Advice On Secondary Filter

[skiltrip]

After looking at different types of filters thanks to some advice from forum members, I've decided that power filters are the only thing in my budget at the moment.

I'm looking to add a secondary powerfilter on my 37g yellow lab tank. I currently have one Whisper 60 (dual cartridge) filter on there now.

I am considering as my secondary one of the following...

a.) Hagen AquaClear 50

b.) Whisper 40

c.) Penguin BioWheel 200


I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about the AquaClear filter, one being the ceramic ring media being great for biological filt., and just overall quality and the customizable media.

The Whisper 40 would be convenient, as all my other filters are Whisper at the moment (have a Whisper 60, 30, and 20 running on three different tanks). Would be easy in the fact that I only need to buy one kind of media replacement type for all my filters. Also can share cartridges if i needed to seed a new aquarium/hospital tank, etc.

And the Penguin BioWheels get good feedback regarding the wheel mechanism and it being great for bio-filt. but some say the wheel can be noisy and splashy.

Any opinions?
Thanks.

 

[Gatorbait]

I like having both the AC and Penguin on my tanks. I think that best covers the mechanical and bio filtration.

Penguins are noisy if the out tubes on the wheels are a little clogged. That's the only problem I've ever had. Also, a lot of people say they are noisy but if you pull the downtube (the intake) towards the front of the tank, it's silent. I sometimes hit it while doing a wc and have to do that.

I really like AC's but nothing beats a Penguin for bio filtration especially at that price. If you're able, go to www.bigals.com and buy it from there. It's only $35, that's where I get most of my hardware from.

 

[dizzied]

The Whisper can share the cartidges with your other Whispers, but the Aquaclear's media never needs to be replaced, just cleaned. That might be even more convenient.

I used to use Aquaclears as my primary filters, but I've switched them to secondary. The impellers can't seem to go one week without suddenly stopping, and the motor can get extremely noisy at times. They're unreliable to me, but a lot of people used them with success, so I might've just brought a bad batch.

 

[BobK]

I have two Emperor 400's running on my 75G and one Penguin 125 on my 10G. I've never had a problem with any of them. You can't beat the biological filtering capacity of the Bio-Wheels. You can rinse the cartridges in used tank water and reuse them for a long time. Mine are over a year old. The carbon stops working after a short while but it gets colonized by bacteria and becomes a bio-filter. The Emperor's have additional media baskets in which you can put whatever types of media you want. I've filled mine with the Bio-Max made for the Aqua-Clear filters. The filters are not noisy but you do hear a splashing sound from the Bio-Wheels. The filters do a great job of keeping my water parameters stable and my tank clear.