POLL: If you had to choose a HOB filter

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Which HOB would you prefer to buy/use?

  • Hagen Aquaclear series

    Votes: 74 35.2%
  • Marineland Emperor

    Votes: 53 25.2%
  • Marineland Penguin

    Votes: 35 16.7%
  • Whisper series

    Votes: 17 8.1%
  • Tetratech series

    Votes: 2 1.0%
  • None! Give me a canister anytime.

    Votes: 29 13.8%

  • Total voters
    210

ScottoMacD

Charlie and Amanda's Daddy
Dec 21, 2001
676
0
0
52
Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Canada
My Boss and I are at odds right now because he has decided to stop carrying the hagen aquaclear series. He is having trouble getting them from Hagen because they consider us their main competition for fish here in Montreal so they make ordering a pain as well as making us wait for long periods before sending the product.

I have found a way to bypass hagen all together and still get the product for the same price sometimes cheaper when the supplier puts them on sale.

He HATES the aquaclear and says that they are the garbage of the filter world. He is an emperor/penguin person. So he won't go with my ordering idea for the hagens.

I think that the AC is a great filter in fact I use them on all my tanks at home as either the main or back up filter. The things that can be done with them is such a draw. I however from my experience at work with the emperor/penguins find them very very sub par weak flowed and a waste of money.

With the Ac now out of the store we now have the the following hobs.
Whisper- UGH!
emperor- I still don't buy that whole bio wheel thing. I can see it carrying some bacteria but not as much as they claim. Plus those cartriges that do have a lot of bacteria end up getting thrown out because they are such a hassle to clean
penguin- See above

I would like to see us start to carry the tetratech series even just to give us another option to sell. I just can't get it through to him that we should be selling the ac's.

Which Hob do you use or like the most. I'm curious to see the consensus here at AC
 

daveedka

Purple is the color of Royalty
Jan 30, 2004
3,822
0
0
53
Columbus, ohio
I didn't vote, however I'll comment. I personally feel the emporer is the best HOB out there, I also like the AC's very much and use several of them. They both have their good points and drawbacks but either one has been a good filter for me. The emporer wins only because of the bio-wheel, which also has it's drawbacks in certain applications. I would put the penguins third behind AC, They are dependable, but IME a little less freindly than the emp or the AC. the wispers are down the list from a dependability standpoint IMO, and I looked at the tetratech, and posted here. I received nothing but negative comments on it and didn't try it out.
dave
 

Otocinclus

AC Members
Aug 27, 2004
58
0
0
Northern California
I totally agree with you ScottoMacD. I dont care for the biowheels, but thats mainly because I use my AQ's as CO2 diffusers. I had a penguin filter as a youngster and its motor died after 3 years or so. I have an aq mini on a 10g thats almost 10 years old, going strong and quiet (assuming water level is correct)
 

slipknottin

the original legend
Jan 13, 2002
2,722
0
36
40
CT
Real Name
Connor
Ive been using the penguins without the biowheels for years. Theyve proven to be more reliable and more likely to restart after a power outage than the aquaclears. I like their one piece construction also. Ive had a few ACs leak through the motor seal.
 

JSchmidt

Cowbell! I need more cowbell!
Jun 27, 1999
2,275
0
0
IL, USA
www.wiu.edu
Personally, I've about had it with AquaClears. I know lots of folks really like them, but I have a couple and they never, never, ever restart after a water change. I changed water in several of my tanks last weekend, and I thought I had made sure they all had restarted and were running, but one of the ACs (as usual) wouldn't reprime. I discovered it the next day, after it ran dry for 24 hours.

I won't buy any more of these filters. I consider them to be on a level with Whispers, which aren't terribly well made in my opinion. I have quite a few Emperor and Penguin HOBs, and they reliably restart after water changes, power outages, etc. Not so with the ACs. I'm done with them.

Jim
 

johnnyxxl

fishy friend of many
Mar 1, 2004
492
0
0
47
western NC
Visit site
I have used the whispers and they worked good for about 5 or 6 years constant use. Never replaced any parts. I am now using a penguin as I can afford to buy nicer easier to use products I looked at the aquaclear and didn't like the way they are made. I suspect it is a early one that came with my 5 gallon tank that I bought all those years ago that fell apart when I washed and cleaned it up.

I love the penguin I have now and may use one as a back up on my 55 either a penguin or a emperor.
 

OrionGirl

No freelancing!
Aug 14, 2001
14,053
342
143
Poconos
Real Name
Sheila
I agree that the AC's require more frequent cleaning of the impellers to keep them restarting reliably. But, as long as I do that maintenance, I've never had any problems with them. I've lost motors on just about every other type of filter out there, but the AC's just keep running.
 

happychem

redorkulated
Dec 9, 2003
2,152
4
0
Halifax, NS
Visit site
I went with Aquaclear because I like the way they're designed (vertical media). I'm not sold on the bio-wheel concept, as long as there's current, there won't be O2 limitation, IMO.

Only reason I post is to say that I do have a Whisper filter that came with a used tank (which broke and was replaced by my current one), which has, thus far, been the most reliable filter I've ever run. That's not saying a whole lot, but even after my mesh bag of crushed coral broke, spilling coral bits into the impellor housing, the motor was darned hot and all jammed up, but months later, it still restarts like nothing happened.

I'm not saying that I'm going to buy one as my next filter, I don't like the media design and I'm saving for a cannister, but just thought that a little anecdotal evidence was only fair amids the Whisper-bashing.
 

Dangerdoll

Global Moderator
Aug 27, 2002
11,765
5
89
54
Roselle Park, NJ
aquariacentral.com
Real Name
Cori
I chose Emporer because I've never had a problem with them whatsoever. My second best would be the Penguin but as mentioned, they do have a failure problem from time to time, but is easily fixed. It just needs to be watched....
 
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