Hey everyone! Welcome to the REAL first blog post for River and Delta! When I was putting this site together, I added the blog and said “I’ll figure it out.” This tends to be how I handle most things… Set it down in front of me, give it a good onceover, then decide how to proceed. I’m not sure this is how most folks operate in life, or in the hobby… but it does afford me the opportunity to tell you about products that have or have not worked for me. As a positive person, I tend to focus on the good; but I will also let you know when something just isn’t the right fit… All of that said, I’d like to talk about a tiny cannister filter I happened upon a while back.
Today I’d like to talk about the SunSun Tech’n’Toy HW-603B (Available HERE). This little filter will run 106 GPH on its best day but is pretty much perfect for a small tank. I picked this up on a whim because it was ~$40 and around the same cost as a decent hang on back and am not disappointed. This has run on a 14 gallon Aqueon Cube for about a year with no issues, and with different stocking levels on each. This filter has sufficiently kept water quality in check for a trio of Pea Puffers, and currently a group of fancy guppies. Would I consider this overfiltering? Probably not – there is room for plenty of media (I have bio balls and the included sponges) and that reduces the flow a bit… I would take this setup over a HOB any day of the week, though, as this is silent and the water is sparkling. Is there room for improvement? Certainly – the hoses don’t seem to be a standard size (They’re listed as 12/16 but I have some Lily pipes that disagreed) and starting the initial siphon may leave you with a mouthful… I did notice that it’s small enough to lift the whole canister above the tank to start the siphon (if you’re not running tubes through the stand like me!), which should eliminate what I’m mentioning! All in all, this is pretty easy to clean and operate, they’ve slimmed the bigger versions down to include just the necessities… overall, if you have a small tank that needs to be filtered well, this could be it… As long as you don’t need to change the spraybar or intake at all!
SunSun HW603-b review OVERALL RATING
★★★★☆
This filter holds its own and I’d take it over any HOB filter rated for similar sized tanks. If you are raising fry or need to limit flow, this may not be the filter for you, but for a community style tank, this couldn’t be simpler!
Oddball suggestion of the day? You could also use this as a gravel-vac, as small and light as it is!