Cascade 1000 Canister Filter - 265 GPH Aquarium Filter for Tanks Up to 100 Gallons - 360 Degree Flow Valves, Poly Fiber Pads, Bio-Sponge & Activated Carbon -Fresh & Saltwater -11.5x10x17in

6/28/2015 UPDATED REVIEW: Well its been over a year and half so I thought I would come back and give you some news on this thing...Still working like the day I got it. After having it in for several months I noticed the holes in the tubes in the top part were getting clogged a little bit. About every 3rd water change I take them out and clean them. I have also finally found a good system for me in stacking my filters. The bottom tray from bottom to top, Course, medium, fine filter foams. The Second tray has my Carbon and another floss pad ( Fine filter foam) and the top has my Bio Balls with a bag of Seachem Phosguard. This system has worked the best for me in my 55 gallon community tank. Overall my experience with this system has proven to be well worth the money and I do recommend this product based on Price, Performance and Ease Of Use. I hope this review helps someone and as always Be Safe and Happy Shopping!! ORIGINAL REVIEW: This is my first canister filter and the unit installed very easily. It also primed very easily. I used a method I seen on YouTube and had it primed in less than a minute. The unit sits in our cabinet under our 55 gallon and is very quite. If you get one that's noisy, as I have read, then something is defective. I cant hear this thing at all. I also purchased some Marineland Bio Balls and inserted them in the middle tray along with the polishing material. All of the other media you need comes with it. You don't need the bio balls I guess but it is something I use in our outdoor pond and they work great, so for 7 bucks it was worth it to add them in. I had the entire unit up and running in less than 15 minutes, bare in mind this the first time I have set one up. The instructions look overwhelming and a bit messy when you first glance at them but seriously just sit down and look at them for a second and you'll see they are very straight forward and leave no guess work. I am very pleased, so far, with the unit.

I have a 13" pleco.....bunch of guppies texas map turtles and some other stuff in a 75 gallon tank that had to have its fluval filter taken away. I went away and when I came home it smelled terrible and I couldnt even see through the water. The pleco had to be at the window just for me to see him. I could not use the fluval 305 I use to have and I could not find another one on craigslist for 25 bucks. I researched for a day and decided to go with the cascade 1000 based on its accessories and the good reviews. Great Choice so far Pros 1. price, 99 bucks for a filter that can handle a 100 gallon tanks is great. 2. The way it is made in some ways is much better than the fluval. For one it has a clamp on each side as opposed to just two. I use to have a fluval that only had two clamps. it was much harder to clamp down and one broke...it was over then. The cascade is much easier to clamp down and if one breaks you still have three more to compensate. another way it is built better over the fluval 305 is the connectors to the motor move around so you are able to move the tubing in many more directions in a much more comfortable easier way. With the fluval the tubing was so stiff and if I wanted to re arrange the tubing I would have to take it completely out the water which was a pain. And last the biggest is the primer. instead of a little pin with a finger side handle to push and pull the water in to get it started the cascade instead uses a button. I had a fluval one I had to prime it for so long the pin broke and I had to order a new one. it still didnt work. Because the cascade is a pump button you dont have to worry about that. Another huge factor the button is far superior is because you can use the ball of your foot to pump it instead of your hands. I did this and it started in less than 30 seconds no joke. With the fluval I have tried to get it started the first time for about twenty minutes and some people give up. the way the water flow changer is made is better than the fluval because the fluvals plastic piece that is thin can get bent easily in not slide up and down in the slit. you will have no issue with that here. 3. very very easy to set up. you can see the water fill in the canister the tubes are very flexible and easy to connect. IF YOU HAVE A PRIMING ISSUE SIMPLY STOP USING YOUR HANDS< STAND UP AND USE THE BALL OF YOUR FOOT. THIS WORKED FOR ME IN LESS THAN 30 SECONDS!!!! 4. Water flow rate is great. You can adjust the water flow for output and input separately so if you are using a spray bar and want to quiet it down at night you can slow it down. The spray bar is cool but loud if you use it above water. 5. Accessories for this are pretty cool. It comes with a spray bar thats probably about 3 feet long. At first I hooked it up and it was so long it sank down in the water and looked nothing like the cool pics of spray bars I see. Then I thought about that fact that I got 8 suction cups with connectors on them. I only needed one or two for the input output hose so I connected one to the end of the spray bar and it fit perfectly. Now my spray bar is level out of the water and I can create a kind of love tunnel type thing and it sounds much better and ALSO distributes the filtered water much better. These suction cups stay on, I had a hard time with the fluval suction cups and the cascade 100 provides you with 8. you only really need 3 t 5 at the most. 6. It looks nice its not loud and the base that it sits on is much much wider than the fluval so it wont accidentally fall over. thats a big deal if you have pets or kids CONs 1. the spray bar can be a little loud if you are using it above water to fall down into the tank but I like it and some people may as well. 2. the carbon pack provided does not fit all the space mostly in the canister. it covers about 88%. with the fluval it cam with a custom sack that was large enough to cover the whole tray inside. At some point you will have to replace the carbon so if you wanted you could buy your own carbon somewhere and use some kind of product like pantyhose to make your own bag if you cant find anything for perfect fit. But either way I dont think its a big deal so I didnt worry about it. In probably 2 hours the tank stops smelling. In 14 hours I have crystal clear water from a filter thats quieter, much much easier to set up and cleans better than anything I have had before. I recommend this and I'd buy another one. if you are having troubles priming make sure you twisted the correct way to connect the hoses as tight as you can. you twist to make it go up towards the part you just connected. make sure you have the LONG plastic piece on the intake part and the short one on the outtake. Make sure all four clamps on the base are on properly and USE THE BALL OF YOUR FOOT THE PRIME IT QUICK> Once you see a little water fill up you sont have to go as quick. After it fills up it will push water through the out put and you can then plug it in. Easiest set up I have ever had. Less than thirty seconds. If you cant get this its probably not connected right or you are not doing it quick. Use your feet If you cant afford this try the 700 and if thats still too much try the underwater cascade 600. the 600 is good to use if you have a cover and the hoses would get in the way. I have two on my other tank and they work awesome too and is more like a 3 in 1. I have done my research an am VERY happy with the 600 and 1000

2026 UPDATE: I have used this filter now for 13 YEARS for beautiful, but messy exotic goldfish and it still is running well. It is very well made and I think I’ve only had to replace one fairly inexpensive part in 10 years. The only time it leaked is when I put together the hose connectors incorrectly after changing the filter media, so it was not the fault to the product, but me the user. The only addition I might suggest is adding a shielded/covered low voltage underwater sterilizing light inside the water of the tank within proximity to the filter intake. This has dramatically helped me eliminate algae and cloudy water. 2013 REVIEW: I have medium -sized to large exotic goldfish which are hardy, brightly colored and beautiful, but they are generally much messier than tropical fish and they can dirty my 40 gallon show tank's aquarium fairly rapidly. Ideally partial water changes for large goldfish aquariums should be every 2 weeks and filter maintenance every 3-4 months. I had been using a hang-on-the-back type filter, but had to replace the filter material constantly and the motor was getting progressively noisier and noisier and being in my bedroom it got to the point where I almost could not sleep it was so loud. So I started looking into canisters and they seemed to work much more quietly and efficiently as well as requiring only moderate maintenance. I compared this the Cascade 1000's features with other more highly recommended canister type filters such as Eheim and they seemed comparable, but Penn-Plax's price on Amazon was almost half the price of some of its higher end competitors--especially in comparison to independent fish stores and chains such as Petco or Petsmart. But I am a frugal, read other customers reviews and didn't want to through extra money out the window, so went ahead and bought this filter nearly 8 years ago and its still humming along wonderfully and quietly. My ONLY complaint is that the instructions are very basic and not as detailed as they could be. And the replacement or assembly of some of the smaller or specialty parts are not clearly explained. I was cleaning my unit and removing the motor housing and a large rectangular gasket just popped out that I didn't recall seeing before because it had been installed when I first bought the unit. I then went online and watched several "how to" videos, but they were all basic and mainly covered dismantling the filter compartments. One did show replacing the motor impeller unit which was helpful and while we are on that subject the little gasket seal for the impeller units are now almost impossible to find. They generally will last for a few years, but still, you want to be able to buy a replacement rather than replace the entire filter. I finally found online aquarium supplies seller that had an one left from older stock--since to my knowledge Penn Plex does not show them in their online parts catalog anymore and you cannot buy them at retail pet or aquarium stores, so I bought that remaining one right away (they do sell all the other parts, but not the darn O ring which if you don't have it won't work. But I still would highly recommend this filter and I also like its transparent blue plastic housing because you can see the water and filter components through the housing. It is the only canister filter I am aware of that is see through.

Since the price is so good I thought I would take a chance on this filter despite some of the negative comments. I'm happy that I did. The water was a little cloudy at first (even more than the old lower capacity filter this replaced) but I think that was probably just due to the cheaper ceramic rings I put in one of the trays shedding some of their outer layers. After a couple days that cleared up and the water has been extremely clear ever since, and my test kit is showing perfect pH, ammonia and nitrite levels. I'm now about 1 week into it and all is well. I'll update this if I run into any issues in the next few months. Some people have complained about water bypass, and indeed there is a little water motion visible outside of the trays, but as long as each tray is seated properly on the one below it (don't overfill a tray!) and as long as the top grate is positioned properly, then the gaps will be small enough that only a tiny amout of water can slip through. I would estimate that the bypass is less than one percent of the water that is actually moving correclty through the trays, and I think that is a better ratio than the old fluval 305 on my other aquarium. Besides, with the nice flowrate of this filter even if some water does escape without being filtered, it will be coming back through the filter again within an hour, and odds are it will be going through the filter stack that time around. I also had no problems with priming it as some have reported. All I had to do was press the priming button maybe five times and that was enough to start the water flowing out of the aquarium down into the canister and expelling the air out through the return line.[1] After the canister looked full I turned it on and the last bits of air were pushed out and the water was flowing at a very good rate. After that first time I have not had to prime it again after disconencting the hoses and opening up the canister to fiddle with the media trays. Once the hoses were connected and the valves opened then the water started flowing and the canister filled right up again and it was ready to be plugged in and started after 30 seconds or so. The only dissapointment I have is that it is not as quiet as I was expecting. I knew from reviews that there was some sound from the unit, but I was expecting less than what mine is doing. On the other hand, it is quiet enough that if there is other sound in the room, like the TV or people talking, then it is not bad enough to interfere. But if there is nothing else then the filter can be heard from accross the room and a ways into the next room. My under tank cabinet is not tall enough to accomodate placing the filter there, and I expect that would have muffled most of the noise if I had been able to do so. [1] Priming tips: 1. Make sure that both valves are open when priming so the air in the canister can escape. 2. Make sure that the water level in the tank is high enough that the primer doesn't have to pull the water very far to get it above the side of the tank. 3. Make sure that the intake hose is short enough and positioned such that the water is able to "fall downhill" all the way from the top of the tank to the top of the filter. If there are sections of the hose that dip and then go uphil again then that can make the priming process more difficult. 4. And do the same for the output hose. If there is water in a valley section of the hose and air that is trying to be expelled runs into it, then it may not be able to depending on the air pressure. Instead if it is a more or less straight uphill path then the water and the air can exchange places more easily and the air can be pushed out.

May 18,2020 I would remove another star after dealing with the PENN-PLAX company which sells this. I had the 500 for one year and it stopped working. I sent all necessary information to the company plus paid $35 for an entire replacement. It came timely however it didn’t work. I called and spoke to the representative and she felt it was the impeller. So a new impeller was sent however that was not the problem. So she was going to send me a new motor. It was sent to the wrong address and after waiting another two weeks I contacted her again and she sent the motor which had been returned to the company. I received it and looked inside where I was going to put the impeller I already had back into it and noticed many scratches and water buildup in the so-called new motor. It also had water build up so I suspect this might have been a reconditioned/refurbished but that was not mentioned. This does not meet the warranty replacement. I have now contacted PayPal hoping I can get my money back on this event which I’ve been dealing with for the last month and a half and still do not have a new motor to put in the canister. I give up. It also had water buildup so I suspect this might have been a reconditioned/refurbished but that was not mentioned. This does not meet the warranty replacement. I have now contacted PayPal hoping I can get my money back on this event which I’ve been dealing with for the last month and a half and still do not have a new motor to put in the canister. I give up. The only reason I stayed with Cascade is because I have a 700 and a 1200. I have also had issues with the 700 but that was replaced and I haven’t had any problems with it in over a year. UPDATE. I’ve had this for 9 months now. I changed this filter every 3 or 4 months. There is a coarse sponge on the water intake which I change every 4-6 weeks. Everyday I check this filter to make sure water is flowing no noises no problems. This morning at 6 am I woke to a screeching sound. No water flowing took canister apart and motor is shot! I know it’s under a 3 yr warranty but I would have to pay $35 for them to send me another! Is it worth it? Not so sure. Think I will go back to sponge filters no hassles!!!!I like this canister filter. It is sturdy, easy to set up. I like the 4 clamps to keep it closed. I like the three year warranty or so I thought. I don’t like The fact that you have to plug the sidewalls and basket with filter material in order to keep the water flowing correctly and not up the sides of the canister. I had it for two years and two months when it just decided to quit. I emailed Penn Plax And told them about my problem and they sent me the necessary form to fill out so that I could get a replacement for the cascade 700. The only hitch is I had to pay $35 for postage. I’m happy to get a new one and I know that it’s a good value for 35 bucks, but nobody can tell me it cost $35 to mail this to me and I think I am actually paying the basic cost before they hike it up to sell it on Amazon or in stores So that’s a little bit of a riff for me.

Last canister filter I had was a old marineland magnum 350 from the 1990s mostly trouble free that was tied into a Eheim dummy filter from back in the day. It ran for almost 10 years with bi-annual cleanings before becoming to much of a problem to maintain. Needless to say its been a few years sense I’ve used or bought a canister filter. Most filters I’ve used have been hang on back type but media has gotten way too pricey to use and I’ve been looking for ways to cut maintenance cost. Every seven to ten years I buy groups of power filters at the same time so not to have different types of filter media to buy. The Cascade CCF3UL media baskets seemed perfect for the media cost reduction that I’ve been looking for. After a month long testing I now own three Cascade CCF3UL to use to over winter the fish inside the house that I place on my fair sized semi-enclosed back porch in the mild spring, summer, and fall periods of the year. Some have posted that the plastic is prone to breakage and I’ve yet to put that to the test knowing that most plastic power filters I’ve use were prone to the same kind of breakage if mishandled so go easy when changing or cleaning media. Before buying I checked around for common parts that might be prone to failure and found almost all available to be had. I’ll be using the Cascade CCF3UL on a 55, 65, and 120 gallon tanks using smaller hang-on filters as back-ups in conjunction with the Cascade CCF3UL. Over 30 years now back in the hobby and I’ve learned never to throw away a working filter even if media is no longer made, something always seems to come up and I’m pulling the scrap out of the old box and putting it back into play. The month old Cascade CCF3UL has been god sent in cycling up the over-wintering tanks before netting the older fish and new youths from the kiddie pool ponds and aquariums on semi-enclosed back porch before bringing them in. This year my first breading of buenos aires tetra, seven adults in the late spring to 30+ tetras in a 45 gallon tall tank, moved to over-wintering on the Oct, 30 2018, even found a couple less than half inch young tetras that managed to survive in the added floating hornwort. This review is more about liking so far the relative ease of set up. Most aspects of the Cascade CCF3UL canister filter were well thought out although I would still place a tray under them before removing hoses for maintenance, some small amount water will come out as the canister depressurizes. Make sure canister in in a sink or on wide lipped tray before popping top. All in all I like what I’ve seen so far. Pro: Set up was fairly easy. Two of the three filters I bought started up without issues the third required priming and some cussing. But I’d expected some issues as the last canister filter I used (old marineland magnum 350) could be troublesome on startup. Parts for the Cascade 1000 seem to be available on-line. I like being able to customize media and use cheep homemade hand cut filter pads. Con: Can be tough to prime. Also didn’t really like that the impeller shaft was made of plastic being the first time I’ve seen a plastic impeller shaft, all I’ve seen before were stainless steel impeller shafts, may look into ordering a spare Cascade 1000 impeller assembly to keep on hand. Did return one of the three Cascade 1000 I’d ordered for exchange, (rattling impeller and not pumping water) (free shipping thank god), the exchange unit worked just fine. June 19 2019 update: Three of these I bought last year are still working. Two of them are going on their third cleaning with same filter media except for carbon I change that every cleaning, the media is showing wear and will have to replace next cleaning for sure. I use one outside in a small back porch kiddie pool my Cory Cat get to swim and breed through the summer in along with some Rosy minnows that remain through winter with nothing but a deicing heater. Also add a couple more pictures.

I have waited about a year after purchasing this to write a review and I am glad that I did. When I first purchased this filter and set it up, I would have given it a 3 star rating due to my own faults. Now that I have cleaned it out and set it back up several times, I absolutely LOVE this filter. 1st it does not need to be manually primed (eeeww) like some other filters out there, which was the main reason I purchased it. 2nd it purrs like a kitten. This filter is VERY quiet, I don't hear it running until I open the stand door and even then I have to listen for it. 3rd It keeps my water crystal clear (which has more to do with the media than the filter, but more on that later) 4th I have had no issues with this filter in the year that I have had it. When I first got this filter and tried to prime it, it didn't fill up right away. It was a pain in the butt. I followed the instructions and I just couldn't get it to work. I almost considered returning it. Other reviews said the same thing. Since then, I have learned a much easier way to get it to run. After I clean it out and put it back together, and all the hoses are connected, I plug the filter in and turn on the valve for the intake hose only. Then I push the prime button 4 to 8 times until I hear the water filling up in the canister at which time I turn the valve for the outtake hose ON. This filter will start filling up on its own and running smoothly immediately. It is so easy. I have been playing around with the types of media I use in this filter and how I pack it. I use this filter in a 55 gallon aquarium for a AST (American snapping turtle) who is a very dirty guy. My aquarium is only half full of water so probably about 25 to 30 gallons of water. I have left over ceramic rings, and instead of tossing them I put a VERY thin layer on the bottom of the canister BEFORE I put the trays in. This keeps most of the muck on the bottom while the cleaner water moves up. I pack the bottom tray with 3 different sponges (coarse, medium and fine on top) the middle try is where I put my coarse media, I found that Matrix Bio Media works better than the white ceramic rings as it is more porous, where the ceramic rings are smooth and don't help keep the water clea. In the top tray I use a mix of Marineland Diamond Blend Ammonia Neutralizing Carbon and Black Diamond Premium Activated Carbon, I also add a cuttel bone to the top tray for added calcium in the water. So far this has worked great for me along with the filter, my turtle tank is crystal clear and I clean it out about once a month. Hope this helps anyone considering purchasing this filter. It is a great price and works great. I would purchase this again in the future.

I bought the Cascade 500 for a 20 gallon axolotl (Mexican Salamander) tank. After fighting with a 10 gallon tank with different hang-on-back filters, I figured I'd go all out on the new home for the little guy. I knew I wanted a canister filter, but I wanted one that was a bit smaller. I stumbled across the Penn Plax Cascade 500 here on Amazon while browsing one night. It looked like it was going to fit my needs pretty well. I ordered it straight away. It arrived quickly from Amazon, and upon inspection even this small canister was larger than I anticipated. That's not a bad thing, I just was expecting it to be a bit smaller. All of the parts were in the box, and I like that it gives you an option of running a spray bar or a more directional nozzle. It was easy to assemble and get installed in the aquarium. I chose to go with the spray bar, using about as many of the parts as possible to make sure I was going to have the lowest possible flow because the axolotl prefers more still water. Once I got it set up, I followed the instructions for priming the filter and getting it started. It took about 15 presses of the button to get the canister filled with water, then as soon as it was plugged in it started working. Within about two hours I could no longer hear any air so I believe the system had purged all of the air out of it. The flow is nice and low with the included spray bar, and the filter seems to be working excellently. The trays for getting the media into the filter are nice...it makes it very easy to remove them in order to get at the media and rinse it out or replace it. I also wanted to comment on Penn Plax's customer service. I was unsure of how exactly to adjust the flow on the machine...I understood how to use the shut off valves to control the water flow, but what I didn't know was exactly how to control JUST the flow...for instance, if I wanted half the total output to be going through the system, I didn't know if I should turn the input to 50%, the output to 50%, or both to 50%. I placed an e-mail to Penn Plax and within two business days I got a response letting me know that I should ONLY be adjusting the output, and that the input should always be fully open unless I was going to be removing the filter. Overall, I really like this filter and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. Very nice product at a very nice price.

المنتج لا يعمل ابدا تواصلت وقالوا لي تواصلي مع الشركة كلمتهم وردوا لي بتعليمات الكتيب وانا سويت كل شي لكن مااشتغل معي ابداً.. خسرت فلوس على الفاضي.

👍

I attached this filter to my 60 gallon tank several weeks ago. I am extremely pleased! The filter is very quiet and has excellent flow. Assembly was fast, easy and leak proof. The valves and quck connections make this unit a breeze to disconnect and move to a sink for cleaning. The water quality and clarity is substantially better than my HOB unit. I highly recommend!

primera vez que me meto al mundo del acuarismo, me monte una acuario plantado de 300lt con este filtro, y esta en estupendas condiciones, el agua super cristalina, si o si lo volveria a comprar sin dudarlo

Excellent & powerful filter. Easy to put together and use. I concur with the other review here that said starting it was like performing CPR! But once started, it’s amazing. Ignore the other negative review about their dead fish, that was user error, you never switch filters without running new one in and getting it matured before disengaging the first one. This one has been running here for a few months and the tank is spotlessly clean, constantly perfect water tests & very happy fish! Mine is running down a waterfall before getting to the tank below & it’s plenty powerful enough.