Aqua Clear or Emperor

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
get the big ac500 or 110 model wichever it is now. Throw the carbon sack in a cabnet forget about it buy a second ac 500 spong throw both of them in the filter and u got 500 GPH threw duble sponges.

On them old crappy emp[s and pings throw the baskets and cartridges out buy 2 ac200 or ac300 spongs and one ac500 sponge
cut the ac500 sponge in half stick half in ech side of the ping 330 then take the ac200 sponge and place beside the half of ac500 spong to take up the slack.


Ac 500 best dam bang for the money and they never die
 
WckedMidas said:
get the big ac500 or 110 model wichever it is now. Throw the carbon sack in a cabnet forget about it buy a second ac 500 spong throw both of them in the filter and u got 500 GPH threw duble sponges.
Click to expand...

That's how mine is on my 190g :thumbsup: But I also have a wet/dry for bio
 
I love my AC filters. I just acquired a penquin 350B and love it as well.
The good thing about BigAl's is that they often have free shipping if you spend
more than $50. I also happen to like Petsolutions.com
They arre both very competitive. Petsolutions is better at delivering products
in a timely manner. :headbang2


BBOY
 
RTCatz said:
Aqua clear fo sho. Check out petco.com I think they're on sale right now. What is so special about big al's?
Click to expand...

Well...yesterday the AC 110 was $37.99 at Big Al's and $53.99 at Petco. That makes Big Al's pretty special in my book. :ROFL:

Heres a breakdown as of yesterday...(all online)

BigAls...37.99
Petsmart...39.99
Aquariumguys...42.99
aquatichouse...48.99
petco...53.99
petswarehouse...64.98
aquaextraordinaire...65.99

And for *****s and giggles at Petsmart in Paducah Ky. the 110 is $71.99.

You guy's list a few more online stores...I just hit a few.

Slam
 
I've got one of each on my 125g cichlid tank. I'll echo the above poster and go with the emperor for biological, and aquaclear for mechanical. I would take the filter for whichever of those needs is highest. Overall, I like the emperor better though.

Regarding the aquaclear, I've found it to be a little overrated with all the hype it gets. Granted, its a great filter, but it is not leaps and bounds better than the emp. I strongly disagree that cleaning the aquaclear is easier. Cleaning time for the emperor is actually just as fast and much less messy. For the emp, I stuff the four grey media trays with cut poly fill and its done. A 2.49 bag of rolled polyfil lasts me around 10 cleaning cycles or so. If you are concerned about the costs, then I will concede that the aquaclear wins, since you are going to need to buy replacement polyfil, whereas those sponges can be reused a ton.

The aquaclear requires getting wet in order to rinse the sponge out. You can rinse the sponge in a few seconds and be done, but if you want it really clean its going to take a minute or two of squeezing. Also, the sponge does not seem to absorb as much waste as polyfil. I would recommend running a sponge topped with some polyfil on top for fine filtering, which is what I do and am happy with. That said, the aquaclear clearly powers more water through and is quieter.

Both are huge, so if your tank is located in an area where you view from the back as well, you may want a canister for aesthetic purposes.
 
as mentioned above dont no how u feal about haveing to buy replaceable cartridges but they get costly after a while
also when cleaning the spongesxz in a ac500 when u run two spongs only clean the bottom one them move the top one down to the bottom and clean one on top

The pings and emps with cartridges every tiem u replace the cartridge the bio media cycles were as the ac500 one sponges keeps the benifical bacteria it needs while the other one is getting primed
 
Im in complete agreement with Toxic. an Id also like to add that you might want to add a pre filter Sponge to the Intake of the AC110s like I have. Keeps alotve food from getting sucked into the filter.
 
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