Aquaclear Prefilter

[daveedka]

I net mine as well, but as said the majority of the gnk is imbedded.

i know the topic is prefilters for aquaclears but does anybody use a prefilter on your penguins? i have a penguin 300 and the intake is a big odd shape.

I used to cut foam Blocks for my emporer and then cut a hole in the block large enough to accomodate the oddball intake tube. It worked almost too well with the emp. The faom had a tendancy to plug up with that filter. But honestly an Emporer seems to pick up more dirt than anything alse rated similarly. I always had more gunk in my Emp 400 than I did in my AC 500. But both are great filters in the land of Hob's (IMO)
dave

 

[turtlefish]

IMO you dont need a prefilter for emperors and penguins. Pulling the cartridge out is soo simple and you can rinse it easily. Aquaclears have the big foam at the bottom, making maintainance a hassle, you have to take everything else out. I tried a prefilter made of a whisper filter bag...It worked well but cloggs too fast. Guess only sponges work...I'll have to find one that works. Thanks for the links.

 

[tomdkat]

IMO you dont need a prefilter for emperors and penguins.

Why not? Do they have smaller slots on the intake tube or something, preventing smaller fish from being sucked in?

Peace...

 

[turtlefish]

Again this is just opinion, yes the emperor and penguin intakes are better structured and have smaller finer slots so fish wont get sucked in. Another thing is the mechanical filtration is just a floss bag which is very easy to remove as compared to a huge sponge at the bottom of the media pile.

 

[beatle]

How does better mechanical filtration AFTER the impeller help prevent sand and debris from being sucked in through the intake tube and damaging the impeller?

 

[turtlefish]

It doesnt. But if you have sand in your tank I wouldnt use a power filter like the penguin or emperor anyway. Debris will not damage your impeller, it will flow with the water pass it and into the mechanical filtration screen. Small debris might get stuck in the impeller chamber, thats why you clean it out every 2 months or so.

 

[Im a Pisces]

but what about free swimming fry. can't those get sucked up into a penguin 350?

 

[turtlefish]

Im not exactly sure, probably. You shouldnt use a 350 for fry anyway, the flow would be way too strong.

 

[chefkeith]

I don't even use the cartridges on my Penguin's. I just use a prefilter on the inlet. I don't want fry or snails getting into trouble.