NO.17 NO.17 Submersible Aquarium Internal Filter

I have a love/hate relationship with this filter. I have a 21 year old red-eared slider I have owned since I was 8 years old. If you own an aquatic turtle, you know how dirty those mofos are. I have tried so many filters, including the complex ones with like, 5 different mediums that are a pain in the ass to disassemble and clean and usually get water everywhere in the process. I also have always had loud filters that sound like it’s flooding somewhere in the house. This filter is cool because it’s submersible, so you hear virtually no water running. The cleaning process is super simple and easy. There’s like, two different sponges you just have to rinse and you’re good. The problem however, is this filter doesn’t last long before it breaks. I’m on my third filter now, but I can’t seem to stop buying this frickin’ thing because it’s so damn cheap and effective and to be honest, I’m just too lazy to clean a more complex filter. On average, it has lasted me about 4-5 months before it stopped working altogether. I don’t know if I will stop buying this filter anytime soon, but I hope in the future that they figure out how to make them last longer. I’m sure in the end, I’m forking over more money than I need to for this product.

2nd Update: I’ve had this filter for just over a year and it still has the same quietness as day one. It is going strong and I haven’t had to replace it or clean a motor or anything, besides pull out a few bits of duckweed that somehow got stuck around the outside. The flow has stayed the same which is crazy to me. I haven’t even needed to buy a second as a backup. FYI, I also took a bit of a risk with buying this filter because not many reviews were out at the time (under 100 I think). Now it has 3000+, over the course of about a year. If you like good value and quietness, and don’t mind appearance if you’re doing something similar to my setup, then this is the one to buy.

1st Update: I got this filter for Christmas and have used it for over three months now. It sounds the exact same as the first day I started it (really quiet).

Original Review:
My setup: 75 gallon fish tank that is stocked well (about 20-30 fish, I never know because some fish like to burrow and I don’t see them for months but they always pop up alive and well out of nowhere). I use the 400GPH NO.17 filter and a piece of vinyl tubing from the filter into the back of a 75 gallon Marineland Penguin filter (that I don’t use anymore) on the other side of the tank.

I have bought the Tetra Whisper and Marineland Penguin filters in the past for this 75-gallon (283-liter) tank. Both of my 70-gallon tetra whispers lasted 5-7 months before failing completely. My 75-gallon marineland penguin has lasted the entire year and a half I’ve used it, but it’s become very noisy. Note, I clean my filters and the motors regularly – especially if they become too loud. I have a tiny 10-gallon tetra filter that has lasted 5+ years and counting, so I know how to maintain filters. But for my 75-gallon tank, I’ve used three different filters. From what I can tell so far, this one will last quite a while because of how quiet it has stayed and how I haven’t seen any reduction in flow.

Things I like about this filter:
– The value for money is SO GOOD.
I got this at $23.99 and it is $22.99 at the time of this review (oh well, haha). This is compared to a 70-gallon Tetra Whisper at ~$35 and a 75-gallon Marineland Penguin at ~$50 (which I got it for less than $30 back in 2021). It has worked perfectly for my 75-gallon tank, albeit with my specific setup. But it is great value for a 75-gallon tank.

– How quiet it is
Disclaimer: I’ve only had this for three months now, but it is still so quiet that sometimes I don’t even think it is on and I have to see if there is water flow (which there is a lot of). Keep in mind that mine is submerged about 6 inches beneath the water surface, 6 inches from the tank gravel, and it’s up against glass.

– Water flow
Based on my experience, with a good setup (intake on one side of tank, output on other), and if you don’t get a faulty one, this filter is good for up to 100 gallons or 380 liters, MAYBE more.
I read the reviews on here before buying and I saw one that said they got the 400GPH filter and it wasn’t enough for a 10-gallon? Maybe they got a faulty one, because mine is putting out about the same flow, if not more, as my 75-gallon marineland filter. My marineland would slow down flow over time until I cleaned it out, and it has wheel filters that would stop spinning altogether. This NO.17 filter, with a piece of vinyl tubing that goes into the back of the marineland, adds another step of filtration, AND it is at the opposite end of the tank so water circulation is 10 chef’s kisses out of 10. Without the tubing, it’ll produce decently high current in the tank. I don’t want high current because my gouramis prefer low flow, so the tubing gives that added bonus. It might actually have more flow than the marineland because the filter wheels started spinning again. To clarify, I don’t have the marineland running because the motor is too noisy.

– Safety for fish
I have some tiny fish in my 75-gallon, namely zebra + pearl danios and otocinclus catfish (you can see a small danio in one of the pictures). I haven’t had any fish get stuck in the filter, and I don’t see any spots where they even could get stuck. If I had shrimp, snails, baby fish, or nano fish, I would worry about them getting into this filter.

My advice:
If you are using this filter (or most filters) with smaller fish, shrimp, snails, etc., then buy a fine mesh filter bag (something like this: https://a.co/d/1LUrOT3) and cover the intake of the filter. I use one in my 10-gallon tank that covers the intake of a 10-gallon tetra whisper filter. I got my filter bag at petco, but they might be at petsmart too.
If you’re thinking of using tubing with this filter, take the tubing attachments (one is small, the other larger) and take them to a Home Depot or Lowe’s and try out different tubing sizes until you find one that fits. I found the larger one is good for tubing with an inner diameter (ID) of 5/8 to 3/4 inches.

In summary, this is a phenomenal filter for value, quietness, safety for my fish (not snails, shrimp, baby fish, etc.) and flow (works for my 75-gallon). I might order a second one as a backup.

This filter works great in my 35 gallon frameless cube tank. I purchased the 8w 200 gph size and it does not disappoint. Several things to know. First, it needs to be cleaned once a week for optimal performance. The pump is easy to take apart and put back together. It doesn’t take long and you can rinse it with aquarium water to preserve any good bacteria in the sponge filter media. Second, I have added some strips of biological filter material to the pre existing sponge filter material that came with it. You could add other types of filtration media like matrix balls or even replace the sponge filter that comes with it which is what I will ultimately do. Third, the adjustable flow switch works well. The 200 gph flow rate is when the switch is maxed out. I need about 175 gph for my tank so this works well and doesn’t bother my fish or plants. Fourth, you can run this pump submerged with the airline running from the nozzle to get oxygen and water surface agitation, or you can run it submerged without the air line hooked up and add an air stone to get oxygen and surface agitation. This is what I have set up and it is ultra quiet and the fish seem to like it. Plenty of oxygen, good filtration, and no noise. I have had it for two months now and it seems to be a great purchase for the price.