lol I know Ive had tons of tanks for 20 years or so but havnt had one running for about 3 years now, got used to the quite, hope I can go back lol.calioutlaw1a;4960515; said:
What HOB filter is the BEST??
- Thread starter Jonny Steele
- Start date
Aquaclear is the best HOB I've ever had. Not tried the Fluvals, but AC is made by Hagen. I love the large chamber room for biomedia in the AC's it's the closest to a canister you can find. I always cut the sponges in half lengthwise like this |-----| and only use one half for mech, and the rest of the space for biomedia. Great for big messy carnivores or waste-machine goldfish.
If you want quiet, and that's the most important to you, then look for a used Eheim, I just picked up a used 2217 for $50 and it's the quietest filter I own.
Here's what I have (and I'm currently phasing out all of the "biowheel" filters, they just aren't economical/efficient with those filter pad cartridges)
90 gallon - sump running 840 gph
- 2x AC 70's
125 gallon - FX5
- Penguin330 (this was the old filter for seeding the new AC110)
- AC110
58 planted - Penguin 350 (being replaced with the Eheim 2217)
58 brackish - Fluval 405
30 gallon - Penguin 200 (I'm doing away with this tank entirely, and upgrading it to
a 58 when I get the brackish fish into the 75 gallon)
Anyway, canisters and AC's are my favorite filters. They may not be the quietest, but get the job done and AC's are very easy to maintain vs. canisters.
If you want quiet, and that's the most important to you, then look for a used Eheim, I just picked up a used 2217 for $50 and it's the quietest filter I own.
Here's what I have (and I'm currently phasing out all of the "biowheel" filters, they just aren't economical/efficient with those filter pad cartridges)
90 gallon - sump running 840 gph
- 2x AC 70's
125 gallon - FX5
- Penguin330 (this was the old filter for seeding the new AC110)
- AC110
58 planted - Penguin 350 (being replaced with the Eheim 2217)
58 brackish - Fluval 405
30 gallon - Penguin 200 (I'm doing away with this tank entirely, and upgrading it to
a 58 when I get the brackish fish into the 75 gallon)
Anyway, canisters and AC's are my favorite filters. They may not be the quietest, but get the job done and AC's are very easy to maintain vs. canisters.
I agree ac110s are easy to use and easier to adapt. I use mine as strict bio. Just cram em with scrubbies
ballinouttacntrol;4960543; said:emperors are 26 bucks on big al....aquaclear110 is 27.........
Granted, the penguin is only 13 bucks, the price implies it's a piece of junk
Damn, you must have never owned one...no problem though, lots of unaccurate info floating around this forum...
I have several of these running and I have never had a single problem with them. I bought mine when bigals was selling for $15. Dont mind the haters. Some people believe if you don't overpay for it its not any good. Ballins' review is about as good as his price quotes. The Penguin 350 IS the best " BANG FOR YOUR BUCK" filter hands down. .As stated earlier, the best performing HOB simply depends on how much you are willing to spend. Of course an AC110 will outperform the Penguin 350 ...but take into consideration the price difference.
I'm in no way what-so-ever bashing the AC110 either, they are absolutely awesome. All I am saying is...Lets say I have a 75 gallon tank that needs filtration and I want to use a HOB filter to handle it. I would choose 3 Penguin 350s before I choose one AC110 if tank length permited.
v3n0m;4966633; said:
The penguins have a design flaw though and that is that the bio wheel is spun by water after it has flowed through the filter. This has 2 down sides. The first is that as the fillter gets slowly clogged the wheels spins slower and slower and sometimes stops and kills the bacteria colony. The second is that the water flowing over the biowheel is filtered water so ammonia has already been partly removed by the bacteria in the filter so the bacteria colony on the bio wheels is limited. The emperors have this problem solved as the wheels are turned by the unfiltered water pumped through spray bars. I never worry about my emperor 400 where my penguin I was always checking the bio wheel. I like my emporer but the aquaclears and fluvals IMO though cannot be beat as far as HOB media capacity goes.
Im alittle surprised no one has mentioned Magnum HOTs. I used two of them before I went to a canister and they are awesome filters IMO. They were easy to clean and use, its almost like having a canister filter but it hangs on the tank.
Aquaclear are nice, we used alot of them at the store I worked at, same with the Emperor 400s, but i Hate those things so I would not recommend them. AC seem to work well, arent terribly loud and last a long time. Only thing i wasnt a big fan of was that goofy overflow pattern thing, most of the time it would just clog up with junk and the water just flowed over it, making splash noises and annoying me.
Aquaclear are nice, we used alot of them at the store I worked at, same with the Emperor 400s, but i Hate those things so I would not recommend them. AC seem to work well, arent terribly loud and last a long time. Only thing i wasnt a big fan of was that goofy overflow pattern thing, most of the time it would just clog up with junk and the water just flowed over it, making splash noises and annoying me.
