sugar pixel . wrote:Hello! So I finally got a 55 gallon tank, and I need some advice.
It's a Marineland kit, came with a heater, lights, and a filter. The
filter is a Penguin one, with 350 GPH. Will that be enough for this tank? Has anyone had any problems with Penguin filters that I might need to look out for? And does anyone know how fast/strong the flow is?
heater questions. It's 200w, and would it work for the tank? Any personal reviews for it?
Thanks it advance!
Since my lazy at converting all stuff to US units, just know that 55 gallons is 208 liters to de-code my typing. c;
Now personally I'd prefer anything over 200 liters with canister filter. Just a preferance as they have much better filteration capasity. Over side/hang back(what ever their proper name is) filters aren't a common thing around here so I can't say much about that filter that's based on actual experience. After watching couple videos to me it looks like it won't create much current as that water mainly just falls out of it rather than being sprayed out like most internals and canisters do. 350GPH means all of the water in the tank goes through the filter about 6 times per hour, which should be enough(my filters run it 4-5 times per hour). But ultimately if it's enough depends on the stocking and how messy your fish are. Like in theory my tank could run with one internal, but I prefer it with two even though it's not that heavy stocked and it seems to run better that way. Companies tend to over rate the filters capacity, so it's often better to go little over than under if tank size ends up in the middle ground. That one was up to 70gal, so it should be able to handle 55gal fairly well.
My issues with this filter is the fact that the cartilages are yet again very fine and with active carbon. Active carbon is not necessary in healthy tank, it's main purpose comes when you need to remove medical residues from the water. And recently I was told it's 'power' last about a week in use, then it's 'dead' and needs replacing. Thus probably why all filter makers who use them tell you replace them instead of just rinsing out most of the sirt. Though very fine filter material like that is hard to clean and gets clogged up lot faster than bit coarser material. Which is why it's usually better to have water first go through medium coarse sponge which will catch the biggest particles and then the through the finer material which gets rest of the tiny bits. Bio material's placement varies depending on the filter, like in most canisters it's either first or middle, and my Fluval U3, which is internal, it's last stage. Pro about that Penguin is that it actually seems to have bio filteration, when many smaller filters like that don't. I also like the fact that the filter is not totally closed so the water circling through it should get plenty of oxygen from the air, though this could also mean the water evaporates easily.
As for the heater did some checking and oddly enough I found 150W that says to work for 200-300 liter, while 200W on was recomended for 300-400 liters. So while I usually trust what the manufacturer says, in these case I would do a test run with the heater in the tank and see that it's not over heating the water and also check it's heating it up accurately(my eheim one isn't, so it's set much lower than the actual temp it heats up the water) by having separate thermometer to monitor the actual water temperature.
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So I've been kinda wanting a betta lately... Nice plakat or perhaps crowntail male, or sorority, as I feel like anything with clumsier fins would have too much trouble with the water flow I have. ^^' What is the minimum temp bettas are comfortable to keep long term? That is my other issue, as corries aren't too happy with much warmer water than the current 25-26C degrees.
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Just keep in mind more stuff there is in the filter the slower the water circulation through it will be, especially if it's very fine/dense stuff. Some brands actually give their filters output as it would be without any media in the filter and then they also give what it is with their recommended medias in the filter. Would altering the content make it better filter, that I don't know. Would depend on how it runs with modifications and what sort of mess the fish make. Biomasses generally do improve the biological filteration, given there's enough oxygen, but their mechanical filteration aspect is not always the most useful.
