Penn Plax Cascade 200 on a 40 breeder

Hi all,
I have a 40 gallon breeder tank with two fancy goldfish. Right now I just have sponge filters, which is less filtration than I want. After careful consideration I've decided to get a Penn Plax Cascade (please don't try to change my mind and tell me to get an Aquaclear or something, I'm set on the Penn Plax), but I don't know whether the 200 will work on my tank. Will it fit? Filter enough? I will be adjusting it for better filtration capacity (adding pre-filter sponges, filling it with ceramic bio-rings).
Also side note: does anyone know if the intake tube is roughly the same size as one on an Aquaclear 20-50?

 

Do you plan on keeping the sponge filters? I think I would go up to the 300. Especially since it’s only a 2 dollar difference on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Penn-Plax-Cascade-Aquarium-Filtration/dp/B0002DJ82G?th=1&psc=1

I’ll try to find something about tube size.

 

I run 2 penn-plax Cascade 300 HOB's on my 55 gallon tank. They have lots of room for media. To be perfectly honest I would go ahead and go with the 300 instead of the 200. You will need a 11 1/2" wide opening for it to fit your tank. The 200 will be a bit narrower but since I've never had one of the 200's I don't know how wide they are.

You can never have too much filtration. Too much water movement is possible but never too much filtration. With these filters you can easily control the flow. I actually run one on my 10 gallon pleco grow out tank.

I can't answer your last question as I've never had an aqua clear. I have modified the uptake tubes on my filters to get the tube closer to the bottom of my 21" deep tank. Over the years I've collected a lot of spare parts so just looked in the and found tubes and connectors I could use.

 

Do you plan on keeping the sponge filters? I think I would go up to the 300. Especially since it’s only a 2 dollar difference on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Penn-Plax-Cascade-Aquarium-Filtration/dp/B0002DJ82G?th=1&psc=1

Okay, I'll do that. And yes, I'm planning on keeping one of the sponge filters and the airstone.

I run 2 penn-plax Cascade 300 HOB's on my 55 gallon tank. They have lots of room for media. To be perfectly honest I would go ahead and go with the 300 instead of the 200. You will need a 11 1/2" wide opening for it to fit your tank. The 200 will be a bit narrower but since I've never had one of the 200's I don't know how wide they are.

You can never have too much filtration. Too much water movement is possible but never too much filtration. With these filters you can easily control the flow. I actually run one on my 10 gallon pleco grow out tank.

I can't answer your last question as I've never had an aqua clear. I have modified the uptake tubes on my filters to get the tube closer to the bottom of my 21" deep tank. Over the years I've collected a lot of spare parts so just looked in the and found tubes and connectors I could use.

11 1/2 inch opening? I was planning on putting it on the side anyways because there's only about 3/4 of an inch of space between the tank and the wall, but 11 1/2 inches????

 

I can find measurements on the ac, but the the cascade to compare them. I can say that the ac70 and cascade 300 have the same flow rate of 300gph, so I assume that their intakes would be very similar in size.

 

Okay, I'll do that. And yes, I'm planning on keeping one of the sponge filters and the airstone.

11 1/2 inch opening? I was planning on putting it on the side anyways because there's only about 3/4 of an inch of space between the tank and the wall, but 11 1/2 inches????

It isn't 11 1/2 inch deep. But yes, it is that wide. You only need 4" to install it between wall and tank but since you are going to run it on the end of your tank that part isn't as important. As long as your tank is at least that wide from front to back this filter will fit.