Hey, Folks, first post!
And, on an old thread, yet...
Anyway, have kept tanks for many years, usually with an eheim canister. On my daughter's small tank I used an Aquaclear HOB, and was always impressed with how fast it would clear up the tank after a cleaning, and was able to keep up with messy goldfish in a small 10G tank.
I don't want to start yet another Bio-wheel vs AC debate, so hear me out.
I recently set up a 38G starter tank for some small koi, and my Dad recommended a Penguin 200 bio-wheel, so I tried it. Well, I liked the wheel, but hated the cartridge system -- not very versatile, not nearly as easy to convert to the filtration you want, IMHO.
I brought the penguin back and got an Aquaclear 70, and have been running well. As a (former) design engineer and tinkerer, started thinking... I really like the idea of the bio-wheel, but want the wet filtration of the AC, too. So, using spare clips and a spare wheel that I shortened, I added a bio-wheel mod to the AC70. As I figured, I wasn't the first to try this -- Chile did it back in 2004, and maybe others before him.
Mine is a bit simpler, as it just runs using the water current running out of the filter and not a spraybar. It'll take a while to start working, too, as I just started it last night.
I may try something like Chili's setup on an AC110, tho, since I need to get my son's giant oscar moved to a larger tank sometime soon, so we'll see!
Great forum, I'm already learning a lot!
Thanks for listening, as they say...
Scottie
Fill your tank water level up and no more noise. The Emperor Series does not make water noise like the Penguin Series. There are alternative options to media beside Marineland media cartridge. AC is nice but brittle plastic and have heard some stories of leaking due to lack of filter maintainance.
