46 Gallon Filter options

[PK Tester]

Hey all...I believe it has been settled that I will be going with a 46 gallon hex from oceanic...

Im thinking of going with ... one

Marineland Penguin BIO-Wheel 330

would this be a enough?

My other option (I would really not like to spend this much)

is a canister filter...either a fluval 304 or RENA Filstar XP 2 Canister Filter

or an Eheim Filter 2213 - Plus Kit...they are all in $80 range...but the Marineland Penguin 330 is nice because its only in the $30 range.

I have never worked with a canister filter before...


I really would like to go with the powerfilter if at all possible to keep the cost down...

What do you guys think?

[SerLunchbox]

Go filter ... i have an ehiem 2213 cannister for my 50 gallon and it is the best thing since sliced bread. They are fairly simple to work ... just clean it once a month and you are good to go. Then again, that is what works for me. The emperor 330 is nice, but the bio-load in the tank may be too much for it, plus the bio wheel has to become mature for it to be fully effective (that means cycling your tank for about a month or more). That is just my opinion.

[PK Tester]

Scracth the penguin

I mean to put the emperor bio-wheel 400

How limited would my bioload be on with an emperor 400??

Also would a 275 or 300 wat heater be fine for this?

Sometimes the room where the aquarium is going to go can be colder...so I want a bigger heater.

[gheitman]

I have the Penguin BIO-Wheel 330 on my 30 gallon tank and it would be more than adequate for a 46 gallon tank. I found it online at www.thatpetplace.com for just over $20. I just saw on their website that Marineland has just started shipping the Penguin 350B that is replacing the 330. I'm not sure what the differences between the two are. There is no mention of the new filter on Marineland's website. Here is a link to a review I wrote of the 330.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/review...cat=500&page=1

I hope this helps. If you are going to do a planted tank with CO2 injection then I would recommend going with a canister filter instead. The reason is that with CO2 injection you want to minimize the gas exchange at the surface and the 2 BIO-Wheels on the 330 are designed to maximize gas exchange to aid in the growth of aerobic bacteria.

[PK Tester]

I plan to do a planted but a low light...with no co2...My other tanks wich are low light do fine with the power filters...it saves me SO much money this way...

[gheitman]

I would recommend going with 2 150W heaters so that you can put one on either side of your tank. That will provide more even heating of the water and some redundancy in case one of the heaters fails.

[Newbneedshelp]

I would do a combo of a power and a small canister. Like a Filstar XP1 and a Penguin 330. But i like alot of filtration. HTH.

[PK Tester]

gheitman,

Do you know if Marineland's visi-therm heaters can sit horizontal or vertical?

Thanks

[gheitman]

I haven't used them but I don't see why not. Submersible heaters can be oriented pretty much any direction. I use Tronic heaters from Hagen myself because there are heater guards available for them. This protects the heaters from rocks and protects my cories from burning themselves on the heaters.