Powerfilters? Recommendations

[Humanis1993]

So alot of people have recommended aqua clear power filter50 for my 20 gallon tank. I was debating between the aquaclear50 and a marineland penguin bio-wheel 200gph. Which one should I get for my tank?

 

[carey]

I vote aquaclear.

 

[itsgracia]

I can't speak for the penguin but I love my AC filters. They keep my water crystal clear and you can fit just about any media in the media bucket. I have some eheim bio rings in my AC70 along with the ceramic rings that it came with and the foam. My AC20 on my 10 gallon tank has 2 foam and then the ceramic rings. Also it is extremely quiet.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I vote aquaclear.

+1

AC50 is perfect for a 20 IMHO.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium

 

[Humanis1993]

Haha everyone's for aquaclear? I thought biowheels were good

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Haha everyone's for aquaclear? I thought biowheels were good

Had one. Never again for me. With AC you can use most any kind of (and mfg's) media, which makes it very versatile for me.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium

 

[BigJim]

I've had both Penguins and AquaClears. I'm running all AquaClears now. The ACs are cartridgeless and offer more space for media, but the robustness of the impeller design is what sold me. When I switched to a sand substrate, my Penguin got noisy and started eating impellers. I bought an AC to replace it and I don't have any trouble with the sand.

The stock cartridges on the Penguin are a pain. If you go that route, get the media cages and make your own cartridges by filling the cages with some canister filter foam.

 

[Marconis]

AquaClear is the way to go. No contest! Quiet as can be, nice media basket, and very efficient.

 

[redfisher1139]

I have to agree with BigJim. The impellers on the Bio-wheels are pretty weak. Mine fell apart within 2 months of running with sand substrate. I replaced it with an AC50, and could not be happier. In fact, we are in the process of turning all our filters over to aquaclears.

 

[tyspot1000]

I do love AquaClear, but nothing over an AC30. I once had an AC70 on my 30 gallon and it wasn't the best (Had to much flow). Thats when I switched over to canister filters.

Personally, I would go with the Bio-wheel. But, if you want to try the AquaClear and see how it does, go ahead

 

[Viper]

I've had both the Penguin and the AC. I vote Aqua Clear because they seem more reliable.

With the Penguin, the bio-wheels would stop spinning about 2 weeks after cleaning. I contribute that to a weak return flow and the lack of adjustment to the flow made the bio-wheels useless. Another thing that I noticed that I didn't like about the Penguin is the filter inlet that is located high up on the filter intake tube. It has two intake tube inlets and the higher one gave me problems.

I ran into the problems when using the Penguin on my DIY background. The chamber that I fabricated for my intake tube behind the "rock wall" would sometimes have lower water levels due to the openings in the the background getting clogged with debris. The level would drop just enough that it would reach that higher inlet on the tube and cause the filter to lose suction. This would make the filter extremely noisy and inefficient. A little piece comes with the filter to "cap" that higher inlet so that water is only drawn from the bottom of the intake tube. Problem is, that piece didn't fit in the chamber that I created so I couldn't use it.

Since removing the Penguin and installing the AC70, there have been no problems with the filter losing suction.

 

[Marconis]

I do love AquaClear, but nothing over an AC30. I once had an AC70 on my 30 gallon and it wasn't the best (Had to much flow). Thats when I switched over to canister filters.

Personally, I would go with the Bio-wheel. But, if you want to try the AquaClear and see how it does, go ahead

I also noticed that AC50 and up tend to be a lot louder. At that point I usually go the canister route as well.

 

[Humanis1993]

So the aquaclear is one of the best. I'm on the walmart website and I'm looking at the aquatech 20-40gal filters and they have a bunch of good reviews do you guys know anything about those?

 

[Bettababe1011]

So the aquaclear is one of the best. I'm on the walmart website and I'm looking at the aquatech 20-40gal filters and they have a bunch of good reviews do you guys know anything about those?

I have that in my tank, and so far it's working great, but my tank is very new, still stocking the fish into it. So far I love my filter. (Knock on wood)

Courtesy of Dakota's iPod.

 

[Humanis1993]

Yeah my price range is basically that and aqueon bc I don't have more then $35 to spend on a filter right now

 

[tyspot1000]

Oh wait, Scratch what I said about the Flow on AC30's and above. Its more of the AC50's and above.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Yeah my price range is basically that and aqueon bc I don't have more then $35 to spend on a filter right now

That's what I paid for my AC50 at petco and I'm still using the same biomedia and sponge (no carbon), just rinse out from time to time with tank water after a PWC. If you rinse in tap water, you kill the bacteria.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium Advice App

 

[Humanis1993]

Yeah I got the aquatech from walmart so that if it breaks I'll just buy another one and return the broken one pretending it's the new one I don't want.

 

[doogle]

aqua clear 50....penn plax 300 cascade is $35 and has 4.5oz of carbon in a huge single filter($2 each) with bio sponges.4-stage filtration,enough room to have media options and a water regulation(rated for 100g tank). aqua clear is a great filter, i like them better than my penguin 350. you can use the aqua-tech filters in the penguin. i like media options and aquaclear has it and a better sponge, i hate blue filter fiber, it clogs too fast.also fluval makes a 5 stage aquaclear lookalike