Sweety you will learn in this hobby cheap and good NEVER go together.....LOL....I would suggest an aquaclear filter as well
Brand new 20 gallon and I need some advice!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter alliebally157
- Start date
Id definitely go with the Aquaclear over the Bio-wheels. Ive used both and highly prefer the Aquaclears. They seem to filter better and theyre much quieter, especially when the wheel on the bio-wheel stops, which it will inevitably do. When that happens the filter becomes much louder for some reason. As for heaters, ive been using a little Hydor Theo in my 20 for years and it works fine. You might want to do some research though because ive heard other people have had problems with them.
IME, my penguin 350 never got loud, and was very quiet as long as the water level was right, some people say that they hear loud grinding noises, but that is because of the impeller put in wrong, that used to happen to me when i first got the filter, but never happens anymore.
How on earth did you manage to put the impeller in wrong? If i remember correctly, it can only go in one way. Ive heard of them grinding from sand getting into and around the impeller though. That happened once in my little Tom Rapids Mini Canister and it was a very annoying noise indeed lol
I meant loud as in the waterflow. Once the wheel stopped moving it just added an obstacle for the water flowing out of it, which caused excessive noise. It didnt bother me all that much in the living room because i dont really mind the sound of flowing water and most things sort of drowned the noise out, but it was really annoying in my bedroom because i like for things to be really quiet when im sleeping and that noise drove me crazy. I ended up changing it for a Magnum HOT which is a much better all around filter IMO.
I meant loud as in the waterflow. Once the wheel stopped moving it just added an obstacle for the water flowing out of it, which caused excessive noise. It didnt bother me all that much in the living room because i dont really mind the sound of flowing water and most things sort of drowned the noise out, but it was really annoying in my bedroom because i like for things to be really quiet when im sleeping and that noise drove me crazy. I ended up changing it for a Magnum HOT which is a much better all around filter IMO.
there are lots of ways to put the impeller wrong(u don't push it all the way, its angled, the top part holding the impeller shaft isn't pushed in, or its angled). My bio-wheels hardly spin, and there is no noise, as long as u put the cover on(it deflects the water), and the water level is at the top.
Personally, I would clean ANY filter when I noticed the flow from it decrease. If you are claiming a filter is good just because it allows you to go a long time between cleanings, you don't understand their purpose to begin with.
Filter cartridges physically break down at different rates...usually dependent on the volume through them and how hard you flush/scrub them clean...no time limit involved to them.
yeah, that is why i said 2-3 months, because that is when the flow rate decreases and the filter starts to overflow
otherwise, the filter will overflow, and i knew that so i said 2-3 months because i had the same tank, and same filter on my tank(20G), and it started to overflow between 2-3 months depending on stocking
All of that stuff is just common sense and can be said about any and every filter out there other than your basic sponge filter. If you dont know how to seat an impeller correctly into its sockets then you shouldnt be taking your filter apart to begin with IMO.
The cover on my filters never made any difference in sound. In fact, on my 200 it actually rattled and made a worse noise than the water lol
How long have your filters been running?
Exactly. Theres also the fact that, depending on the setup, the larger filter area might not actually increase the life of the filter element. If its a heavily stocked tank then a larger filter might clog in teh same amount of time as a smaller one because its filtering at the rate that the water moves through it, not by the filter element itself. If cleaning the filter less often is that big of a deal to you then id suggest saving up and buying a canister. Even then, you base its cleaning on water flow and not time. There really is no set time for cleaning any filter because its dependent on too many factors to make a broad assumption like that.
My filters have been running for over 2 years, and I have only cleaned it 8 times, 4 times while it was on a 72G, and 4 times while it was on my 20G. When I first took apart my filter, I was a newbie, and that was my 2nd filter, and I didn't know about water changes, and believed everything petco people told me. What model of the penguin do you have? is it the one in the link or the older one?
The cover makes a huge difference, as it has deflectors, and forces the water out and one point, and makes less of a splashing sound if the water level is correct.
yeah, that is why i said 2-3 months, because that is when the flow rate decreases and the filter starts to overflow
otherwise, the filter will overflow, and i knew that so i said 2-3 months because i had the same tank, and same filter on my tank(20G), and it started to overflow between 2-3 months depending on stocking
Not true at all....the flow will decrease based on how soon it gets clogged from physical items...NOT TIME.....you over feed consistently, it will get clogged sooner....dieing plants...shortens the time....it is not an issue of time at all...observation is the key.
