Upgrading filter, but how?

[D_Ahumada]

I picked up a Marineland Biowheel Power Filter Penguin 200 today, and well I am wondering what my best plan would be for upgrading the filter in my tank. I currently am using the Topfin 30 on my 29 gallon tank. I've been told that may not be quite enough, so I picked up the biowheel since it was on sale. Well now I'm not quite sure what the best way to upgrade it is.

How long should I leave both filters in the water together? I assume that I need to do this to get the bacteria going on the new filter right? What else should I know?

[MCHRKiller]

Personally I would run both filters on the tank permantly. The Penguin 200 will also be marginal filtration for a 29G tank. HOB filtes should filter atleast 10X the tanks volume so youd need around 300GPH min on the tank. Plus the two smaller filters shouldnt cause to much current for your fish...place the filters on opposite ends of the tank. It will also give you the benefit of alternate cleanings so that you wont disturb the bulk of your bacteria in one go.

[Northernguy]

I definately agree with what MCHRKiller suggested.
Thats a great plan!thumbs2:

[D_Ahumada]

Ok, well then, a few more questions,
I'm guessing HOB stands for hang on back? Are those less effective than other filters?

What do you mean when you say it'll disturb the bacteria when I clean my filters?

[rich311k]

If you change or rinse your filter pads in tapp water the bacteria colonies on them will be destroyed.

HOB are good filters on smaller tanks. They do a very good job.

[MCHRKiller]

Generally speaking most HOB filters are less efficient than other forms of filtration such as canisters or sump systems. Most HOB filters dont have alot of media space and your very limited in what sort of media you can use with them. They do however do a wonderful job in the relm of chemical and mechanical filtration and they are much more user friendly than other filtration systems. I second Rich on the rinsing in tap water and replacing of filter cartridges stance. You can rinse your filter pads in tank water and they will probably get more wear out of them than the manufacturers recommended once a month change. But the fiber starts to wear thin and they should be replaced atleast every other month IMO. So if you ditched one filter pad in one filter youd still have one in the other to carry the bulk of your bacteria colonies....as well as your biowheel of course, those never really need cleaned.

[sailor]

Personally I would run both filters on the tank permantly. The Penguin 200 will also be marginal filtration for a 29G tank. HOB filtes should filter atleast 10X the tanks volume so youd need around 300GPH min on the tank. Plus the two smaller filters shouldnt cause to much current for your fish...place the filters on opposite ends of the tank. It will also give you the benefit of alternate cleanings so that you wont disturb the bulk of your bacteria in one go.


Couldn't have said it better myself

[lowlight]

Personally I would run both filters on the tank permantly. The Penguin 200 will also be marginal filtration for a 29G tank. HOB filtes should filter atleast 10X the tanks volume so youd need around 300GPH min on the tank. Plus the two smaller filters shouldnt cause to much current for your fish...place the filters on opposite ends of the tank. It will also give you the benefit of alternate cleanings so that you wont disturb the bulk of your bacteria in one go.

I agree as well. Run both filters. Of course when you rinse the filter pads in tank water do it in a bucket not the tank itself. Not that you would just want to make sure. Also the bio wheel should just get dunked in tank water and clean the ends where it spins to keep it from gunking up.

[The Shield]

Not much more to say except I agree 100% with everyone above.

[James77]

I switched from a 150 to a 200 in my 20 gallon and made the mistake of taking off the 150 and just putting on the 200. Put my tank into a mini cycle. Lesson learned for me.

[Lady Hobbs]

The only problem I see is you only have a 29 gallon tank and may not want to run both filters all the time on that small of a tank.

Instead of going out and buying another small filter, I probably would have gotten an Aqua Clear 70, let it run until bacteria had formed and then gotten rid of the Topfin filter completely or just moved the filter media from the Topfin filter into the AC and removed the Topfin. I personally wouldn't want to deal with two filters running on a small tank like that.