Emperor 280 or Emperor 400

meili.harrison

meili.harrison

Love my plecos!
Apr 28, 2008
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I have a question that I need some advise on. I am currently cycling a 46 gal tank with an Emperor 280 filter (which said up to 50 gal). But now I am wondering if I should have gotten an Emperor 400 instead. I didnt do enough research at that time, but now I read that most people who have 30 gal and up tanks use Emperor 400. Should I be using the 400 version instead of the 280??
 
I would use both, but if your limited to one then go with the 400.......:)
 
For a 46g tank, I would recommend an Emperor 400. You could keep the Emperor 280 and add the Emperor 400 later.
 
I would have gone with the 400. which by the way petsmart.com has the best prices when you Price match their site to their store.

That said you should be fine bio-wheels are very under rated as to what they can handle. you should be fine depending on the amount of fish and what fish you keep.
If you have an Oscar than no I would get the 400 (just an example tank is to small for an oscar I know)
 
I have a 400 on my 38 gal and all is fine ( its a very good filter ) One thing though when i first started it up it was very loud .. You will have to give it a couple of weeks before the bio wheels are complely saturated so you can adjust the spray bar.. Then it is much quieter.. I was a little surprised at how loud it was, but now its fine.

good luck.
 
The tank will have 6 angelfish and 2 plecos for now :) I think I will check out petsmart.com. I didnt know the price match to the online price! Thanks!
 
meili.harrison said:
The tank will have 6 angelfish and 2 plecos for now :) I think I will check out petsmart.com. I didnt know the price match to the online price! Thanks!
Click to expand...

What kind of plecos? Hopefully you're getting the smaller variety like those in your avatar.

And in my opinion, for your tank a 280 wouldnt be enough. perhaps you could get a small sponge filter or something in addition to the 280? that seems good.
 
I got an emperor 400 now, it is not too loud. I thought it would be annoying since the 280 was quite noisy, but it is fine. More like a trickling sound. I tried to get Petsmart to pricematch their site but the manager refused because she said it was a different model. I guess the Emperor 400 is a slightly different design now and it is up to 90 gal instead of 80. She did give me a substantial discount so it was ok. I got everything set up and switched out my filter cartridge and bio-wheel from the 280 so I wouldn't loose too much of my good bacteria. Thanks for all the input!
 
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