Switching from a top fin to Emperor 400?

My Top Fin 75 filter hasn't been working very well (It flows fine but half of the water comes out the middle and not through the cartridges, even when the cartridges were brand new before cycling) so I'm thinking about switching to an Emperor 400 Pro Series Bio-wheel Power Filter. I've heard that it's one of the best power filters, and it sounds perfect for my 55 gallon. It's slightly larger than the top fin, so I was going to use the filter cartridges I have now to either use or transfer over bacteria, since I don't want to break my cycle.However, I'm worried that because the emperor has both the cartridge and bio wheel that that wouldn't work and my cycle would break... What do you guys think? Is there a specific procedure when changing filters? Thanks in advance.

 

What size tank? AquaClears are the best HOB filter, I suggest you spend a bit more money on AquaClears which can last a decade.

 

What size tank? AquaClears are the best HOB filter, I suggest you spend a bit more money on AquaClears which can last a decade.

Every piece of an aquaclear is available too as replacement parts.

 

As long as you put all of the media from your current filter into the new one you should be fine!!

 

The Emperor's are good as a second filter to help the main filter. If you are just going to use one filter I would go with a Aquaclear 70 or 110.

 

What size tank? AquaClears are the best HOB filter, I suggest you spend a bit more money on AquaClears which can last a decade.

The tank is 55 gallons... Would a Aquaclear 70 or 110 be better? I really have good heard good things about the emperor but I'm worried about the cartridges being established and the bio wheels not being established... Also, I've heard the aquaclears are very small, and I don't know if my established cartridges would fit :/

 

The tank is 55 gallons... Would a Aquaclear 70 or 110 be better? I really have good heard good things about the emperor but I'm worried about the cartridges being established and the bio wheels not being established... Also, I've heard the aquaclears are very small, and I don't know if my established cartridges would fit :/

I don't know who told you they were small but you should fire them as an advisor. Once of the best thinks about Aquaclear filters is the amount of room in them for media, they don't use cartridges.
If you can, spend the money and get a 110, don't use the carbon media and you should have room to seed the biomax.

 

The tank is 55 gallons... Would a Aquaclear 70 or 110 be better? I really have good heard good things about the emperor but I'm worried about the cartridges being established and the bio wheels not being established... Also, I've heard the aquaclears are very small, and I don't know if my established cartridges would fit :/

The bio Wheels not yet being established is not an issue. If you put the media from the current filter into the new one, it would be the same amount of beneficial bacteria whether the wheel was established or not.... does that make sense?

But if you want to spend a little more to get the AquaClear that's not a bad choice either. I have way too many tanks to afford an AquaClear on all of them. I have a couple AquaClears but most of my filters are Marineland bio Wheels.

 

For a 55 gallon that is mediocre to heavily stock or going to be stock I recommend the AC 110. I have a 40 breeder and using the 110. For HOBs the gph should be at least 9x the tank size. As mentioned above AquaClears are famous for how much room they have for media. I suggest not using the Activated Carbon since that is usually use for taking out medicine and clearing the water(when its dirty dirty). What is your stocking for your 55?

 

My stock is 2 blood parrots, 1 angelfish, 2 glass cats, 1 red Iranian rainbow, 6 mollies (I'm hoping to rehome some of them), and 1 twig catfish. I wanted to stay with the carbon filters for a few months to help the water from getting dyed by a piece of mopanI wood that was recently added. Do you think I could run both the filter I have now and the new filter I end up getting? Or maybe a powerhead with the new one?