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I am looking to get a new filter for my 20g high and i would like to know your opinions on how many gallons per hour there should be. Most of the filters would say something like "up to 20 gallons" and i am woundering if that is enough or should I go "up to 30 gallons"?

The filter I want to buy is a Marineland Penguin BIO Wheel Power filter. Either that or an Aqueon. I am actually leaning towards an Aqueon because is has "Stationary Wet/Dry Filtration:
Our "water polisher" grid further filters and "supercharges" the water with extra oxygen creating additional non-stop biological filtration" which would be good for the less surface area of the tall.
and it is cheaper

Thanks!


~Morgan~

Unless I am wrong I have just looked at a booklet re filter pumps and they state a 24USgal under water filter 105g pewr hr
Hang on the back types 20USg 100g per hr
Canisters 25USg 125g per hr

These figures can vary from brand to brand.

What you have to remember it id not how many gal per hr but how effectivly it does the job.

Select a few brands you prefer then ask questions about the efficiency of each one.

Going for the cheaper option might be the wrong way to go as it is cheap for one reason only low cost materials used and poor manufacturing.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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If your looking at hob filters you want something that runs around 200-300gph for most 20g setups. A penguin 200 would work. I don't pay any attention to the ratings because in my opinion they are far too low for most setups. ie penguin 200 is rated up to 50g and for my 55g I ran two penguin 330s and felt that was just barely enough. On my 29g I had a penguin 170 and another filter running 100gph. Cannister filters are more efficient and run a lower gph while still filtering effectively. You'd only need around 1/2-1/4th as much water movement with most good quality cannisters.

The exceptions are if you are keeping fish that all want a low flow rate. A tank of only gouramis especially if your trying to breed them would prefer a lower flow rate and wouldn't require as much filtration since they do not produce much bioload and breathe from the surface requiring less oxygen. Less water movement equals less oxygen in the water as well as missing more waste. Dwarf puffers are another example. They aren't strong swimmers and have trouble finding food when it's being blown about so while you want to try to maintain a fair amount of surface movement for oxygen you don't want much water movement in the tank. Alot of planted tanks also use minimal flow rate to keep co2 levels high. On the flip side if your keeping all river fish especially something like hillstreams you want to double that flow rate. I'd use a penguin 330 along with a powerhead in that case. It does depend on what your stocking the tank with as to the exact amount of flow you want. On average though at least 10 times the tanks size works well for HOB or internal filters so 100gph on a 10g or 200gph on a 20g.

See i'm an advocate for Aqua Clear Filters, they are powerful enough to work with any size tank, they have an adjustable flow rate and there are different sizes for different tanks. They are quite inexpensive also. They also have three type of filtration that come with them from the start. They have the foam sponge for catching large clumps of debris, the porous material for the biological and then the carbon to polish the water.

They are easy to maintain and they have a very low failure rate. IMHO if you are wanting a strong but cheap solution, then this would be the one to go with.

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Keith:
Thanks for the figures and that does make sense about the variation from brand to brand.
My top 2 brands would be Penguin 200 (with bio-weel) and the Millennium 2000 (wet-dry and seems more promising than Aqueon). Has anyone used these brands?

Sham:
Yes, i am looking at HOB filters and i do want to get a higher flow rate (or efficiency) but maybe not as high as 300gph. With my tank I am basically starting from scratch (sterilizing it first) and I am not sure whether i want the calmer, slower fish or the river type fish, so i think it would be best to get around 200gph that way i could go either way and satisfy both types of fish.
And i dont think I would buy a canister filter, they are a little out of my price range and the store i shop at only has the HUGE ones.

Fishmonster:
thanks for the Aqua Clear suggestion. I did look at that, but it seems too close to a whisper and i was looking for something a little different, but thanks anyway!




~Morgan~

You say that you like the millenium filter over the penguin because its a wet-dry but a bio-wheel is basically just a modified wet-dry filter. I have a penguin 350 on my 38 gallon tank and its more than enough filtration. One of the bio-wheels gets stuck sometimes but I think I have an older version and its supposedly fixed on the newer ones.

that makes sense, but i guess it never clicked for me cause it looks different . Anyway, i looked today at the store and they didnt have a millenium so I will buy the Penguin 150 some time soon
Thanks everyone for the help!


~Morgan~