Tank 1 vs Tank 2 - which to buy?

[DogFish]

I had pretty much decided to buy a 20 gal , it fits my space and my budget.
I went to SuperPet (lps) and they have a Hagen kit (with the aquaclear) on sale. My lfs, has the marineland kit with the penguin biowheel. My lfs is poo-pooing the aquaclear, and telling me that in a year or less I won't be happy with it, and that the biowheel is a better buy. The difference is $35 which may not seem like a lot but goes a long way toward the rest of the stuff (gravel, plants etc). Otherwise the two kits are pretty similar.
So, do you have an aquaclear and very happy with it? Should I spend the extra 35 and stick with the lfs? Every book I read says the UGF is the way to go. This is giving me a headache! I really wanted to set this up this week and get fishless cycling started, please advise.

 

[Nina7777]

Hi there,
I have never had much luck with UGF's. They never kept my tanks clear. Currently i am using a penguin with a bio-wheel and it is absolutely awesome! keeps the water crystal clear and takes care of the amonia. it also has different feedings so at dinner time food wont get clogged in it! hope this helps! I know it is more expensive but in the long run it will be much better and save you much more money!

 

[jjsdad]

I have a bio-whhel on my 5 gallon hex and it works great.
On the other hand my 10g and 25g are both being filtered by Aquaclears and they are beautiful too.
IMO go for the aquaclear if it means money for other goodies.
Just stuff it with filter floss instead of the sponges that usually go in there and it's all good !!

 

[thecichlidaddict]

UGF is not the best filter you can go with because it is impossible to clean. The only way to clean it is to remove the entire thing, and that means tearing the tank apart and creating a big mess. So what happens is filth builds up under the plates and over time it begins to degrade water quality. Modern power filters are very effective and there is no reason to use a UGF anymore.

I have been very happy with aquaclears, and if money is tight I say save the money for fish or other goodies. Despite their simplicity and cheap price they are very effective filters, and the most versatile of all Hanging filters too.

When getting advice from fish stores watch out for ones that immediately knock things that they don't carry, and employees who just say what they are told to - stores sell based on what makes profit, not what's best for the customer - business is business.
As far as books go, there are many terrible book out there. Look out for publishing companies that come out with entire lines of books like TFH - they often pay authors to research and write the books having no experience themselves, and much of their research ends up outdated or misunderstood. The good books are written by or with experienced fish keepers, and you can not find them for $10 in a typical pet superstore. This is one of the befits of forums like this - you get personal experiences without bias.

 

[DogFish]

Thank you all. Well well well. Actually I think I am going to take the tank back, as I would like to put plants in it, and having just the one bulb limits me. So perhaps I may wait a few months until I can afford exactly what I want. And in the meantime, I will keep reading books and this board so that I can figure out what I DO want!

 

[Bol]

Waiting until you're sure is usually best.

Personally, I think you'd probably do just fine with either filter.

However, I'm curious about something... for a smaller tank like a 20g, a $35 difference seems like a lot, if the only significant difference is the filter (heck, neither of those filters should cost more than $35, even with retail's atrocious (imo) filter markups). Might want to check to make sure they're really "apples and apples". In particular, some kits I've seen have a kind of sneaky habit of leaving out the heater (they usually show goldfish in the tank on the picture.