Cuthahotha

Dear FishLore,

I had planned on using a fluval 304 canister filter until i actually saw one. TOO TALL. The area I can put it in isn't high enough for the filter and won't allow me access without a great chance of tipping the thing over when cleaning. So back to the drawing board.

My only other option looks to be HOB, or UG with reverse flow power heads.

I'm leaning toward the HOB. Now the question. Assume a 50 gallon tank.

BIO Wheel, or not to BIO Wheel? I saw a dual bio wheel Penguin last night. Now i understand from reading all the great articles here, that it's best to have a filter with 2 sets of medium. So that you can change/clean one, while the other works.

If that's the case, does it make any sense to look at having 2 single HOB. Downside, 2 things to break. Upside, redundancy in case one breaks. From what I could tell at the store, a single is just about 1/2 the cost of the bigger double, so the cost would be a wash.

I know one of the knocks on the HOB is that the outflow is on top of the intake. Having a 2 of them would help to spread out the filtration wouldn't?

Signed Lost In CA

Fishies-for-me

Personally I like the aqua clear filters...they have seperate media so if you do have to change one you can leave the others...no cartridges to mess with. You can remove the carbon and add an extra sponge..lots of room for extra sponges for seeding new tanks...quiet..powerful. Comes with a sponges for bio and mechanical filtration...carbon for chemical filtration and ceramic media for extra bio filtration...good luck with whatever you choose

Dino

Actually with a 50 gallon, 2 filter makes more sense.
This keeps any dead water movement zones from developing.

I personally like Aquaclears, which allow you to use what ever filter media you choose.
I personally do not like biowheels.
I would also skip the UG.

If your tank has proper maintainance, it should not matter that one is still running while the other is being cleaned.

Hope this helps.

Cuthahotha

Thanks, yes, helps a lot. AquaClears seems to have a great reputation around here. Sounds like the right way to go. I do think I'll go with 2 of the 30s. Just kind of makes sense. 2 of the 10-30s is only $10 more than 1 of the 30-70s.

Speedy

Hi Cuthahotha
Are you just interested in the hanging filter type? If so I also like the AquaClears and the penguins they both are good hanging filters. I also saw that you where interested in the fluval have you looked at the rena filstar or the Eheim both excellent filters but are more money the rena isn't too bad but the Eheim is expensive. The rena looks not as tall as the Eheim. I hope this helps.

Cuthahotha

Thanks Speedy. It does help. But I think for now, going to make a decision for this tank and just go with it. From what I can tell, the HOB AquaClear or Penguins are both good choices, as well as the canisters. As long as I'm not making a huge mistake, then I'll be happy with the decision.

Thanks,

PetSmart

AC110 (Rated 500 gallons per hour)

You can find a website with those for $50..print that and bring to petsmart to pricematch a normally $90 filter down fourty bucks.
One of the best filters out there, in my opinion.


http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...6173&catid=115

Speedy

Good luck. Well if you choose one of those filters I think you will be happy with any of them.