Well....lessee....years ago, I used ugf and power filters (hob) but can't remember the brands. I also used a Diatom filter once a week or so. I had a couple Eheim canisters, and I believe they are still made for the Classic line.
The ugf's didn't work very well, the power filters were ok, and the Eheims were just a huge PITA. I hated the Eheims with a passion. Nearly impossible to get primed and started, and it was a horrible mess to clean. It was quiet though. So quiet, I didn't know when it stopped and needed to be reprimed. I hated them.
I currently have a HOT Magnum 250. I like it and it's a great filter to move from one tank to another for touch ups.
I have a Fluval 104, 204, and two 304's. I really like them! They're extremely quiet, easy to prime, great tubing, and the aquastop feature is very nice. An occasional cleaning of the motor seal "O" ring and repositioning it around the motor head stops any leaks when re-assembling after a cleaning. I did replace one "O" ring.
I have a Jebo Odyssea CSF4. This is a very nice filter that operates nearly silently. It uses the usual vinyl tubing of most canisters, and I find I like the ribbed semi-ridgid tubing of the Fluvals better. However, the vinyl tubing works just fine. The valves are made entirely of plastic, but work fine. The four media baskets have handles that makes cleanup very easy. It has a large easy to push priming button. Overall it's a large filter with loads of room for various media, primes and starts easily, and runs silently. It comes with all the media, tubing, siphon tubes, spraybar, valves and no instructions. This is easily the best deal is aquaria right now.
I have a couple filters of the "Kangde" brand. They're made in China, marketed and sold mostly down under. I have three canisters and 2 motor heads that were given to me by a distributor to try out. The tallest canister is quite large with four media baskets. The next one down the line has 3 baskets, and finally the last has 2. Each basket is huge, and similar to most of the rest such as Eheim, Jebo, Rena etc. The tallest canister had been used previously on a huge salt water tank, and leaks as soon as there is pressure. I can't figure out why. The other two work great, as they are dead silent, and move a fair amount of water. The impellar is easily accessible. Tubing is of the vinyl variety, and the valves are mounted together as a unit similar to Fluval's, but they pivot individually as well. In fact, the valve assembly will fit my Fluvals, and the Fluval valves fit these filters with no leaks. They do not have the aquastop feature of the Fluvals, rather the usual quarter turn handle of most of the other brands. The priming plunger is similar to the Fluval. I have seen these offered in Austrailia under the Atman name, as well as Kangde, and also offered as the 601, 602, 603 and as the XP-900 manufactured by XingXing Aquarium. Also manufactured and sold by Jebao as the 302, 303, 304, and 912, 915, 918(different color). The distributor that gave them to me, isn't entirely sold on them, and is interested in my evaluation. They're concerned about the longevity of the product. Other then the one large canister leaking (but that one was well used for several years), the other two work great. The distributor burnt the motor on one of the head units. Considering what I paid for them, I'd have to rate them pretty high, but time will tell.
Oh, I used to use those corner bubble filters too. They actually worked!
