Penguin 350 Biowheel With Aquaclear Type Media, Whats Your Oppinion?

murphyk32 · Mar 24, 2008

Ok so basically my friend jsut got an aquaclear 50 powerfilter, i noticed they have large media inserts rather then these cheap a** pads u need to replace weekly or biweekly, and liked it. I also like my penguin biowheel 350. I noticed the media for his aquaclear 50 would almost perfectly fit into the penguin 350's baskets when the pads were taken out.. wondering what your oppinion on that idea is..

Thanks guys, i wont be on till this time tmrw but plz reply

Kenny

smmetz · Mar 25, 2008

Good idea, but I'm not sure it would work. I could be wrong though

My concern is that the water flow would be less, and a lot of water would just go over the sponge. The AQ50 pumps water under the sponge, and it has no place else to go but through it and out the filter tub. Also, if you fill up the tub with the AQ50 sponge, there would not be a lot of surface area for the water to flow through. The thin cartridges allow for a space behind it for water to get to all parts of the rear of the cartridge, to allow a lot of surface area on the intake side of the filter. Filling that space with a sponge would make a much smaller area on the intake side of the sponge.

Anyway, I am going my memory of what a penguin filter is like, so I could be way off here. If you give it a try, post up how it worked!

murphyk32 · Mar 25, 2008

thanks for the reply! i actually was thinking the same thing about the water not reaching the bottom

.. i dont really wanna buy the aq110, but i kinda need it, i have a tank full of large wasters

do u use an aq?

smmetz · Mar 26, 2008

I have a AQ110 on my 55, an AQ 70 on my 29, and an AQ50 on my 20. I guess I like a bit of overfiltering

The only other filters I owned were Whisper filters, so I don't have much to compare to. I prefer the AQ to the whispers because they are quieter, and I like the media flexibilty. I also think the sponges hold up longer then the whisper cartridges (which are simialar to the penguin ones I think).