filter for 39gal

[Keeper]

looks like we are going to purchase yet another tank . Just wondering which filter would work the best. It will be a non-planted tank. I have used the aqua-clears before and was looking at either the 200 or 300 series. Just wondering if anyone has any info/advice on this or other filters for this size tank. I see alot of people using the bio-wheels yet I know little about them. Any info would help.

Thanks

 

[JoeMomma]

I haven't used that large of a tank, but I have used a bio-wheel and they are great. It would be really good to try the 330 because of the dual cartridge and wheel system.

 

[flipz]

I too am using a pengiun biowheel, and the 330 is great with the dual output. personally i don't have complaints, and it works a lot better than my whisper ever did. anything floating in the water that even gets remotely close to the intake tube is sucked right up. things would float right past my whisper. and also the pengiun had enough room for me to stick the new carbon filter, and my old one from my whisper in there, to keep all the good bacteria. and the biowheel keeps it all safe anytime you need to switch out the bacteria or anything like that.

hope that helps

-brent

edit: i wanted to add that even with the intake being much more powerful than my whisper, i have never had any problems with it being TOO powerful. granted i don't have any small fish. my smallest being a 2.5" (approx) puffer. but he isn't the best swimmer. haha. and he's never been unintentially stuck to the filter. i say unintentially because he actually seems to like randomly rubbing up and down on it. i catch him doing it once a week or so.

 

[Cichlidguy]

The aquaclear and penguin are just as good as each other, its just a matter of personal preference.

 

[Menagerie]

For my tanks, 29 gal and higher, there are canister filters. They are so quiet and the cats can't drink out of the tanks as easily

 

[tmurphy171]

I switched from a Whisper to a penguin 330 after two days. I really like the 330 but a week after I purchased it at PetCo, I found it online for half the price. Ouch! Hindsight is 20/20 but I think if I knew then what I know now I would have purchased a Emperor 400 which still would have been less money purchased online (Big Al's) then what I paid for the penguin Double Ouch!! Don't know much about the AC.

 

[Overstocker]

Aquaclear 300 is the way to go, imho (from Big Al's)

 

[LAGlocker]

I like the canister filters myself. The ehiem or magnums, or any of those, thats what I would go for.

 

[madasafish]

I've got 2 Penguin 330s and 1 Emperor 400. I really prefer the emperor because of its spray bar. If the media get clogged up, the biowheels continue to turn because the spray bar gets its water separately from the main intake. This is a great way not to lose your biofilter!

 

[madasafish]

Oh, and I think it's pretty much a consensus on this site that the Marineland Biowheels (e.g. Penguin, Emperor) are superior to Aquaclears. No offense, Overstocker.

 

[Cichlidguy]

Consensus? I think not. The aquaclear has tons of supporters here.

 

[tmurphy171]

I've got 2 Penguin 330s and 1 Emperor 400. I really prefer the emperor because of its spray bar. If the media get clogged up, the biowheels continue to turn because the spray bar gets its water separately from the main intake. This is a great way not to lose your biofilter!

Besides the spray bar on the Emperor. what the difference in the filter pads between the penguin and the Emperor?