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Penguin 350B or emperor Bio-wheel 400?
Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 11:23 am
by steveanddanni
Danielle and I are trying to decide on a filter that could be used on our current 29 gallon and then moved to our impending 55 gallon. Does anyone have any experience with either of these filters and recommend on or the other? The only difference I really see is the Emperor 400 has a second pump that pumps pressurized water over the bio-wheels. Anyone have any advice?
Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 11:55 am
by Fishfood
I'm not sure how many people are running biowheels on their tanks anymore. Most of us that i know of have sumps. What type of set-up do you wish to have? Reef - Fish only?
I have no experience with either of them.
Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:10 pm
by steveanddanni
We have a little of both. We aren't going to be able to do a serious reef tank for a while, just fish, rock and maybe add some coral. We only have a 29 gallon tank rigt now. What would you recommend then?
Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:16 pm
by Fishfood
If you are going to start out in the direction of a reef with plans to expand it to a full reef I would either get the tank drilled and have a sump, or get an overflow box and have a sump. You can put filter material in there if you want but others go with just live rock and sand in the main tank with a skimmer and or refugium.
I have no idea how well a biowheel would work on a reef tank. Not many people use then anymore, that I know of.
If you didn't want any coral and just wanted fish I would think you could get away with a biowheel or canaster filter with a lot of live rock and sand.
Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 1:40 pm
by Amphiprion
If it is fish only, with a high intended fish load, you may want to opt for the bio wheels. But do realize that they are veritable "nitrate factories." Personally, I would use plenty of live rock and sand in addition to an efficient skimmer, along with some extra powerheads for circulation. I have one penguin on my freshwater tank and on my 20g seahorse tank (which needs extra filtration due to excess of food added daily). Neither of the tanks have a nitrate problem due to plant and macroalgae growth, respectively. I actually add nitrate and phosphate to my freshwater tank, since nitrate produced by the wheels can't keep up with growth.