Equip for 30 gal

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
AquaClear 70/300 filter, maybe one of the new Penguin 350s. You can also try a canister if you were insterested in that.

For heaters, get a 150w Visitherm, Ebo, or Titanium heater.
 
Undergravel filters can not be used with sand from my understanding.

HOB filter work SO MUCH better anyhow and aren't a nitrate trap.

I'd recomend checking out www.bigalsonline.com

I have bougth a lot of stuff from them recently and I'm very pleased

Note**" I'm not associated with Bigals in any way :p
 
Undergravel filters do not work with sand substrates. Go with a power filter instead because they are easier to maintain and more effective. The only thing to worry about is making sure you don't stir up the sand so that it gets sucked into the filter. I like the Marineland Penguins (330 or new 350B) because of the BIO-Wheel but the Aquaclears are good too.

I recommend the Hagen Tronic 150W heater. I have found them to be extremely reliable and there is an optional heater guard available to protect the heater from rocks, etc.
 
i was thinking of a Marineland Stealth 200 heater and maybe a penguin 125 or 170-(has bio-wheel). i should have known about the undergravel filter, after all it is an UNDERGRAVEL filter. :D
 
Penguin 125 or 170 is really a bit on the small side to be the only filter on a 30g. A larger filter should be only a few $$$ more and well worth it.
 
Maybe it says that on the package, but really you would not want to use a Penguin 170 on a 50 gallon tank. Maybe it you had one or two fish you could get away with it, but a 170 is really not appropriate for much above a 20 or 25g IMO.

Filter manufactures usually aim high with tank ratings so they can call more filters. If one company sells a $20 filter for up to a 20g tank, and another company sells a $20 filter that says it goes up to 75g tank, cosumers would be more likely to buy the on rated up to a 75g.
 
I have a Penguin BIO-Wheel 170 on a 29g tank and it has been adequate. I also have a Penguin BIO-Wheel 330 on a 30g tank and the water is as clear as can be. I adjusted the intake on the 330 to slightly reduce the water flow so my angelfish wouldn't get swept around the tank. I think most experienced aquarium owners recommend a filter that turns over the water 7 to 10 times per hour. Based on that a filter rated in the 210 to 300gph range would make sense here.
 
I used a penguin 170 on a 30 gallon tank.Thumbs down. I had to modify one of the filter cartridges for the filter to eliminate many floating particles.I cut out the filter material and removed the plastic fins underneath and placed fine filter material inside.I switched to a Jebo cannister,(Eheim clone). GREAT filter! Check out superfishstore.com or aquatraders.com for the best prices.
 
What filter you should get depends not only on the capacity of the aquarium it is going to be used with but also how many fish, what size fish and if the tank is planted or not. I would recommend a canister filter for a planted tank using CO2 injection but a power filter for a planted tank that doesn't use CO2 injection as well as for a tank with no live plants. You would also want more powerful filtration if you have a tank with messy eaters like Oscars as opposed to smaller fish like tetras.
 
emperors are better and they have an extra slot for more media???
 
Concubine said:
what is the difference between a penguin bio-wheel and a emperor bio-wheel?---both by marineland.

As far as I know the main difference is that the Emperor has a spray bar that hits the biowheel to rotate it. I bought a cheap walmart knockoff and bought a kit to convert it to a biowheel. It is the equivelant of the Penguin 330 Biowheel because it doesn't have the spray bar for the biowheels. My waterflow just turns the wheels. It doesn't work great because my filter media slows down water too much. Also when my tank water level drops 3" or so the wheels stop spinning.

The Emperor also comes with two baskets that hang behind the filters that my walmart knockoff didn't come with. I'm totally sure that the Penguin is like my knockoff. Chances are the two filters are identical.

Hope this helps somewhat...
 
Make a wise choice:Aquaclear HOB or a cannister filter.Vertical pad filtration that's incorporated in the Penguin series is a poor engineering design.Also consider that GPH rating is not the only factor when choosing a filter.The finest cannister filters,Eheim, generally have lower GPH ratings due to the exceptional filtering capabilities through the media.Cannisters that actually use the no-bypass feature have another factor that will be used in determining its capabilities.
 
what is the difference between a penguin bio-wheel and a emperor bio-wheel?---both by marineland.
Emperor is the higher grade/quality item (and larger aquariums if memory serves) and penguin is the lower end for the same product type.
 
piranha said:
Make a wise choice:Aquaclear HOB or a cannister filter.Vertical pad filtration that's incorporated in the Penguin series is a poor engineering design.Also consider that GPH rating is not the only factor when choosing a filter.The finest cannister filters,Eheim, generally have lower GPH ratings due to the exceptional filtering capabilities through the media.Cannisters that actually use the no-bypass feature have another factor that will be used in determining its capabilities.

The Emps are much nicer than any aquclear you can buy IMO but than again I like marineland's stuff much better. Canisters can be a pain in the butt if not cared for properlly. If it was me...I would be putting the LARGER Emperor on my 30 gallon. The larger emperor can go on aquarium up to 75 gallons and it is only about $35 from big als. Beware though this current could be high for some fish. The smaller emperor is basically the same as a penguin. The smaller one does not have two baskets just one. The smaller ones biowheel just runs on the waterflow but mine works great.

Anyhow...Its really your choice. Canisters are nice but make sure you buy what you think will be easy to work with.
 
Back
Top Bottom