[Cich of it all]

I have praised the C-360 for many reasons and considered it too be a great filter for the buck. Unfortunately though, after about a year of service, both of my C's failed catastrophically.

Within a month, the valve blocks on the tops of the filters began to leak. The leaks were not easily detectable, because water was leaking inside of the blocks, draining into the motor housing of the units. The motors are sealed, so there is no risk of a short circuit, but water continuously leaks out and onto the floor.

My LFS replaced the parts free of charge, but the damage to my basement had been done. The piece is obviously designed poorly, and I now longer trust these filters. I am out of time right now, but I will add more explanation later if needed. Good luck.

 

[CichlidAndrew]

I am sorry for the loss of you filters and damage to your basement That really sucks. I always thought it would be a good canister but I guess the test of time proves to win once again. I am glad I didnt get one.

 

[hollyfish2000]

I run two C-series, so I'm a bit concerned about your experience. I've not had issues so far, but both have been running for only about 6 months. Have you contacted Marineland about the failures?

 

[Cich of it all]

I have not contacted Marineland, although maybe I should. My LFS did give the pieces to the Marineland vendor that services the shop though. I assume the vendor would report the problem since he has to obtain the replacement pieces.

I am going to continue to use at least one of these filters, as they work awesome, but at this point I'm planning on replacing the valve block once a year. I'm not sure what the part costs to buy, but I'm sure its not cheap. Their website does not have a parts list for the C-series, only for Magnums.

It is strange that I have two of them fail with a month, yet nobody else I've talked to has had the problem. Before I took the second one into the shop, I disassembled the block to see if I could identify the problem. There was no evident issue, although I can see why they fail. The valves that open and close when you flip the big lever are nothing but plastic ball valves inside plastic housings. This is cheap plastic too, not PVC like a real ball valve. :x

 

[edouthirt]

I recently had a similar, however much less damaging experience with my c-360.

I opened mine up to replace the micro-fiber pad, and i very lightly bumped the valve block when it was already off the motor head and water started pouring through it (i.e. started syphoning water out of my tank) even though it was still in the closed position.

In my case, it still operates fine without leaking when everything is attached... I just have to worry about it when the valve block comes off of the unit now... next time I'm taking the intake tube completely out of the tank before doing anything. :?

Anyways... I would contact Marineland. They have great customer service. I told them about my problem and they are sending me a new valve block. Also, they appreciated it because they need this type of feedback for future improvements on their products.