It doesn't. It just decreases the flow in the bottom strainer so that all of the water pull isn't in the bottom of the tank. The same reason for the Penguin BIO-Wheel series. :rant2: A flow control is handy!! 
Question on an emperor 280
- Thread starter CoreyMac
- Start date
Before you go buy an AC, I want you to know that if you have a power outage, the filter almost NEVER reprimes so you will end up with a burned out motor. This has happened not only to me but other people also. If you buy any other filter I would suggest a Penguin or a Whisper. Penguins have a BIO-Wheel and a 3 year warranty. :thm: Whispers have a 2 year warranty. Emperors have a 5 year warranty. :thm: :dance: Also, the neat thing about a BIO-Wheel is that the bacteria isn't taking the oxygen from the tank to live so it leaves your fish with far more oxygen. Any submerged bio filter is taking oxygen from the tank, not the air, so your fish may be deprived of oxygen. That is what happened to my aunt. This caused her fish to duy and when the petstore tested her water they said that there was very little oxygen in the water, not even enough for a fish to live. Please think about it before you switch! Don't you want what is best and healthiest for your fish? If so, I suggest a Marineland filter all the way. AquaClears backsiphon, so you may think that you are saving money now, but when the motor burns out you will be spending more money.
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I just have to say that maybe I'm the oddity, but when I cut power to my 10g aquarium with a new ac20 on it the filter doesn't drain out. My 4 year old turned it off one night and in the morning I just flipped the switch and it ran just fine. Now if I drain water from the aquarium (water changes) then I have to reprime the filter, but I've never seen the water drain out of it just from not having power.
You can also cut the flow by attaching a small piece of filter floss to the bottom of your filter. I have a Penguin 150 on my 10 gallon and the flow was way too fast for my Betta. I cut up a piece of filter from my Whisper package (minus the carbon) and attached it with a band. It cut the flow quite nicely and... happy Betta. I definately love the Penguin and have a 200 on my 55 gallon along with a Whisper 60. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have put two Pengiuns on the 55 instead of the Whisper.
Of all the AC's I've had, I've never had one that would not restart after a power outage as long as the tank was full.
As stated previously, during a water change when the tank level is down, yes, but why would that be a concern anyway? Hardly any brand HOB would restart in that instance. During a power outage the tank should be at it's running level, so the back (outside) portion of the filter is below the tank level. Kind of hard to get a back siphon this way.
As stated previously, during a water change when the tank level is down, yes, but why would that be a concern anyway? Hardly any brand HOB would restart in that instance. During a power outage the tank should be at it's running level, so the back (outside) portion of the filter is below the tank level. Kind of hard to get a back siphon this way.
I would disagree with this. If you follow that theory, all that bio media in millions of canister filters are currently suffocating millions of fish. There had to be other issues involved. The bacteria need the oxygen but the load is nothing compared to the needs of the fish.fishieperson321 said:
I got that from the Drs. Foster & Smith catalog. You have a point, tho. I never really thought about it. :dive:
