FLUVAL 203 FILTERS, DO THEY WORK?

Warner8

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 15, 2007
3
0
0
Philly, PA
My local petstore trade winds aquarium, has some on sale for 20 dollars, i was thinking of grabbing some, but do they work??
anybody with experience please give a shout out
 

Nic

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Oct 8, 2005
15,790
14
119
outside philly
i threw my 203 and 303 into a wall pieces of crap...
 

hbluehunter

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jul 20, 2007
1,976
4
68
Lynnwood, Wa.
i don't know much about the 203 but my 204 works like a champ...
 

joeytoe

Semper fidelis
MFK Member
Sep 10, 2005
2,153
6
38
47
Canton, Massachusetts USA
I have 2 203s an 2 403s, they take some getting used to but mine work great. far more media options with the 03s than the 04s an 05s.
 

sirdavidofdiscus

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 16, 2008
173
1
0
Kent, OHIO
I didn't know they still made the 03 series. I have an 303 that is at least 15 years old still works. My biggest complaint is that the shut off valves never seemed to completely shut off. So doing mainteince is messy. My only other problem is the hoses have hardened.
 

Burtess

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 10, 2006
774
0
0
Ontario, Canada
I have both a 203 and a 303 still running.

The 203, I picked up a couple used and put them together. It runs just fine and is near silent.

The 303, I have been running that since new, back in the mid '80s I think, it still runs OK, but even with a new impeller, it is still somewhat noisy.

Everyone always complains about them being hard to prime (they are ;)) and that they are prone to leaks (I never had a problem with leaks). Its old technology, it works, but not as user friendly as the stuff on the market now.

Burt:)
 

stingray94

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 22, 2007
603
0
0
Rhode Island
I had a 403 and it was a pain to work with, every time you had to open it it took about 4 hours to get to work again, had to leave it in a bucket because when you opened it it would leak everywhere. It is not like the more modern filters when the O-ring is built in, you had to manually put the O-ring on which proved to be very hard. The clips on the side would break off very easily. It was very hard to prime. Save up your money and buy a more modern filter, you will be much happier and it will save you a lot of headaches.
 

TrikkyMakk

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Feb 3, 2008
1,580
2
68
Tampa, Florida
I have a 405 and it works fine. You just need to understand how it works or you can expect to get a little wet. Lots of media options.
 

donaldastwood

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 10, 2007
110
0
0
New York
No experience with the 205's but i have the 405 and had a 305 and they were great filters!!! I am a fluval man cause they keep your tank sooo clean, and all of the filter trays make it easy. If i were you id grab one or two for sure..
 
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