Another "Great Debate" for the ages...

fish_freak said:
How about this... Buy a Bio-Wheel Filter and a Canister filter. Now you have the best of both worlds. :dance2:

I actually have both on my tank. I appreciate all of the responses. Just wondering if there was any scientific data out there, is all.
 
if i were to get a 75G for the oscar and silver dollars i want so bad, it would be 2 Penguin Bio-Wheel 200's and a canister filter to make up the rest of the GPH filtration.
 
this is kind of off topic but most people use canisters for planted aquarium because it doesnt come in contact with the air so that co2 dont go away..

when people have big fish and have big bio load they get HOB or some sort of filter so taht its easier to clean and the water is always open to the air to come in contact..

if its an open-filter than its much easier to take the fish droppings away so it doesnt clog...

i guess its personal preference??

off topic post :)
 
misopeenut said:
this is kind of off topic but most people use canisters for planted aquarium because it doesnt come in contact with the air so that co2 dont go away..

when people have big fish and have big bio load they get HOB or some sort of filter so taht its easier to clean and the water is always open to the air to come in contact..

if its an open-filter than its much easier to take the fish droppings away so it doesnt clog...

i guess its personal preference??

off topic post :)

Off-topic but a good point. It is much easier to access my HOB's than my canister (although that is not really bad at all).
 
canisters overall are better filters though because thet are forced flow filters so in otherwords all the water must pass through all the media where as an HOB the water can bypass the media. IMO for efficency canister wins hands down. HOB just cant compare. I would guess it wins with bio filtration as well.
 
Grundy said:
Not sure if this has been covered before but here goes: Have there been any head to head studies of canister filters with biomaterial versus HOB's with wheels for bioiltration? Specifically, if they both have about the same GPH rate has one been proven better. Just seems like this would have been studied at some point. Thanks!

No brainer, canister of course. Why is this a debate :confused:
 
seeing all those filter that hang on the back, it makes me worry that the back glass panel might break.. has that ever happend?
dumb question but hey, thats what forums for
 
Read this about bio-wheel filters. http://****************/information/bio-wheel_filters.htm#top2

I agree with it, I use bio-wheels on all my aquariums.

The most important part about bio-wheels on that page is..... (this is pasted from ****************)....


"Most biological filters are limited by the amount of oxygen that is dissolved in the water, and oxygen is not very soluble in water. In fact, aquarium water rarely has more than 7 ppm (parts per million) of oxygen.

So biological filters, that rely completely on the water flowing through them to provide oxygen for their bacteria, are limited by the small amount of oxygen that's dissolved in the water.

Under gravel filters, canister filters, sponge filters, and especially fluidized bed filters are almost always starved for oxygen. They have lots of fish waste and lots of surface area with lots of bacteria, but the water in these filters lacks an abundant supply of oxygen for the bacteria.
So all of these types of filters are greatly limited by the small amount of oxygen in the water that flows through them.

BIO-Wheels, spinning in the air and water, are not limited by the amount of oxygen in the water. Air is 20% oxygen, that is 200,000 ppm compared with the 7 ppm in water, and the abundant oxygen in the air rapidly replenishes the oxygen at the surface of the water, such as on the surfaces of a BIO-Wheel. So the water on the surfaces of the BIO-Wheel is always very rich in oxygen.
The beneficial bacteria living on the BIO-Wheel are able to use the abundant oxygen in the water that's on the BIO-Wheel to rapidly oxidize the fish waste that's also dissolved in the water."
 
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The other important part on the page that I forgot to paste...


"Because the Filtering Media moves as the BIO-Wheels spin, the BIO-Wheels are able to adjust to a rapid increase in the amount of fish waste, as might happen in a fish store, when the aquariums are restocked from the fish wholesaler.
But filters, such as canister filters, with filtering media that does not move will not respond quickly to an increased bio-load, and the amount of waste in the water will increase for about two days, until the bacteria can respond to the increased bio-load."
 
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