Getting ready to purchase bio wheel filter

[GirlinWayside]

I have a 55 gal tank and I am getting ready to purchase a bio wheel filter for it. Does anyone have any reccomendations on what brand?? Are these as good as Ive read that they are?? Should I purchase one a bit larger than what the company reccomends?? I will also still be running my UGF for the time being.

 

[GirlinWayside]

anyone??

 

[pseud]

I used a Penguin 350 Bio-Wheel and it's great. Does a good job, very quiet.

If you plan to ever have real plants in your tank you should avoid these filters....

 

[GirlinWayside]

I used a Penguin 350 Bio-Wheel and it's great. Does a good job, very quiet.

If you plan to ever have real plants in your tank you should avoid these filters....

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What type of filter should you have for a tank with live plants?? Why would you avoid the bio wheel type??

 

[pseud]

From a bio-wheel filter, when the water returns to the tank it disturbs the surface and promotes CO2 to leave the water. Exactly what you don't want! I'd already bought my filter when I dcecided to go planted so I just removed the bio-wheels and topped my tank water level up high so there's less surface agitation.

I'm not sure of a good filter for use with a planted tank, you could maybe ask someone from the planted section...

 

[GirlinWayside]

thanks, I dont plan on having live plants any time soon so the bio wheel it will be.

 

[Polardbear]

I have Penquin 330's on both my 55 and 50 gallon tanks. My 75 gallon has an Emperor 400 on it. They both work great but I really prefer the Penquins over the Emperor. The Emperor requires more maintenance, the sprayer bars get clogged up fast and the extra media baskets are a pain in the butt compared to the media baskets in the Penquin. When I frist set up my 55 gallon I was running both the Penquin and an UGF and it was a great combination, that tank never gave me any problems even when it was overstocked and my females were having fry every time I turned around. I'd go with the Penquin 350.

 

[smooth_bourbon]

I use the Penguin Biowheels, they work great, and are such low maintnence. I have also had live plants(far from the planted tanks you see here) but a fair variety of plants spread out thruout my tank. Which I was trimming constantly.

 

[cujoho78]

I am planning on getting a 55gal soon and was considering getting an Emperor 400. Part of the reason I was interested in the Emperor over a comparable Penguin model was because the Emperor has the media baskets that you can put extra carbon or whatever you want in it. Do the Penguin models have separate media baskets also? I figured since both Penguin and Emperor were made by Marineland that the bio-wheel set-up on both brands would be the same. Either way, I think they are a good choice.

 

[Polardbear]

The Penquin 330(older model) and the new models 200 and 350 have extra media containers.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

I have both an Emperor 400 and a smaller Penguin on my 55 gallon (I like having an extra filter running in case one dies on another tank...)

The Emperor does a good job filtering -- but it is more of a pain in the butt than the Penguins. As Polardbear mentioned, the spray bars need to be cleaned out often and it makes more noise, too.

I have live plants in my tank- but they are pretty low maint. type plants and they are doing fine.

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. What do the spray bars on the Emperor get clogged with? Is it unfiltered water that gets sent to the bio-wheels? Also, do you think the Emperor is too noisy for a bedroom? It sounds like either a Penguin 350 or the Emperor 400 are both good choices, depending on one's particular tank set-up.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

There are little drilled holes in the spray bars and they get clogged over time with "filter growth" (the greenish/brownish stuff that comes out of the filter when you rinse it.) Not really a big deal. The Emperor comes with a filter brush specifically for the spray bars. You just take them out and run the brush in an out a few times and they are as good as new. Just an extra step.

It's a bigger, bulkier filter because of the double compartments so it takes more time to clean and it seems that every time I put the impeller back I don't seat it properly and the filter will make mechanical noise. So I have to take it apart again and try to get it to sit right.

Right now it's making a slight noise that's probably due to the impeller not sitting perfectly. If it was in my bedroom, I'd go nuts -- but then again, I need total silence and total darkness to sleep!! Most of the noise is just the water splashing on the surface which is actually pretty relaxing.

It's really not a bad filter. It DOES a very good job filtering. It's just kind of clunky and takes a little more effort to clean.

edited for spelling

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. I was pretty sold on the Emperor until i read your posts. I was planning on using the Emperor by itself on a 55 gallon and thought the extra 50 gph (or is it more like 80gph?) flow over the penguin 350 would be nice. But if they both have the extra baskets for carbon etc. and the penguin is much quieter then i might just save myself the extra $17 and get the penguin. Thanks for all your replies.