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Product Reviews
5492 reviews on 1118 products!
ProductsPumps, Filters, MediaPower Filters
Marineland H.O.T. Magnum 250
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Product Description:
Marineland H.O.T. Magnum 250The recently re-engineered H.O.T. (hang on tank) Magnum combines the power and versatility of canister filtration with the simplicity of a power filter. Water is forced through the entire media chamber with no bypass. Portable from tank to tank and installs in minutes. New features include improved motor design with a ceramic magnet, 8 ft. cord, adjustable split flow diffuser, on/off switch and more. Complete with micron cartridge, carbon media container, filter sleeve, and 8 oz. activated carbon. Certified water flow of 250 gph. Comes with or without BIO-Wheel wet/dry filtration.
Product Specifications:
Certified water flow of 250 gph.
Sponsor's Website:
User Ratings: (29 reviews)
Overall: 7.66
Value/Cost: 7.52
Effectiveness: 7.90
Quality: 7.90
Ease of use: 7.31
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Found: 29 reviews Page  1 2 - View all
tanker3 has used this product for 3 Years or More.
Overall Rating: 8.75/10 December 7, 2015
"ONLY filter I use"
I have 4 tanks, and I have 7 HOT magnums 250 (my bigger tanks use 2 each). Easy to clean, easy to use. Very reliable filter. Some of my magnums are over 15years old and still going strong. The only draw-back, but like any fliter is that you MUST clean them (dah!).
CrypticLifeStyle has used this product for 3 Years or More.
Overall Rating: 9/10 January 5, 2010
"Practical"
Bought one 3-4 years ago & it's still working strong...It's quiet & works great...Use the micron cartridge & stick a gravel vacuum hose up the intake & works amazing as a power vacuum...
Corey has used this product for 3-12 Months.
Overall Rating: 9.25/10 August 30, 2008
"Easy to use."
Very easy to clean. And does a great job as a secondary filter!
Duckfish has used this product for 3 Years or More.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10 April 21, 2008
"10 years and still going strong"
I have had 2 of these filters for over 10 years. Only think I have to do is clean them. I did break the pump housing (I dropped it), and I have to buy filters and gaskets every now and then. I also have a Magnum 250 canister I bought at the same time...it is still going strong also. My cichlid tanks is a 75 gallon with a gravel bed.
xenergyx has used this product for 0-1 Month.
Overall Rating: 9/10 April 10, 2008
"great filter with lots of options"
The HOT magnum 250 is a great little filter with a lot of filtration options to it. The base unit without the biowheel is a great deal for the price. Out of the box you can run it as a micro filter water polisher or a chemical water cleanser... It can handle just about any type of media, but is simply limited to one type at a time in addition to the mechanical filter pad... It is tricky to 'prime' it right so that it runs silently, so if you dont get it right can get the sound of running water from it. Usually if you just open it back up and add more water you can relieve the noise.

Its been great so far, just hope it goes the same for the future...
Cich of it all has used this product for 1-3 Years.
Overall Rating: 1/10 November 1, 2007
"H.O.T. Magnum = J.U.N.K."
As much as I love my C-series canisters, I think Marineland is producing garbage when it comes to the Magnum series. They may have been okay 15-20 years ago, or whenever they were the latest and greatest, but they are WAY outdated now. My H.O.T. magnum made a pretty good gravel vac, but now that I have sand in all my tanks, it is completely useless to me. Save some money and just buy an Aquaclear hob filter. A $30 AC70 is more effective than the entire H.O.T. Magnum bio-pro system I have. Here’s why it sucks:
- With the bio wheel attachment in place, it takes up quite a bit of space on the back of the tank.
- A lot of space is required behind the tank for clearance.
- It is a wet pain in the rear to prime, and it does NOT self prime whatsoever.
- The bio-wheel is noisy
- The media container inside the canister is too small too be of much use for anything, and it is a hassle to clean out.
- There are many parts to deal with whenever you clean it.
- Unlike other canisters, the impeller is easily seized up by a couple of grains of sand.
- The O-rings on the intake and outlet tubes swell over time, making for a ridiculously tight fit.
superfish has used this product for 0-1 Month.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10 October 8, 2006
"Very good all-around filter"
I use an HOT Magnum Bio-Pro on a 70 gallon mbuna tank. The bio-wheel is the biggest you can buy besides the ones in the tidepool sumps. It is bigger than the Emperor bio-wheels. My HOT Mag is not silent, but quiet enough for my bedroom. I have used both the media container and micron cartridge. The media container works great with the mechanical sleeve and you can use your media of choice inside. It has a flow diffuser that will make noise unless you keep the water level right up there. The huge bio-wheel is awesome for aeration and ammonia processing. I didn't have much ammonia starting my tank out with this. The HOT Mag would work fine as a stand-alone filter on smaller tanks, I also use an Eheim 2215 which I like even better.
CrazyFishGuy has used this product for 3 Years or More.
Overall Rating: 9.5/10 May 17, 2006
"GREAT filter!"
I have had my 250 for about 4 years now, I am just now replacing it because I want to try something different and it has a air leak I cant find. Until now, I havent had a single problem. It is very easy to clean and start. I will miss it. It is a great all around filter. I got a Penguin filter to try something different, if it doesnt work out, I am buying a Magnum again.
partsrep has used this product for 1-3 Years.
Overall Rating: 10/10 March 14, 2006
"Great mechanical filter"
I've got 2 Magnum HOT with one running all the time on a 75g. I use it with the micron filter just to keep it clean. It seems to move a lot of water with ease however I do need to shut it down during feeding. After feeding it cleans the tank spotless in minutes.

The other one I use as a portable filter from tank to tank with the vacuum attachment. Incredible convenience that vacuum attachment.

They can also be filled with chemical media when desired.

They are whisper quiet as long as it is properly primed. If it makes noise, it wasn't primed properly. Don't blame the manufacturer, just pop the top and add some water.

I would recommend it for full or part time mechanical filtration on any tank over 35g or if you have more than one tank.

It's worth owning one of these.
skatefather has used this product for 3-12 Months.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10 December 12, 2005
"Works for a short while"
I had this filter for about 6 months and had enough. First off the motor started to burn out on me, also no matter how hard I tried air stuck in the chamber and it would always come out and make loads of noise. It was such a loud filter, and it came to the point where I would be 2 rooms over and I could hear the filter grinding and churning. Did complete tear downs and nothing helped. Also this sells for 90 dollars in petsmart stores but only 47 dollars on their website. For 47 bucks its not bad but for 90 bucks may as well get an eheim classic or something like that.
Andy Somnifac has used this product for 1-3 Months.
Overall Rating: 7.75/10 October 17, 2005
"Portable, quiet and compact."
I purchased this filter mainly for polishing purposes, and I'm glad I did. It's easy to move it from tank to tank, and best of all, it's quiet.

As many have said, the micro filter does clog quickly, but I would think this is the nature of the beast, and shows that it is filtering out particulate matter from the water column.

My only complaint is sometimes sealing the cannister can be a little tricky. Other than that, I'd definitely recommend it.
RedDelPaPa has used this product for 0-1 Month.
Overall Rating: 6/10 June 18, 2005
"Not sure what to think of this thing"
I like the idea, but I don't think I care for this particular unit much. It's noisy. Louder than the Whisper 30-60 I thought I was upgrading from. Moves a lot of water, but it doesn't have any flow control mechanism, and I don't like the output diffuser. The plumbing is cheap. On my 75gal, I keep my water level about 1/4" below the plastic molding. At this height, the output plumbing isn't long enough to submerge the diffuser. So it makes a ton of noise there. And then you have the intake. Marineland is to cheap to even include an extension with this unit. The strainer doesn't even pass the halfway mark on my 75gal. It's not going to perform very good mechanical filtration if you can't get the pick up close to the bottom of the tank. Oh yea, and servicing it is a lot more of a pain in the rear than a standard HOT power filter.

The only thing I'm going to continue using my HOT magnum for is periodic water polishing with the micron filter. That's pretty much it.

ATTN: Eheim
I think you should give a shot at building an HOT canister filter.
billibudusa has used this product for 3 Years or More.
Overall Rating: 9.25/10 April 3, 2005
"Great filter"
This filter is great. I use 2 of them on my 100g african cichlid tank. 1 uses ammo-carbon and 1 uses Bio-Max. I combination they move 500 gph and keep the water clean and clear. Cleaning is as simple as any other cannister or power filter. Also, the price of this filter is great, making it a good value for anyone.
kim63t has used this product for 0-1 Month.
Overall Rating: 9/10 February 26, 2005
"quiet, easy to maintain"
Not as quiet as my ehiem, but alot quieter than my Emperor. Not great for bio, but awesome mech, so it can be used to make a great canister/hot combo. If you got a quiet canister it would be a waste not to get a quiet HOT/HOB. The Magnum 250 is good for this.
KHatfull has used this product for 0-1 Month.
Overall Rating: 8/10 August 26, 2004
"Great Polishing FIlter"
I got a HOT Magnum to use as a polishing filter. Using the micron cartridge by itself does work to some degree. For really polished water, charge the filter with 1/2 - 1 cup of diatomaceous earth. (Instructions can be found in the forums.) Let it run for a few hours, you'll have crystal clear water...my tank appeared to be a block of acrylic when it was done. Setup and teardown are a little time consuming but given this isn't specifically designed ot be a diatom filter, it's not bad.

Kudos too to Marineland's service. I had a microbubble problem and traced it down to the output tube. The articulated joint that is just above the waterline was somewhat loose out of the box and was allowing air to enter the output stream. Cinching up the joint by hand cleared up the problem. I called Marineland, explained the problem and they sent out a new output tube no questions asked. They didn't even ask how old the filter was. I think that's pretty good.
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