penguin 350 or 400

[Planetnicolas]

I could get a penguin 400 for 80 us gallons for 60 dollars for my 75 gallon


or penguin 350 for 40 dollars for 70 gallons how ever I could buy two penguin 350 for 80 then I would have 140 gallons of filtration



what should I do?

 

[komodo182]

for my 70 I have 2 emperor 400's ( I believe that is what you mean by penguin 400) and I love them.
On my 55 I have 1 emperor 400 and one penguin 350. I like the emperor 400's much better because of the spray bar.
Emperor 400's are my favorite HOB filter.

 

[Planetnicolas]

yeah I did mean emperor my bad... hmmm

o ill look into the emperor 400's more ill have to buy two cant let anyone have more filtration than myself.. mwhahaha

 

[KaiserSousay]

Look
http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp19169/si1379661/cl0/marinelandpenguin350bpowerfilter

The big difference between the Emp and Penguin is the way the bio wheel is driven.
I happen to like the Penguin just because of the way they have used the return flow of the filter to drive the wheels.
No extra connections or tubes, just the water going out of the filter.

 

[komodo182]

Everyone will have different opinions. I personally like the emperors because they have teh spray bar which means the biowheels will not stop turning.

Also, The emperors come with a grey cartridge that you can put whatever you want in. I added Biomax so I have more bio media instead of carbon like it is suggested to be used for.
So what I have in my emperors is the carbon sponge stuff (mechanial and somewhat chemical) followed by biomax and then biowheels.

I don`t know what more someone could want in a HOB filter

 

[TaylorD]

Yuppers.. Gonna Agree with Komodo here.. There is a price diff. close to $10.00

Personally I hate HOB filters, however on my 125 I do currently run two Emp.400's, along with an XP3.

Don't get me wrong, Komodo brings up a VERY valid point.. Everyone will ALWAYS have there own opinion. With the 350, sure you do have less parts to play with, an sure that can be a good thing.

However with the 400, like mentioned before you do have the spray bar, that you personally can control, setting the speed of how many rotations the actual bio-wheel will spin, rather then the 350 where your leaving it up to the water movement leaving the filter. I HAVE seen that you have to keep an eye on the 350's to continue to check if the wheel is moving, otherwise killing off the beneficial bacteria.

On that note, with the extra cartridge in the 400, as komodo mentioned, you have the option to add pretty much whatever you want. In his and my case, BioMax. You could just add another blue sponge/carbon.

Also, it is larger.. you will always have MORE water housed in the tray at any given time.

For me it was an easy decision. For close to $10.00 I know I am getting the better filter (personal). I never have to worry about the wheel, I have better Bio filtration, and more water capacity.

It's both you coin, and your tank.
Run what you wish.

I hope this helps.

Taylor

 

[jimmygoogots]

just bought a 400 myself for my 55, excited to see how it does. good info guys. good thread.

 

[TaylorD]

just bought a 400 myself for my 55, excited to see how it does. good info guys. good thread.

Good to read Jim..

When you do have it all setup and ready to go, set your spray bar so that the rotations on the bio-wheel are as slow as possible, not a spinning spitting spraying blur.. lol (sure its fun to watch, lol) ,BUT the more time the wheel is actually IN the water, the more ben.bact. is submerged..

 

[komodo182]

Another advantage of the marineland series is the media for it is much cheaper than other filters.

 

[v3n0m]

I have both filters, and I personally believe the 350 is the better buy, big als is selling them for 14.99, so you could buy like 3 of them for what youd pay for 1 emp400. 1 on 1, Id say the emp 400 takes the cake, especially in the media options department...but 3- 350s definatly beats one emp400.