TetraTec or Emperor??

[Phiberop]

I have a 46 Gallon and have a choice between an Emperor 400 filtration unit or a Tetratech PF500 with the 200W heater built in.

What are your opinions??

[dralarms]

The emperor 400, I have a tetra tech 150 and it's got to be the noisiest thing out there. It came with my 26 gal bow front, ? Fixing to put a penguin 170 on it. I have a 400 on my 55 gal fw, and I can really stir up some crap ( forgive the pun), and in just a little while it will have the water crystal clear again. HTH

[Bearfan]

Had my emporer 400 for over a decade, and it still works just fine.

[Electrobes]

the tetra tec is l9ouder than hell, and its pretty shoddy, definately the emperor

[leafyseadragon]

I have an Emperor 400 on my freshwater tank, it's over a year old. Never had any problems with it. If you adjust it just right, the filter is quiet. Sometimes it takes a while to get that though.

[HoopsGuru]

Had the Tetratec on my oscar tank, sounded like a flushing toilet. For a reef tank though, I wouldn't really use either unless you already had one or the other. The biomedia should be removed so they essentially become expensive powerheads. They also don't give you any options for flow direction and can produce quite a bit of salt creep. I would go for 2 larger powerheads and use LR and LS for filtration. Maybe add a small Penguin filter for a place to run carbon, etc.

[jackdp]

I had to replace the impeller in my tetratec 150 less than a year after getting it. Tetra told me that the salt and sand can ruin the impeller and to screen out fine particles with a pantyhose type prefilter over the intake. Now I use it on my 15 gallon FW tank and it is fine.