# Is this filter good?



## OhYesItsMe

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...6111&subref=AA&CAWELAID=525413160&cagpspn=pla
(im getting the biggest one)
see i already have the elite hush 55 (200 gph) and i want my 55 gal tank to be filtered at least 10 times an hour so this would total it at 550 gph which i think is good for a tank with 4 kenyi, 6 yellow labs, 1 upsidedown catfish, 1 upsidedown lace catfish, 1 BN pleco and the 4 probably johanni maybe a different cichlid that i dont have yet. all the fish are/will be juvinailes (exept the pleco) so its okay that i dont have all the needed filtration yet. and with all that being said assuming u guys think thats a good filter, with those 2 filters ill be doing water changes once a week 25-50% depending on how things are when the fish grow up.


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## emc7

I use them on several tanks. The are workhorses, long-lasting and replacement parts are available. The have bigger cartridges than the penguin and a nice, large box to put extra media in. Cons are they take up a lot of rim, the biowheels ups your evaporation, they can get crusted with hard water (scrub it off) and they have a tendency to get noisy over time (you can often fix it with a new impeller), and the price of cartridges is climbing (there are 3rd party sellers). 

Bottom line, good bang for the buck, will last a long time, but I wouldn't put in a bedroom (get a canister so you can sleep).


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## OhYesItsMe

o changed my mind to the penguin 350 is that just as good?


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## emc7

no. Its got less room for media and a smaller cartridge.


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## OhYesItsMe

how about the aquaclear 110? thats 500 gph for a total of 700, thats sounds better, but is it?


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## Obsidian

That would be plenty. I like the AC brand and use them on the vast majority of my tanks. The AC110 will be pretty big so be prepared for that. 

When the sponge on the AC units get dirty they can ride up a bit. It's easy to prevent with regular maintenance, but you do need to be aware of it. 

I find them really pretty dang quiet. Not silent by any means, but quieter than most. The biowheel ones are louder.


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## OhYesItsMe

do you know how wide it it? it has to fit between the tank and the wall, there is about 5.5 in between the edge of the trim and the wall, so if anybody has one can u measure ho fat it goes out from the edge of the rim?


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## Ghost Knife

I have always preferred the Marineland filters, but the Pengiuns are good too. I'd go with whichever you can find cheaper.


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## Redhead305

the aquaclear 110 is 5" from the rim i personally have one and love it. Its one of the quietter filters i have but its still a tiny bit noisy. However i find it best next to the fluval c series. i like how you can customize the media to how you like it and i also like the fact you can adjust the flow. Its reliable, works great, hagen is awesome at customer service, its cheap to replace media and its a good deal for your price


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## emc7

I like both the emperors and the aquaclears. The floating sponge trick is annoying, though and so is the leveling foot that falls off the bottom. .


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## Redhead305

emc7 said:


> I like both the emperors and the aquaclears. The floating sponge trick is annoying, though and so is the leveling foot that falls off the bottom. .


never had either be a problem


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## Cory1990

I love the 350s I have two of them and never have a single problem with them. One time I thought the old bio wheel died on me and I forgot to put the bottom cover on turns out a fish got up in there and Jammed it up. Pulled out the poor little fish and she works great still out of all my filters on all my tanks the 350s are really my favorite ones. They work great and at that price you really can't do much better. I'm thinking of ordering another at 30$ it's way cheaper then what I got mine for.


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## OhYesItsMe

Yeah i found an aquaclear 110 new for 50.53 (found an online coupon that reduced it from 55.99) and free shipping, ill just check my lfs first when i go to get the hide and seek pipes because i know they have some filters on sale.


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## Obsidian

If you can get an AC 110 for $50 jump on it. Don't even hesitate.


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## Redhead305

petsmart sellis it for 100$ i found it online on craigslist for 25$ XD


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## AquariumTech

Its not the worst filter on the market, but its a bio-wheel reliant design and bio-wheels from Marineland, have pretty much been proven not to work. So really no, its not that great of a filter. 

On an off note I have been messing around with one of the bio-wheels I have to make it work, because it is a proven theory, its just that Marineland had poor execution on the design.

Since I have become "educated" with this stuff (or at least id like to think so) the only HOBs I will even let near my tanks are: AquaClears, Petco65/Cascades, Fluval Cs, Rena SmartFilters, and Via Aqua has a decent design. There might be some others, but I havent heard of them yet.


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## Cory1990

What do you mean it's proven not to work? Could you exsplane more.


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## emc7

The new Penguin 350Bs have a faster spinning biowheel then the old 330s. Too bad it makes them noisy.


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## Cory1990

I have the 350 and I get 0 noise from the wheels spinning.


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## AquariumTech

Cory1990 said:


> What do you mean it's proven not to work? Could you exsplane more.


I can send some articles as there have been many written on the Bio-Wheel. Now the Bio-Wheel in theory does work, but the problem is when Marinland, put Bio-Wheels on their filters, they didnt really do it to "spec" per-say, so it doesnt actually work. Its actually a fragile balance that makes the Bio-Wheels work; and by work I mean grow your biological filtration. Now I wont write a book here on how its supposed to work or why it doesnt but heres the basics. 

The wheel is almost supposed to act as a per-say "supercharged" wet/dry filter by spinning really fast retaining enough water for beneficial bacteria to live while generating a lot of oxygen to support aerobic bacteria. Aerobic bacteria is the "main" component in your biological filtration, and is extremely easy to grow in freshwater to due to freshwaters abundance in oxygen; but I wont get into aerobic and anaerobic bacteria right now. 

So to keep this acting like a "supercharged" wet/dry, a certain balance of surface area, water, and food (oxygen and fish waste) has to be maintained in order for it to work. Since its a rather delicate balance its like a On/Off switch, it either works or it doesnt, to put it bluntly. The main problems that are generally recognized by everyone/I hear about and see for my self is the poor media that is used for the Bio-Wheel, the speed is way too slow, generally the wheel should be lower/in the water more, and the actual positioning of it in the filter isnt the best in my opinion, definitely not the worst idea though. 

The real issue is that they probably need a separate motor to power the Bio-Wheel, and that would raise costs, make it more complicated for the consumer, and it would take up more space. Of course im not going in-depth with any of this, I am just trying to show you the way.


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## emc7

The old ones used to spin slowly and erratically. The new one I just got spins so fast the water slurps and it I take the guard off water gets poured onto the tank lid. I suspect it works better, but you'd have to test it.


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## OhYesItsMe

Yeah i read a lot about issues people have with bio-wheels, expecially the newer ones and im getting the aquaclear 110 today who knows when it will come with free shipping...


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## Cory1990

I'm not sure how much faster they can spin my newer 350 if you pull the cover off while it's on it splashes water everywhere. I think they work good and even if the wheel didn't work good bacteria is still going to grow on the filter pad itself and with the flow rate it has it keeps the tank clean with enough power to suck up just about anything that falls to the bottom of the tank.


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## emc7

If you have 10X turnovers on a tank, you are gonna have a good bio-filter even if you stuff it with old socks. I just wish it were quieter.


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## Cory1990

Do u have the tank filled all the way up? Because on my cichlid tank I have a bio wheel and another filter one wants the water this high the other wants it lower so I found a happy medium for both to run quiet and do there job still.


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## OhYesItsMe

i just did a water change so the water level is at, well im not sure how high it is its at least an inch from the top of the tank, ill worry about water levels when the filter comes in 7-10 buisness days.


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## Redhead305

the 110 is great for me really the main things you will have to be cleaning is the foam block and the carbon being replaced every 3 months its awesome to use.


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## emc7

I did fill it up, no improvement. I'm hoping it "break in" or something, but I'm gonna move it to the basement and put something else in my bedroom.


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## AquariumTech

Judging a tanks filtration by a filters motor power (GPH) is absurd, if you didnt know it already, GPH is actually contradictory to filtration. There is something called Dwell Time, which is the actual amount of time the water comes and stays in contact with the media. This is and flow-by (bypass) are probably the biggest factor when it comes to filtration, its a little different though for mechanical filtration, but not much. 

I have a 350 Magnum HOT with Bio-Wheel Pro, and that thing does spin pretty fast, but its still not fast enough, and because of the actual media the wheel its self is made out of, the biological filtration is does is so small its almost zero. I would suggest doing some research on the subject if you are interested as I dont intend to write a book here. 

Also with the carbon, it will last the 3 months as said above, but I would suggest taking it out and rinsing it out 1 once a month, with tap water or some type of purified water.


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## OhYesItsMe

Hmmm that makes sense that a filter with a lot of motor power that barely has any dwell time would be almost useless exept for oxygen flow. Thanks for your help guys ll tell you how the filter works out


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## emc7

Obviously size also matters, a fast pump with no media, doesn't help. That's why I prefer emperors to penguins. 

But there is a security in having a high flow with some margin for error. I see all these new high-tech quiet filters with high surface areas, but hardly any flow and wonder how would you even know if they clogged or stopped completely. The manufacturer can keep danios alive in a 2 gallon with an auto-feeder for 6 months, but so what? The normal consumer will overfeed and kill them. I don't like things balanced on a knife-edge. Over-filter, its safer. Two filters beat one and, all other things being equal, more gph is better. Bacteria need oxygen and food and get more of those things with more flow. At some point, you will blow them off the substrate and more flow will be counterproductive, but I don't think filter makers are that stupid. The flow amount will be an effective one for the media chamber they have. 

I won't weigh in as to the effectiveness of bio-wheels, I haven't done the research. The theory is good, but I don't like the noise, splashing, & evaporation. If i have a filter with bio-wheels, I use it, but I use HOB without them & all types of filters. All of the Marineland Penguins and Emperors HOBs, are, IME, cheap, long-lasting, and effective filtration. In the past, the new ones were quiet and they got louder as they got old. My recent experience has been that the new ones are too noisy for the bedroom and they need to go straight to the fishroom. Although they were nice on the phone and quick to send me a new impeller, I am still a bit disappointed in Marineland lately. I want stuff perfect out of the box.

Aquaclears are nice and have gotten a lot more reasonable in price than they used to be. But you will not find me pushing one kind over all others like a true-believer. Every filters has its quirks and aggravations. If yours are perfect, you haven't owed them long enough.

I would like to see manufacturers build in some extra capacity, so we don't have to keep recommending a 50 gallon filter for a 30 gallon tank. 

I've had fish since 1980 when Aquakings were the hot new thing. Any filter is better than no filter. You can hate UG filters, or bio-wheels or anything else. But you can also be successful with any filter if you stock properly and do the maintenance. As much as I appreciate all the new tech that has come into the hobby, I think some of us are too quick to recommend the most expensive option. A water change is more valuable than a test kit. And old, used filters may work inefficiently, but they do work. 

If you want to change my mind, you not only have to show me the new thing is better, you have to show me its worth the money.


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## Redhead305

i personally agree with emc i wouldnt trust the filters that balance on a edge i hear tons of ppl tell me how the bio wheel stops moving id go with fluval c series or aquaclears. i had to have two large penguin 350s on my 55 for my one oscar and still had haze. i changed both for aquaclears and tada its noticeably clearer


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## OhYesItsMe

well i can acually gat a better deal at my lfs, i noticed at last minute. ill get it next weekend, i have been doing biweekly water changes because the side without the filter build up waste a lot faster, there is no ammonia or nitrite and the nitrate is at about 25-30 ppm, i know thats okay for now but not for long and the sooner i get the filter on the tank, the sooner it will be affective, i dont want to wait until the water quality gets bad, well i just repeated what i said to my dad


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## Redhead305

like it was said dnt need the newest thing out their i personally have the aquaclear 110 which is the new name but mines is the aquaclear 500 lol i got it for 25$ nd baught the media for a total of 35$ which wasn't bad imo


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## emc7

Aquaclears used to be high and penguins were cheap. Now penguins are going up and aquarclears have come down and there are lots of new brands.


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## AquariumTech

emc7 said:


> Obviously size also matters, a fast pump with no media, doesn't help. That's why I prefer emperors to penguins.
> 
> But there is a security in having a high flow with some margin for error. I see all these new high-tech quiet filters with high surface areas, but hardly any flow and wonder how would you even know if they clogged or stopped completely. The manufacturer can keep danios alive in a 2 gallon with an auto-feeder for 6 months, but so what? The normal consumer will overfeed and kill them. I don't like things balanced on a knife-edge. Over-filter, its safer. Two filters beat one and, all other things being equal, more gph is better. Bacteria need oxygen and food and get more of those things with more flow. At some point, you will blow them off the substrate and more flow will be counterproductive, but I don't think filter makers are that stupid. The flow amount will be an effective one for the media chamber they have.
> 
> I won't weigh in as to the effectiveness of bio-wheels, I haven't done the research. The theory is good, but I don't like the noise, splashing, & evaporation. If i have a filter with bio-wheels, I use it, but I use HOB without them & all types of filters. All of the Marineland Penguins and Emperors HOBs, are, IME, cheap, long-lasting, and effective filtration. In the past, the new ones were quiet and they got louder as they got old. My recent experience has been that the new ones are too noisy for the bedroom and they need to go straight to the fishroom. Although they were nice on the phone and quick to send me a new impeller, I am still a bit disappointed in Marineland lately. I want stuff perfect out of the box.
> 
> Aquaclears are nice and have gotten a lot more reasonable in price than they used to be. But you will not find me pushing one kind over all others like a true-believer. Every filters has its quirks and aggravations. If yours are perfect, you haven't owed them long enough.
> 
> I would like to see manufacturers build in some extra capacity, so we don't have to keep recommending a 50 gallon filter for a 30 gallon tank.
> 
> I've had fish since 1980 when Aquakings were the hot new thing. Any filter is better than no filter. You can hate UG filters, or bio-wheels or anything else. But you can also be successful with any filter if you stock properly and do the maintenance. As much as I appreciate all the new tech that has come into the hobby, I think some of us are too quick to recommend the most expensive option. A water change is more valuable than a test kit. And old, used filters may work inefficiently, but they do work.
> 
> If you want to change my mind, you not only have to show me the new thing is better, you have to show me its worth the money.


It is always worth it to get more filtration than you need, and I preach that. I am just saying mixing GPH and actual filtration ability is a false reality. Now sure Aerobic bacteria, which is generally your main element of bio-filtration, like more flow, because of the increased oxygen. Remember though they need food too, and their food is in the water, and if the water doesnt get a chance to stop by (using this as a metaphor/analogy), the bacteria doesnt get a chance to pick at it, thus hindering your bio-filtration just by flow. The only way to counteract this is by having more media, now its not so simple with bio-filtration, but is true for mechanical and chemical filtration; but like I did say is generally true for bio-filtration. I wont get into the specifics as this would take forever and even I dont know everything. 

For sure the prices with ACs are amazing, I think last time I checked the Marineland filters were actually MORE expensive than the ACs. Its sorry when you see people buying inferior filters for more money.


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## emc7

I am liking aquaclears lately because the last one I got was cheap and quiet. PetSmart had their media on clearance. I hope it is only another packaging change and not another filter killing (see Rena)


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## Redhead305

emc7 said:


> I am liking aquaclears lately because the last one I got was cheap and quiet. PetSmart had their media on clearance. I hope it is only another packaging change and not another filter killing (see Rena)


its new packaging coming out for it thats all they did kill the smallest one tho


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## AquariumTech

emc7 said:


> I am liking aquaclears lately because the last one I got was cheap and quiet. PetSmart had their media on clearance. I hope it is only another packaging change and not another filter killing (see Rena)


Your talking about the XPs right? 

If they killed the AquaClear, they would be stupid as hell.


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## OhYesItsMe

no they didnt kil the aquaclears, infact the one at my lfs had a special deal going on, the aquaclear 110 comes with a coupon thing for $67 worth of like filter carbon and other stuff


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## emc7

Yes, the XPs. What I read is that the Rena XPs are replaced by API brand one that are cheaper plastic and come with a lot less media


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## Redhead305

emc7 said:


> Yes, the XPs. What I read is that the Rena XPs are replaced by API brand one that are cheaper plastic and come with a lot less media


petsmart replaced it with more marineland product not api.


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## emc7

API owns the Rena brand now, and make a similar, but not the same filter.


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## Redhead305

emc you are right but petsmart doesnt sell api filters


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## OhYesItsMe

I just got it with 2 question 1st one is that it says if u turn down the flow rate, 50% of the water will be filtered multiple times, but that would be as low as 164 gph and on high it is 500 gph, what would be better? maybe 12 hrs of each a day?


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## Redhead305

i leave mine on high for my 50g its working perfect


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## emc7

Leave in on high unless you have super low-flow fish or notice food getting sucked up before the fish can eat it.


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## OhYesItsMe

okay thanks


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## AquariumTech

I only use reduced flows for feeding time. It does filter the same water over and over again when its on low, but not really the tank water; theres a certain segment of it that gets stuck in the filter and becomes "filter water" so its kind of useless, to think of it like that. 

Anyways yea those new API filters, I had a lot of people asking me to review them, but I wasnt going to buy one with out doing some research. From what I have seen, good HOBs (ACs and Fluval Cs) have more media than them, they are a joke. Its a big ol' canister filter than uses little cartridges, insanity. Although I dont think this is supposed to be a replacement for the XPs its still pretty much is; its APIs canister. Thats coming from me too, because I think the XPs where overrated and I really wasnt the biggest fan of them, not that they were bad filters though.


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## emc7

What do you guy think of those API Nexx filters that you add in series with a separate pump in the tank? This is a type I haven't tried. My first reaction is they are overpriced for something I could DIY in a 5 gallon bucket for. Kind of a small-scale sump. But they could be useful for bottom tanks


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## Redhead305

like the bio wheels good idea bad execution


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## AquariumTech

emc7 said:


> What do you guy think of those API Nexx filters that you add in series with a separate pump in the tank? This is a type I haven't tried. My first reaction is they are overpriced for something I could DIY in a 5 gallon bucket for. Kind of a small-scale sump. But they could be useful for bottom tanks


Thats the one I was talking about. 

I was going to say I could probably modify it to be at least decent, but the price just isnt right. This is one of those filter that I think they are just trying to pawn off on idiots, good thing it looks idiot proof. Hell maybe they even just released this thing for testing. To me it almost seems like an unfinished product, like MW3.


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