Penguin/Eheim Liberty/Aquaclear ?

[DLeung10]

Any real advice which one is better ?

Are bio-wheels really that good or is it just marketing ?



Thanks,
Daniel

[val]

Daniel, to Aquaria Central, home to more aquarists who believe in filtration on the internet :)

Well, you've asked a tough question. Most people here have very exacting opinions about their filters. All I can tell you is that a lot of people have had very good experience with Emperors and Aqua Clears. I've tried both on a 10g and been less than impressed with them. Both are noisy, and the consistent feedback I've read here is that ACs are very quiet. Mine's not. But did they do the job? Yeah. You'd get similar results if you asked about cannister filters, too. I asked around and read a lot and chose the Rena XP1 Filstar, and found that setting that one up was a pain (19 pieces to put together the output tube!!)

Good luck!

Val

[GobyGuy5]

I have a penguin 125 on my 15 gallon, and so far, it has been quiet (at least by my standards-to give you an idea I hate airpumps) The only noise mine makes is a constant trickle of water into the aquarium, a nice sound that masks the filter's noise. So far the biowheel has worked well, I don't have a undergravel filter and it alone is doing the job. The biowheel filters came highly recommended to me by a local angelfish breeder so according to my experience and his experience they are great!

[beviking]

I have an AC200 and two AC300's which I think are quiet - I disconected my air pump b/c it was too noisy and it was supposedly quiet!. Can't give you a comparison since I've never used other HOB filters and probably won't. I also have a Filstar XP3 canister filter and if you've ever used building blocks, it's easy AND painless to set up! :p ;)

[slipknottin]

Ive found penguins (without the biowheels) to be the quietest filters by far.

[GobyGuy5]

does that include emporers?

[slipknottin]

Ive found Emperors to be noiser than Penguins.

Emps are still only about as loud as AC's though...

[TBA]

I have both an Emporer 400 and an Eheim 2215 for 55 gallon tanks. The Emporer's work well however you'll definately hear the waterfall noise they make. They also aerate the water well so no power heads are needed.

The Eheim are silent and don't aerate the water. I have the Eheim on my planted tank to keep the CO2 to O2 ration as high as possible.

The Eheims are quite a bit more expensive than the Emporer, however you don't need to change the media, just rinse it out. Whereas the Emporer requires you change the media packs at about $10/pack. I do that about every 6 weeks, so over time the cost adds up. I think in the payback on the Eheim is less than 1.5 years in routine O&M cost.

[FuzMugly]

I started out with the Penguin 125 and then switched to the AC 200 when my Penguin died on me. Both were fairly quiet the only noise was the constant trickle of water, but this can be cured by raising the water level. My AC was noisy for the first couple days but it after that it became quiet.