Heats up quickly (and creates a weird smell).
The plastic jar that connects to it does not seal well and leaks.
Overall I was very unhappy with it for something that cost 100$

I use well water and always have a problem with water clarity. I thought purchasing this thing would do the trick; it doesnt.

You're capped at 4 hours of use before it overheats and the motor gets into the kelvin...so hot.

The jar is almost impossible to get off without size 12 hands. I suppose if you were a member of the Fantastic Four you could use that freak that has the Stretch Armstrong feature (elastic-stretchable hands).

Anyhow, it doesn't work well. I wanted to like it but I find the Magnum 350 with DE works better, if you can believe that.

A little more than one hundred bucks for this door stop. Worst purchase I've ever made.

I think it is very poorly built and designed. The motor got so hot in 20 min that It actually blistered my finger. The jar got stuck on to the point where I had to distort it to get it off. I ran it for a total of 3.4 hours on a 55gal and it did not clear it completly even with 2 recharges of fresh DE. I rented a Whisper Diatomagic before I got this and it cleared my tank in 20min. It seems I am the only one who hated this filter. Maybe I got a bad one. Even if it had worked the way it should ahve and the jar didn't get stuck and I didnt get burned, I dont think it was worth $100....I would NOT reccomed this filter to anyone..

After reading up on the vortex I decided to spend the extra money and bought a System One. It just looked easier to use and lupi's posts on it seemed very encouraging.

It does exactly what it claims to do. Very easy to set up, use, and move from tank to tank. I have five tanks running that range in size from 30 to 125 gallons. This thing is more than enough filter for any polishing duty, green water removal, or anything else on any of those tanks.

One of the best pieces of aquarium equipment I have ever purchased.

Highly recommended!

Excellent filter, quite versatile and is easy to move from tank to tank, as the filter is self priming and doesn't require anything but putting the intake below the surface of the water, and turning it on. Easy to clean up and charge with fresh D/E. Polishes water with excellent results, but also can clean out a cloudy tank. The pressurized "Jar" that contains the filter element is no longer glass, they replaced it with a larger plastic container/Jar; the change was to simplify the installation by eliminating mounting brackets that hold the filter away from the outside glass and prevent glass on glass contact. I have noticed that one must tighten the plastic jar with sufficient torque to prevent leakage around the seal. This will make it difficult to unscrew, you may need to use rubber gloves or something else grippy when unscrewing the jar. The motor gets quite hot. The duty cycle is 4 hours w/ :45 min rest, however I wonder if the motor was equipped with a more aggressive internal venting fan, or external heat sinks, 4hr may be extended to something longer. The drive is 2 pullies and a rubber belt. I have not owned any other DE filters, however I can't imagine an easier filter to use. I have over-stocked tanks, and this new System 1 Pressure Filter allows me yet another tool to keep my tanks very clean. Since I have started using this filter, in addition to my other tank cleaning and maintenance routines, I have had an increase in spawning. Happy fish

very easy to use.
no powder injected into tank. self priming. cartridge seemingly lasts forever. It is noisy (good thing its a part time filter.) belt can be prone to break (not expensive)