POLL: If you had to choose a HOB filter

[Harlock]

Hard for me to vote as I think a lot depends on the application. Planted or unplanted, how much control do you need over speeds, spraybars required...? Lots of unanswered questions. I can answer this for mysel, however: Penguins. Not as expensive or fancy as their Emperor counterparts, but I like simple and easy to clean. As others have stated, I have never had a problem with a Penguin restarting after powering down. Poof, it just works, ya know? I have a planted tank, but use Penguins with the biowheels. My CO2 supplement is Flourish Excel and it's a small tank so cost effective as well. Also, FWIW, I have cycled tanks by simply moving bio-wheels so they obviously hold enough bacteria to get the job done.

 

[OddFish]

I figure the acronyms mean....

HOB= Hang on Back

RO= reverse osmosis

DI=deionized

I don't have a favorite filter. Although I work in a pet store I have only had experience with Whispers at home. I think I can do better but haven't decided what to put on the 56 cube when I get it set up.

 

[troy272]

im gonna have to go with the penguin biowheel. i have a 150 on my 10g tank and it works amazing. i havent had any problems with it. i would reccomend it to anyone!

 

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

I have always had great success with my Emperors (400, 280s) and my Penguin (125) especially when it came to power outages...Always started right up and kept its prime...
I have an old Aqua CLear...Couldnt tell you the model, i would have to have it carbon dated...It works, but needs more attention paid the the impellers then the Emperors. It is an older model and I think alot of water bypasses the filter media and just gets dumped back into the tank...Occasionally I have to give it a whack if it stops working lol...It was on a lightly stocked tank, used mostly as a back up...IMO, The Emperors did a better job then the old AC, but then again the AC is so old, i am sure they have improved the design.

 

[slipknottin]

cyberbeer65, this thread is a year old.

 

[manna]

I would go for the Emperor filters as well, although I just bought a Rena XP2 canister, to replace my emperor 400 and I think I'm going to be a canister convert.

I've got 2 Emperor 280's, about 6 years old, the emperor 400, 6 years old,
I've got a penguin 170 around here somewhere still works, last time I used it,
I've got an aquaclear 200, and a whisper 10.

The whisper 10 was my very first power filter, and it's still going on a 10g quarantine tank. quiet, simple, and CHEAP.

My only complaint on the AC is the casing is hard plastic, and easily cracked if you're not careful.

My only complaint on the penquin when I was using it, was that the biowheel would stop if the flow slowed down. I had to keep the intake tubes cleaned out pretty well so that the wheel would keep going, which was what first pushed me to the emperors with the spraybar. I do like the biowheel, and as someone else stated before I have instantly cycled tanks simply by moving one of the biowheels off my 400 to a 280 on another tank.

 

[Marala]

I have only used Whisper and Tetratech, and I really like Whisper. It works just fine for me and I haven't had a problem with any of them for the past year or so. Before that I used Tetratech, and it broke on me after a year, and for that and other reasons I like Whisper better. If I can get the cash though, I think I will get a emperor for my newest tank mostly because they seem like quality filters.

 

[cyberbeer65]

cyberbeer65, this thread is a year old.

Yes,but this thread is timeless.

 

[BCompDude]

Hard for me to vote as I think a lot depends on the application. Planted or unplanted, how much control do you need over speeds, spraybars required...? Lots of unanswered questions. I can answer this for mysel, however: Penguins. Not as expensive or fancy as their Emperor counterparts, but I like simple and easy to clean. As others have stated, I have never had a problem with a Penguin restarting after powering down. Poof, it just works, ya know? I have a planted tank, but use Penguins with the biowheels. My CO2 supplement is Flourish Excel and it's a small tank so cost effective as well. Also, FWIW, I have cycled tanks by simply moving bio-wheels so they obviously hold enough bacteria to get the job done.

Why does it matter if its planted or unplanted? Is the Bio-wheel bad in a planted tank?

 

[Roan Art]

... Either way there is too much gas exchange for a typical planted tank, and an Ac will do everything an Emporer will except the bio-wheel so so both are in my mind equal when the wheels are removed.
In a FO tank the wheels are worth their weight in gold. When I began doing plants, the hardest thing for me to give up was my bio-wheels, and it still makes me nervous to not have them.
dave

Dave,

If you have the time, would you please explain this further? I have bio wheels in all my planted tanks and have had no problems. I don't use a CO2 system, btw. I did notice that my 6 gal betta tank, which has no air pump, is a jungle compared to my other tanks. I have Anacharis floating in front of the filter output to lessen the surface agitation and provide a great place for Jakers bubble nests, so there's nothing to release the CO2 from the water? Would that be correct?

As for the choices: Penguin or Emperor for me. I had the DANGEST time trying to get my 36 bow to cycle with a Magnum HOT cannister sans Bio Wheel. Spikes all over the place for DAYS. I started as I usually do with Bio-Spira (I cycled all my tanks in under 2 days with Bio-Spira) and everything looked great. Readings said "cycled"! Added a few guppies and WHAM! Ammonia, Nitrites, all up and me doing water changes like mad.

I decided to get the Bio-Wheel attachment for it ASAP, but the gal at BigAlsOnline (thanks to everyone SO much for recommending that site. Great place!) recommended that I replace it with an Emporer 400 which was almost the same price. Unfortunately, they don't have overnight shipping

The 400 is twice the price at my LFS and after talking to the guy there (he's pretty fish savvy) I decided to go with the 330 instead. I think the 400 was a little overkill for a tank this size. I went home and set it up, threw in another package of Bio-Spira and within 24 hours: no amonia, no nitrites, no nitrates. This morning same thing. Love Bio-Spira. Can't wait until Canada can get some, you guys will LOVE it.


One thing I sorta noticed was that most of the pro Emperor/Penguin votes came from USA and the negative responses came from Canada. Wonder if that's because it's pushed more in the States or something? Hrm.

Roan
- Canadian living in Virginia