Marineland penguin 200gph filter? Y/N

I have a marineland penguin bio-wheel 200 gph filter for my 20 gal tank, but I was wondering what your thoughts were about them??

THUMBS UP???
or
THUMBS DOWN???

 

+1, but the cartridge might slow down te flow and make the bio-wheel stop spinning

 

I have one as a second filter and I like it. With the biowheel, it's great for putting on a new tank to get it cycled.

 

I like them. Rather than using the replaceable cartridges, I buy blue bonded filter pads and cut them to fit. I don't feel the need to use carbon, so I think buying the replacement cartridges is a wast, and using the filter pad is a lot cheaper.

 

That's exactly what I do. Cartridges are overpriced and unnecessary.

 

I had a couple of them - I used the aquaclear sponges for media. They're okay, but I think the biowheel is largely ineffectual on the penguins. The emperors are a different story - the spraybar that spins the wheel comes from the intake, which is prefiltered. The water that spins the penguin wheel is the outflow.....which has already gone through the filter......so how much ammonia do you think there is in the water that's coming out of the filter? Shouldn't be any.

I was not impressed with them, but they are far from worst filters I've used.