Best Buy for Filters on 36g. Tank?

[Kyohti]

I've always bought those cheapie Wal-Mart filters 'Whisper, Aquatech, etc' for my aquariums and I'm simply ready for something with a little more quality. I'm hoping to have my 36 gallon long on a stand and ready for my senegal bichir and some tank mates by this summer.

I intend to use a mixture of small gravel (just above coarse sand) and medium gravel as substrate, I'll be purchasing driftwood and artificial plants for decoration, and I'm looking for suggestions on quality filters that would be able to keep up with the needs of carnivorous fishes. Should I look into supplemental bottom filtration as well as canister? Also, do you agree with the philosophy of having two smaller filters instead of one big one?

I'm just seeing if there's better things out there. Having the internet and a debit card has opened up some options for me that I haven't had in the past. I've lived in dinky towns my whole life and so I never had many options as far as aquarium care and available plants and such, so I'm admittedly fairly naive when it comes to the practice of quality aquarium care. I read a lot... but usually the real thing is rarely as precise and simple as the books make it out to be, eh? ^__^;;

So yeah... filters... better aquarium care... help?

 

[Kamryn]

Are you thinking of getting a canister filter or HOB filter (hang on the back of the tank)?

 

[jm1212]

for a 36 gallon, a penguin 350 would do nicely

 

[Kyohti]

Either one would do... I'm thinking HOB would provide more room inside the aquairum if canister is what I think it is (is it the filters you hang inside the aquairum or something else entirely?)

 

[Kamryn]

I have a rena xp2 on my 30 gallon and the canister fits below the aquarium in the stand with tubing going from it up to the top of the aquarium. I went back and fourth before buying this filter, and looked at eheim and fluval canisters too. I only bought the rena because I got such a good deal on it.
Another reason I went with a canister is due to the fact this aquarium is in our family room and I didn't want to hear the filter noise. I do have 2 other tanks that have hang on back filters (Penguin Bio wheel emperor) and they do a great job too.

 

[H3D]

I would use 2 AquaClear 50 HOB filters, or jm1212 a single Marineland Penguin 350 BioWheel.

 

[Kyohti]

Yeah, I've been eyeing the Aqua clear 50s... But I also like Penguin's set-up style for their HOBs. Which one is better? Which one is generally more affordable?

 

[H3D]

It would cost more to use two AquaClear filters, but you would have about 6 times the media capacity.

 

[Rallysman]

It would cost more to use two AquaClear filters, but you would have about 6 times the media capacity.

And 100% redundancy.

I would go with the AC filters as well.