HOB's

Hello,

I've always been a fan of the Emperor 400 HOB but over time they seem to become a little noisy. I've also seen people who are fans of the AC.

Is there a general opinion between these two filters? I'm wanting to filter a 125g low tech planted tank in the living room so noise is a concern, but of course efficient filtration is #1.

Thanks for your opinions!

I like my canisters for planted and are essentially silent

I like AC's more than Emperors. The 6 AC110's I used all made a splashing noise when the water level got too close to the return lip. About 1/2" and below, they were silent.

That being said, I've gone back to using powerheads on sponge filters and will be selling all the AC's. Totally silent, no priming and (most importantly) the tank can be completely covered for jumpers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jeep

Hello,

I've always been a fan of the Emperor 400 HOB but over time they seem to become a little noisy. I've also seen people who are fans of the AC.

Is there a general opinion between these two filters? I'm wanting to filter a 125g low tech planted tank in the living room so noise is a concern, but of course efficient filtration is #1.

Thanks for your opinions!

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I've no experience with the Emperor HOB, but have used AC 110's on several fairly large discus tanks over the years, and have not experienced any particular noise issues to speak of.
So long as these HOB's are well maintained, with the motor assemblies regularly cleaned, and the water surface level in your tank is maintained near/close to the water outflow from the filter, (to prevent splashing noise) these filters operate very quietly.
(If the filter cover vibrates at any time, simply grease it up a bit with Vaseline, or remove it entirely.)

2 AC 110's should nicely handle the filtration on your 125 low tech tank.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Adam S

I like AC's more than Emperors. The 6 AC110's I used all made a splashing noise when the water level got too close to the return lip. About 1/2" and below, they were silent.

That being said, I've gone back to using powerheads on sponge filters and will be selling all the AC's. Totally silent, no priming and (most importantly) the tank can be completely covered for jumpers.

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Got a pic of the powerhead/spongefilter combo?

I used to use AC and they are great filters but I recently switched over to using tetra whispers. I use the 60 model and I'm really liking it. I use the filter cartridge frame but use poly-fil sheets to wrap around the frame and secure with some staples. The poly-fill does an excellent job of polishing the water and provides plenty of area for bacteria. Once a week I dunk the whole diy cartridge in aquarium waste water and bang them on the side of the bucket to get most of the gunk out of them. I thought I would be replacing the poly-fil every couple weeks but it holds up really well. I have only replaced the poly-fil sheet on one cartridge in the past 6 months. That is out of four of these filters for a total of 8 cartridges. I stopped using AC because I had one with a bad impeller and another that was just noisy (probably also a bad impeller). You can get a tetra 60 for about $29 on amazon with free shipping, but I think they are on sale on amazon for 22 right now.

They are also easy to turn the flow completely off for feeding time and they have a lot more wiggle room with water level and noise.

Thanks for the input. My noise concern specifically is the impeller. Over time, they seem to rattle even with cleaning. I'm using a 400 on a 46 bow in my living room at the moment, and even though I have grown accustom to the noise, I don't think adding 2 more will be something I look forward to listening to, lol...

:bandana: I run 2 A/C500s (yes they are that old lol) on my 125g along w/ the XP4 & 2075. The HOBs are work horses. I think I damaged an impellor about 10 years ago but other than that no worries. Got sponges in one & bags of Seachem Matrix & De-Nitrate in the other. "T"