Penguin 330

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hforney

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Nov 24, 2004
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I am in the process of setting up a 55g tank. I just installed a Penguin 330 power filter which will eventually be my secondary filltration system. The instructions indicate I can fill the media baskets with a media of my own. As I am new to this filter I don't understand which media I can use and is it necessary to add additional media to these baskets. In a month I will be getting an Ehiem Pro 2260 as my main filter as I am of the understanding that 2 filters are better than one.


Thanks for any info!
 
Filters

hforney said:
I am in the process of setting up a 55g tank. I just installed a Penguin 330 power filter which will eventually be my secondary filltration system. The instructions indicate I can fill the media baskets with a media of my own. As I am new to this filter I don't understand which media I can use and is it necessary to add additional media to these baskets. In a month I will be getting an Ehiem Pro 2260 as my main filter as I am of the understanding that 2 filters are better than one.


Thanks for any info!
Click to expand...

There are different media used for different purposes. In a filter there are biological, chemical and mechanical filtration aspects that needs to be addressed. The bio-wheels should take care of the biological needs and you should have sponge material that came with the filter that will take care of the mechanical filtration. You can add activated carbon or other chemical filtration material in a bag and place it in the basket. I would suggest putting some of the biological medium you plan to use in you Eheim filter in the bag as well. When you start the new canister filter put this used unwashed biological filter material inside the canister to help seed it with benificial bacteria. If this is a new tank you are starting please read about new tank syndrome and cycling your tank before you put your fish in the tank. That could save the lives of your fish and you money.
 
Ghoti, Thanks for the information. I have spent a month reading about aquariums but still know I have so so much to learn. I do not expect to add fish for at least 2 more weeks. I was confused about what should go in the media basket on the Penguin 330. I did some research and the Eheim comes with a substrate, I believe it is called, is this what I should put in the Penguin basket?
 
Filter

Substrate is material that ammonia and nitrite eating bacteria will live and grow on. Substrate will vary from something as simple as gravel to highly porous material. Usually the more expensive the material is the more surface area the material has. It is microscopic surface area that is important as it provide surface for bacteria to adhere and grow. You will have problems with ammonia and nitrites until your aquarium has established colonies of bacteria to deal with these toxic chemicals. Once establish they will take care of ammonia and nitrite and will convert it all to nitrate where you can either grow plants which will use it or you can remove it yourself by maintaining regular water changes. Buy some substrate material which is preferably the same as what you will be using in the Eheim and put it in a bag in the penguin. More important than that is cycling your tank before adding large numbers of fish. Read threads on cycling your tank both with fish and the fishless method. Many people lose fish from toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite after starting a new tank thus the name New Tank Syndrome. Glad to see you are researching. There are some great forums this is one of them where you can get great info on raising your fish.
 
Thanks again Ghoti!

I am doing a great deal of researching. I remember about 5 years ago I had a 29g tank with no knowledge of fish keeping. I did water changes when I felt like it, and that was it. I did not even own a water test kit. Anyhow everything was fine for awhile. I had a pleco, 3 angel fish, and numerous other small fish. Needless to say the pleco got huge the angels got large than a massive algae break out and the tank quickly took a spiral downhill. I couldn't understand what was wrong. Now that I am asking questions and reading. I realize the numerous mistakes I made. I hope this time I can minimize my mistakes by asking people like yourself questions I do not have answers for. This forum has been great. I have received some much valuable replies from so many wonderful and helpful people.

Thanks again!
 
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It is OK to run the 330 with nothing in the extra baskets. Eventually you can add a wad of floss, or some efimech or bioballs or whatever, or you can just leave that open to add carbon if ever needed or similar stuff. I've even added oak leaves to the baskets to try to soften water, being too cheap to buy peat pellets.
 
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