Re: Opinions on the Penguin Bio-Wheel Power Filter 330

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
 "RedForeman ©®" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Anyone with a pro or con, ring in....
> 
> TIA....

Pros:

Moves lots of water, so you get agitation, assuming you want that. Also, 
very effective at clearing up the water when I kick up a lot of dirt 
cleaning.

It's double-chambered, meaning that if one of the filter pads starts to 
get clogged, you still have the other one working. That means that at 
least one bio-wheel is still moving (even if the other one is drying out 
because you left for the weekend and didn't think to check the fish 
first). Also means that not 100% of the flow is by-passing, so you still 
get some mechanical filtering capacity.

As previously mentioned, has extra chambers to put whatever you may need 
in the filter. Putting in about a kilo of hi-density carbon is no issue. 
Don't ask. Ok, ask. I have retarded (literally) siblings. One of them 
thought it'd be fun to dump 2 ounces of ick medicine in the water. 
Obviously, a massive water change helped, but dumping a big jar of 
carbon in is what probably saved the fish. This mostly just illustrates 
that, in less extreme cases, doing the carbon thing is not a problem.

Comes with a very long extension tube (1 foot i think) so you can use it 
with a deep tank.

It is the same filter as what Wal-mart sells as the Regent 40-60, just 
that the wally world one lacks biowheels. This means that, if you're in 
the part of the world that Wal Mart thinks it owns, you can pick up 
cartridges for it much more cheaply than at pet stores. Hell, I work at 
a pet store, and even with a discount the marineland branded ones are 
more expensive than the bulk-packed walmart filters.

Cons:

Moves a lot of water. If you have peace-loving gouramies, or delicate 
plants, this filter will annoy them. Uproot them, even, in the case of 
the plants.

Something about the impeller design makes it really easy to clog with 
plant debris. Of course, I've already admitted that it stinks as a 
filter for a planted tank, cuz it stirs them up so much. Also, general 
mulm from the tank seems to clog this filter faster than other brand 
power filters, or even other Penguins.

Unlike its big bro the Emporer, it has no separate spray-bar or whatever 
to move the bio-wheels. That means that if the blue filter carts start 
to clog, and the water begins to by-pass them instead of going down the 
bio-wheel spillways, the wheels stop turning. Then you have a dried-out 
wheel, and a tank that needs to be cycled again once you fix the clog.

End brain dump. HTH.

--jesse joe