I agree with Travis. The nu-clear is a better quality filter. A friend of mine has one. I do own 2 ocean clear 354 polybead filters and love them. They are a great stand alone filter for mech. and bio, and can be cleaned by backwashing them with tank water when you do water changes. What could be easier? The only complaint I have with them, is the supplied ball valves on the filter are not of great quality, and can be hard to turn on and off at times. Not that big a deal, just annoying. I have not tried any of the other models.