval tubing but do not remove the rubber ends. I'd go with clear vinyl. I'm not sure about the 205 but for a 304 and 404 you can use 5/8 inch ID tubing and it works just fine.


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## hokuryu (Jan 6, 2009)

Jeff5614 said:


> If you've removed the rubber ends from the fluval hoses and are trying to make connections with the ribbed part of the tubing you're probably SOL and should be more surprised if it doesn't leak than if it did. The rubber ends connect quite nicely to the correct size barbs. If you need to connect something inline you can use clear vinyl tubing that's available at most home improvement stores or buy more fluval tubing but do not remove the rubber ends. I'd go with clear vinyl. I'm not sure about the 205 but for a 304 and 404 you can use 5/8 inch ID tubing and it works just fine.


Thanks, Jeff. Yep, I am attempting to use a ribbed end to connect to the barbs, because I have several cut pieces of hose, and didn't want to lay out more for new hosing (this was a DIY reactor, so dropping additional $16-32, just for hosing, didn't make sense to me). So far, actually, plumber's putty is holding, so we'll see.

How do you connect the rubber fittings to barbs? Just slide them on, worm clamp?

I did think to use clear vinyl, as a coupling hose - can you talk a bit more of what you're talking about, in terms of an inline connection - insert the 5/8 vinyl, worm clamp is to the ribbed hosing, insert the vinyl to a hose barb, clamp that on? If so, I thought to do that, but didn't think the vinyl-ribbed hosing coupling would hold.


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## fishbguy1 (Feb 29, 2008)

I have the FLuval 305 on my 40. I love it, and have had it since christmas. 

I bought the spray bar, and if I wanted to, I could trim it so it would fit horizantally, but I was too lazy, so I just put it vertically. The tank is 2 feet tall, so the veritcle spray bar is good cause it give even flow to all areas of the tank. Before, with my HOB, it ws hard to get flow on the bottom, so I often had to put my powerhead near the bottom and point it up/accross. Now I have the powerhead at the top to create more surface aggitation.

+1 for Fluval!


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

The rubber fittings fit snuggly over the 3/4 inch barbs and I used a hose clamp over them to make sure they don't slip off. 

I no longer use a reactor but when I did it went this way. I used the fluval tubing from the tank to the input on the filter. Filter output to the reactor was using vinyl tubing which connected to the reactor using a 3/4 barbed fitting secured by a hose clamp. From the reactor to the spray bar in the tank I used the fluval tubing.


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## hokuryu (Jan 6, 2009)

Jeff5614 said:


> The rubber fittings fit snuggly over the 3/4 inch barbs and I used a hose clamp over them to make sure they don't slip off.
> 
> I no longer use a reactor but when I did it went this way. I used the fluval tubing from the tank to the input on the filter. Filter output to the reactor was using vinyl tubing which connected to the reactor using a 3/4 barbed fitting secured by a hose clamp. From the reactor to the spray bar in the tank I used the fluval tubing.


I'm unclear how you connect vinyl tubing from the filter output. The way I have it now is this:

Tank (intake tube)->filter in (Fluval rubber fitting)->filter out (Fluval rubber fitting)->reactor in (top of reactor, ribbed hose-1/2" barb, worm clamp, putty)->reactor out (bottom of reactor, 1/2" barb, ribbed hose, clamp, putty)->tank outflow (Fluval nozzle).

If this putty fails, I guess I could just use an additional 2 hoses, with rubber fittings. Not keen on dropping an additional $32, though, to accomplish it.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

The vinyl tubing fits on the aquastop and then connects with the barbed fitting on the reactor.


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## Fishytales12345 (Apr 12, 2008)

Has anyone tried to attach Hagen spare adapters A00017 to the ribbed hosing for 304/404 canisters? Like can they be glued or epoxied or something like that? If so, I have found that the barbed fittings like for a UV unit fit great in the A00017 hose adapter and an external hose clamp around the adapter seals it tight.


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## steve171 (Dec 15, 2009)

*Advice on Fluval 205*

Hi everyone i have been reading all your comments and was wondering if the 205 would be adaquate for my 190litre tank as i do not want to jump to the 305 if i do not have to as money is scarse with christmas and a new baby on the way, I hope someone can point me in the right direction, I am replacing a Juwel filter system witch is a load of crap.


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## Fishytales12345 (Apr 12, 2008)

You are right near the maximum suggested size pump for your size aquarium. Yours is 190 l and the maximum recommended is 200 l by the maker. My thoughts are that you should not have a problem if the pump head (distance between the canister base and the tank waterlevel) is well below the 4.5 foot maximum height. The LFS where I started said to use a 204 for my 70 gallon and not knowing anything about the avocation, I used it for a couple of years with the full 4.5 foot head until I noticed that the pressure at the output nozzle in the tank was really pretty poor. I went up to a 305 and am quite satisfied. 

Best regards either way you go!

Howard


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