Penn-Plax Cascade 610 Submersible Internal Filter

The filter works okay, however it comes with a weak sponge and one bag of carbon so before set it up you need to buy some biological filtration. The suction is strong. A little bit overpriced to be honest.

6 months after I decided to use it in a 10gallon tank and it works perfectly for a small tank. So if you are buying it for a 10-20 gallon tank it should do the work.

I used two of these to upgrade my goldfish tank and my 29 gallon crayfish tank. I am seeing much clear water with in 12 hours of setting these up. Everything was ready to go just a quick rinse and I was able to drop it in my aquariums . The suction cups work super well also!

I have used many other filters such as the Zilla rock filter for my turtle tank (it was bad). When I tried this filter it was like an entire new world. With my other filters I would have to change the water and clean the tank every week, sometimes twice a week. With this filter I only change the tank every 3 months! It is the best filter you will ever buy! With the attachable arm that cleans all of the debris at the bottom of the tank and makes the water looking so clear. I would recommend to everyone!

**(Read the whole review for updates!)**
I have two of these for my 75 gallon turtle tank, which has about 40-50 gallons of water in it. When I got them, I already knew the filter media that came with them wouldn’t be fantastic–I didn’t buy these at this price point for the stock filter media–but for some reason I decided to try it out anyway. Overnight, my tank’s water, which was fresh the night before, had turned a shade of gray. I think the charcoal started dispersing into the water. Maybe I should have rinsed it more? I initially rated this with three stars based on preliminary results using stock media.
I took out the stock media and replaced it with what should have been put in there in the first place: Seachem’s Matrix and Purigen. (Read below: I also needed floss.) For reference, I split one 500mL bottle of Matrix evenly between the two filters (it perfectly filled one compartment in each) and used one pouch of Purigen in each as well. Pictured is the gray-ish water with the stock filter media, then the filter itself with superior filtration media in it. Within an hour or two of changing media the water seemed a bit more clear to me, but weeks later as the nitrogen cycling process is settling down I can’t say things are ever going to be crystal-clear. Reviews on Matrix and Purigen often say they did turn tank water crystal clear. A single packet of Purigen is meant to treat 100 gallons of water. Considering that I’ve got at most 50 gallons in my tank and two packets each rated for 100 gallons, this points to the filters being the issue.
As far as water flow goes, it doesn’t really seem like this filter pumps as fast as it claims. I appreciate that you can control the flow of the water but even at its strongest, it doesn’t feel as strong as it probably should. But, this is a $25 filter, so I expected as much.
I read reviews saying the design is flawed because not all water gets pumped through both media compartments every time. And that’s true. I keep my chemical filtration in the top filter so that everything goes through that, and my bio filtration in the bottom. I test my water regularly and even with the bio filter on the bottom, it’s definitely doing its job. If you’re worried about everything getting through both compartments every time, get a tube of silicone and plug up the vents on the upper compartment. This may affect water flow output, though, as it’s already not super strong and taking away input vents could make it even more weak.
Unfortunately, with these filters, there are a lot of particles that seem to be stuck floating around my tank. (Read below for update on this.) I was previously using a waterfall-type filter in a much smaller tank, and that filter would push surface particles down into its suction, keeping things very clean. These filters do not do this. I didn’t think it would be an issue, but I’ve got more particles on the surface of my tank each day, despite regularly scooping up what I can. There are plenty of particles underwater too, to the point that sometimes it looks like snow. This is with thorough weekly water changes/gravel cleaning.
I figure the particles are at least partly my fault, since I don’t have any floss in my filters, but each filter only has two media compartments and they are already full of more important media. I’m bummed about it–I don’t want to have to supplement these with a third filter, or to replace them. I’ll have to see what I can do about integrating more media and update my review later. If floss doesn’t help keep the particles out of the water, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep using the filters, which is a bummer!
One more thing I’ve noticed: my turtle doesn’t seem to be a fan of the diffusers. She’s spent some time trying to push them around, but she isn’t able to actually move them, which points to their strength because she is a strong little turtle. So I’m happy with the durability of the filters so far, despite the disappointing water flow and particle situation.
I think these filters would work very well in tanks much smaller than they are rated for. Sadly, with my large tank and multiple filters in it, I’m not very impressed yet. I am still giving this time because I need to add floss and my tank’s nitrogen cycle still needs to balance out a bit before it’s done. But I will likely replace with something else if I don’t see improvements very soon.
******EDIT: I took out as few of the matrix rocks as necessary to make room for floss (poly-fil, like what you put in pillows), which I placed closest to the intake vents so that water would have to go through floss first–this was the magic ingredient!! Within days, my turtle’s water was as clean as I could ever have hoped for!!! No more snow effect underwater, and the surface is much cleaner too. I can’t say it’s “crystal clear,” but it’s certainly very very close. I’m so so happy with these filters!! Turns out they desperately needed mechanical filtration, and even a small amount of poly-fil was able to do the job. The poly-fil catches loose particles and keeps the water clear–plus it adds more texture for good bacteria to hang onto.
Moral of the story: your filter media matters!!!! Make sure you have biological, physical, AND chemical media in your filter and you will love these filters for their price. They’re not going to be as powerful as a canister filter, but if your media is right, you won’t need them to be. I definitely recommend getting two smaller filters (like these!) like I did instead of a larger canister anyway, because it allows you to alternate which filter you clean and always keep one filter dirty i.e. full of good bacteria. It definitely helped me to cycle my nitrogen, and since I still only clean one filter at a time it really doesn’t add any extra work to water changes.
To recap, I’m using two of these Penn-Plax 610s in about 50 gallons of water, and the filter media I use are Matrix by SeaChem, Purigen by Seachem, and the pillow stuffing Poly-Fil. SeaChem’s products are the best I’ve found and come at a great price for their performance. Poly-Fil can be found in tiny bags and is so cheap for the volume! These products have worked together to keep a giant tank of turtle water consistently clean, clear, and healthy, and I definitely recommend this combination. If you wanted to buy this filter alone and use the media it comes with, you will be disappointed, but if you do some research on filters and get media that will do the job properly, I think you’ll be impressed.
Other things to note: After some time my diffuser tubes have started making noise. It sounds like they’re getting lightly clogged every now and then but that all they need is a good rinse. I’ll put that idea to the test soon when I’m due for another filter cleanout. I’ll be pulling apart every piece and rinsing thoroughly–I may need to get q-tips or something else to clean the holes in the diffuser but I’m confident that a cleaning is all it needs. Will update once I figure this out.
Also, like everyone says, it is hard to pull the media compartments apart!! I’ve been using a thin metal bottle opener as a tool to pry these open easier. Once you get the hang of it, it’s not that bad. I’d rather have a filter that’s hard to get apart than one that my turtle could destroy on a whim. But it might be obnoxious for you if you’ve got fish who couldn’t ruin a filter anyway. It’s also a plus that these can lay on their side, and have lots of suction cups, as my last filter had to be upright and my turtle was constantly pushing it around so that it wasn’t working properly. She really hadn’t budged these at all, except for pushing the diffuser rods to a different angle sometimes.

Great product. I have a red eared slider turtle in a 55 gallon tank (with only about 30 gallons filled though) and found that the old Tetra filters weren’t working as well as they used too. I decided to mix it up and try this product. I have no regrets – it filters the water really well, and its corner design maximizes the space in the tank. The tank has been crystal clear since I’ve installed it a week ago. It’s high quality and does its job well.

The only issue I have with it is the water dispersion system, aka the tubes it uses to pump the filtered water back into the tank. The filter comes with a few pipes that let you set up the water return system in a couple of different ways – you can have it above water, where it makes a nice rainfall effect, or you can have it submerged, where the output creates a nice subtle current in the tank. I really like the customization options. I chose to have it submerged since the above water rainfall terrifies my turtle and is really loud.

Unfortunately, the spout that connects the tubes to the filter is flimsy and comes off very easily. It’s a “push-in” design and should’ve been a screw type. It fell out many times while we were just trying to install it. Since I have it submerged, my turtle keeps knocking the tube system over, which pops the spout out and causes the water output to shoot out like a volcano.

I had to set it up in a way where the turtle couldn’t reach it at all. This shouldn’t be a problem at all if you’re using it in an aquarium with fish though or have it be above water. I’ll still use this product since I’m very happy with it otherwise, just keep this in mind.