What Filter is better to get right now?

Question

Should i get a:

Penguin BioWheel 350

-or-

Millieum 3000

I want my tank to be nearly ammonia and nitrate free. I want it to look alittle clearer but not too cloudy. I want it to be able to pick out waste, leftover food, or poop when I move my hand around the water effectivly.(DOn't Post Other Filters unless it's similar to these two filters)

No Canistars posts please

Answer 1

Between those two choices I say the Bio Wheel will give you better bio filtration because of increased surface area for the culture to grow with, and oxygen exposure rates. You're not going to be able to keep it really nitrate free, sorry, but you have to keep on top of that with water changes. Sure there are some things like plants and certain woods that might help absorb them, but thats still not going to eliminate your needs to do water changes. I think you mean more like ammonia and nitrite free, that would make more sense and that's optimal for what you'd want. I give my vote for the Bio Wheel 350.

JV

Answer 2

I've used both, and reallt don't have that much of a preference between them. Both have additional surface are for bacteria to colonize, in the Milleniums it just sits inside the filter box where the Pengiun uses an exterior rotating wheel.

The one difference betweeen them is that maybe the Millenium gives a little more areation because it also has a venturi injection system, but most of your aeration will come from just the surface movement of the water inside your tank. Once the tank is cycled, you shouldn't see any ammonia or nitrite, since these will get converted to nitrate by bacteria. If you have a tank that's several months old and you haven't used antibiotics which upset the biological filter, the only reason to be seeing them is overstocking, overfeeding, or not enough surface area for the bacteria to colonize (possibly no substrate, or not deep enough, or poor water movement through it - this is where an undergravel filter with a reverse flow powerhead can come in handy). As far as nitrate, the only way this gets removed from the tank is through water changes, or uptake by plants/algae. And even if you managed to get enough plants to remove all the nitrate, you would still need to do some water changes - these aren't only to get rid of the "bad" stuff from the tank water, this also replenishes some of the minerals (calcium, magnesium) removed from the water by the organisms in the tank. So don't upgrade the filter thinking this will reduce the number/frequency of regular water changes - it doesn't work that way.

And truthfully, not all the poop will be picked up by any filter without a lot of stirring - not even the ones you mention - you have to use a gravel vacuum for this.

Answer 3

I've never had a millineum?, so I'll suggest the penguin biowheel. I have more than one of the penguin/emperor brand and they work great.

A few things you might want to know. No filter no matter how large will remove nitrates (that would be nice though). Nitrates are the end product of ammonia, and need to be removed by weekly water changes. Also, most of these filters that hang on the back of the tank (HOB) are not powerful enough to 'suck up' the poo from the bottom of the tank. I would suggest a gravel vaccuum to suck up any debris that sits on the bottom of the tank to use when you do your water changes.