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I have a 29 Gallon tank and was wondering what the best filter choice would be. Tank will be planted and heavily loaded. I think im basically down to three choices.

Penguin 330
Emperor 280B
AquaClear300

Which would do you think would work out best or do you even think a different filter would work out better?

Thanks in Advance!

well the penguin and the emperor are pretty equal because they both have a bio-wheel that filters out ammonia and nitrites. but the aquaclear is cheaper and doesnt have the bio-wheel.
i would go with penguin
but the again i think penguin and emperor are equal

Last edited by BeastKeeper at 16-Nov-2004 17:34

Last edited by BeastKeeper at 16-Nov-2004 17:35

2 smaller filters like 2 pengion 170s. this way if one fails there is still one running so you dont completly crash.

Considering you're going for a heavily planted tank go with the filter that will give you the least surface agitation. Not having biowheel filters I can only go from what I've seen on others tanks but from what I've seen the wheels create alot of surface agitatation (thereby causing CO2 loss). My vote would be 1 AC 200 and 1 powerhead. A 29 is a tall tank rather than a long tank...the powerhead will help with water circulation.

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babel, good point about the co2 loss!
AC would be good for a plant tank

Ya babel i missed that good call. Biowheels deffinetly create loads of agitation on the surface, i got 4 of them. not so bad when the tank is kept full full but crazy if it drops below the outputs.

Surface agitation is only a significant factor when you inject CO2. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter to the plants unless they're getting blown around in the "wind".

EDIT: Doesn't really hurt to elaborate....

The level of CO2 in the water is determined by the dynamic equilibrium between its producers and consumers, as well as the amount of CO2 in the air, and the temperature. As far as I know, the largest factor in any of these is diffision between the air and the water; the plants will consume it, and the fish will emit it as waste, but not fast enough to really change the equilibrium point.

If you don't CO2-inject, then the air and water will naturally come into equilibrium and stay there. Surface agitation makes them come into equilibrium more quickly, but it doesn't change the equilibrium point, which is substantially higher than zero.

Therefore agitation doesn't lower CO2 levels; it just makes them equalize with the partial pressure of CO2 in the air. The tank as a whole is already pretty close to the equilibrium point - it might be slightly below for a heavily-planted tank, or slightly above for a heavy-fish-load tank. For the heavily-planted tank, agitation will actually add more CO2 back into the water, because CO2 concentrations are below the equilibrium point.

The central point here is that agitation is only really going to have a serious effect on CO2 levels if you're making them artificially high through CO2 injection.

Last edited by Silverlight at 16-Nov-2004 20:15

I like the Aqua Clears (AC) and I like Babel's suggestion for two filters. I always like redundancy in equipment.

One reason that I like the AC is economic. I run these filters on all my tanks and I substitute an additional sponge for carbon or other bio material. The double sponges give me a tremendous amount of bio filtration.

Each week, I rinse one sponge in waste water from the aquarium and rotate it downwards. Just think - no more purchasing of filter material!

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

I don't know if maybe my filter is the exception here but when I compare the aggetation of the water surface from my AC-500 and my Emperor 400's (bigger versions of the ones you are wanting). The AC has way more aggetation. I don't mean just a little bit I mean a lot more. I guess the good thing about AC's is that you can change the flow rate. Just my .02.

I'll second that. Aquaclears can push a lot of water. Mine keeps a solid ripple going across the tank.

An AC 500 will make alot of current...they're massive filters , and I'm not actually sure one would fit on a 29 gallon tank ...However with the AC's even while they do move alot of water they don't have the same agitation that the wheels create. If you're getting ripples with an AC it's because the water level is too low. I have a 150 on my 20, and if I'm not running the powerhead you can see that the surface is barely moving @all, and that's what's important when it comes to planted tanks. No matter how high you have the water with a wheel you're always going to see signifigant surface movement.

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shes right about the wheels, i have my tanks HIGHER then the downspout of my pengiuns and my surface looks like the bottom of a waterfall. the wheel breaks the flow and backs it up then releases it. causes it to spurt which hits the water and makes loads of agitation. i like it though

I have my water level very high (I did that to try to minimize the current on the top) and I find the AC still generates a good ripple. I get less spashing and fewer bubbles forming, but there's still a lot of current. But, anyway, this is threatening to go off on a tangent from the original question. I agree with Babel, though, that an AC500 is definitely overkill for a tank that size. They move a LOT of water. If it were me, I'd probably go with a Penguin 330, but I think any of the three choices you listed would be good ones.

An AC does not push more water than another filter, you just go by the GPH...?
Go for a bio-wheel, they make lots of nitrates (which plants use as fertilizer) and you'll have healthier plants, but everyone seems to say they create too much surface agitation, so bring the water really high, and go DIY CO2 to make up for the loss...

Adding CO2 to "make up for the loss" just defeats the purpose.

If you have a planted tank, that is recieving CO2, you minimize surface agitation. Period.

If you aren't adding CO2, there is little need for worry about surface agitation, but you also won't have as healthy plant growth.

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