filter for 55-60gallon

[blaze]

yesh its me again humbling seeking generous your advice from your vast knowledge (yes i will kiss *** for my discus)

I'll be making 4footer soon, & I would like a few suggestion for filters ie types/brands/models/ ect.

[Carol_Roberts]

I use one aqua clear 500 on that size tank. I put two sponges inside and a prefilter sponge on the water intake tube.

[ReeferKimberly]

i kinda like the power filters. i have a penguin bio-wheel 330 and also a hydro sponge in a 55 gallon. sometimes i skimp on the water changes for a few days. the filter takes good care of the tank.
kimberly :-*

[Carol_Roberts]

Nothing takes the place of daily water changes

[blaze]

Don't worry Carol I wasn't thinking of ditching W/C , daily is gonna be hectic, but my babies are worth it.

I know alot of ppl like Aquaclear, but whats ur opinion on WHISPERS series by Tetra/Secondnature... damm they have discontioned the '4' & '5' models, but I can probably still get a Whisper5 out here.
Along with a spongefilter or 2.

I'm still open to suggestions ;D

[Carol_Roberts]

Any kind of hang on the back power filter will work. Don't waste your money on the carbon filled floss pads. Just buy sponges to fit inside. Aquaclears are inexpensive, easy to clean and hold big sponges. I prefer the AquaClear to the Emperor. I've never used a Whisper 5 . . . . it may be just as good.

[ReeferKimberly]

oh no, i didn't mean the filter is better then the water changes. but sometimes in my busy life i don't do a wc for a few days, and imo a better filter will obviously be better in that situation than a crappy one.
kimberly :-*

[DarkDiscus]

Blaze,

I used to have a few Whispers in the late 80s and early 90s, but determined they had a design flaw in the impeller - they may have fixed this problem by now - but what happened was that when there was a power outage the impellers would stick and the filters would not start right up again and had to be primed.

I used to lose power a lot with brown outs, etc. or storms and if I wasn't home, the filters would be off for hours... I've never had that happen with the AC filters.

John

[fcdiscus]

My favorite hang on filter is the Penguin 330 with cartridges from petsolutions that have their own floss only refills. I clean these every day or two, and the bio wheels seem to help. I would also use two Hydro Spnge#4s in a tank this size. Frank 8)

[henryD]

I have had whisper in the past and always ending up doing some repairs. The impeller was notorious for going every 4 months. They were very bad. In fact if you look around there is alot of LFS selling replacement parts. I gave up after a couple of months and have never bought a whisper since. Their air pumps where really quite but not very durable.

I have had both the aquaclears and the penguins. There are advantage to both.

Aquaclear....

Cheap. Easy to clean. Sponges are readily availible. Can add an extra sponge for additional filters.

Marineland

A litle more expensive. You have to make your own sponge filter. I find that they are a little easier to clean than the aqua. The biowheel are great for moving to other filters but your limited to the amount. The best benefit is that if your power goes out your bacteria is not sitting inside of the water.

Either way I don\t think you will go wrong with either.

The best prices I found so far are at www.bigalsonline.com.

PS. The comparable model to the AC500 is the Emperor 400.

[GWdiscus]

I really like the Millennium wet/dry filters. They come with a carbon filled cartridge but I dumped that because of all the carbon issues I've read about here and put in two aquaclear 300 sponges. It works great and I like the wet/dry idea. They do have a small amount of background noise from the air intake that is used to give the bacteria a source of air, but it doesn't bother me or anyone else in my family (in fact no one else has said a thing about it).

[blaze]

guess i got lucky with my Whishers , 1year plus and still no problem .
Generally AQUAPLUS are cheaper everywhere (& i like them), but i can get Whispers Cheaper in Jamaica [contacts ) A local supermarket sell them cheaper than the LPS 8)

i still an greedy for ur comments though

[Kap]

The Emperor 400 works great- it is quiet, easily handles my 50g tank, even on the lowest flow setting. You can keep the bio-wheels going while stopping the main filter, and this is great for feeding as stuff is not strewn around everywhere. BUT the unit is a bear to clean. It is big and bulky and I may have missed it but the motor seems fused to the unit, so you cannot put the whole thing in a tub to clean it. It does come with a nice brush, and most things come apart and are easy to put together. The filter "pads" are expensive so I use the cheap blue/white material after trimming off the old filter material from the black-plastic stock filters and removing the carbon. I place the new stuff between two of the black (not gray) plastic holders, and we are set to go. All JMO/experience for about 9 mos w/ the unit now.

[Shari]

Before I got my Eheims I'de been using the Emperor 400 for years on that size tank.
Never any problems at all - except clean the impeller assembly well when you clean as I've had gunk merge into tank 'after' I thought I had rinsed it all enough. That parts a little tricky- but they hold up for years and only one moving part is great!!
Fosters/Smith carries the 400 for about $45 - compared to $80 at the stores.

[blaze]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm head spinning, keep the good stuff comming please, :blockhead:.
seriously what ever i choose . u'll be the first to know .
Thanks for all your help
anyway water change time :