No bio-wheel filter if you want to go planted. Internals are too small an ineffective above a 10 gallon tank IME. Sponge filters do well as does most HOB filters. I have several AC's and have a ton of confidence in their ability to handle any size bio load I throw at them. I also have 2 Emperor 400's and their high quality of filtering surprised me. With the media containers in them plus the pads you can filter just about anything out of the water. I also have some Penguins that I life on my 10 and 20 gallon tanks. In my 5 and 10 gallon fry tanks I use just a simple corner filter. I have a H.O.T.Magnum on a 90 with an oscar and I find it also sucks up waste well.
I have almost 1 of every major brand and I find them all to be reliable. I just aim for a minimum of 6-10X and hour water turnover rate and then get a filter that will give me that. I go by GPH and not the mfg reccommendation. AquaClears are worth the $$$ if you can afford it.
I have almost 1 of every major brand and I find them all to be reliable. I just aim for a minimum of 6-10X and hour water turnover rate and then get a filter that will give me that. I go by GPH and not the mfg reccommendation. AquaClears are worth the $$$ if you can afford it.
