HOB filters?

[rotarygeek]

Ok I just finished cycling my first marine tank. Its a 30 gallon with about 15 pounds live rock, a powerhead, 20 pounds of argonite, and a damsel. Im currently using a Whisper 30-60 HOB filter. But i have a marineland 70 gallon HOB filter sitting brand new in my room. Its the one with the bio wheels. Should i bother changing from one filter to another? And i plan on setting up a qt tank, so if I put the old whisper filter on my qt tank, could it reduce the cycling time?

 

[scsinet]

I am a big fan of the bio-wheel filters as HOB solutions. IMO Whisper is more of a consumer grade filter where as the Marineland Emperor and Penguin stuff is more of a hobbyist or enthusiast grade system.
I run an emperor 400 on a 30g tank I have. It's far oversized, but with the dual chambers I can swap 1/2 of the media at a time without causing significant disruption of the tank's biological filter.
Remember... never clean the bio-wheels other than rinsing them in clean seawater.

 

[rotarygeek]

Yeah doesn't the biowheel help the biological filter grow? As long as its spinning your in good shape, but if it stops, it can cuase problems. So im taking it as you are for me switching the filters. If im not mistaken, they use the same pads as my whisper, so i could swap those in. Will it mess up my cycle or not?

 

[scsinet]

If you swap the pads it won't hurt anything.
Even if the pads don't fit, you can jam them in there somehow.

 

[willlovesfish]

I would also suggest you switch your hob units. I use the penguin hob as well on my 22 gallon, LOVE IT! Does a great job, water is clear, quality is perfect and my fish are happy Just make sure to change the filter so it doesn't clog and cause the bio wheel to stop, you will also notice the water will overflow if this happens. I had this happen once, not good, now I check the filter every week just to be safe.
On my QT I use a whisper hob, works fine for what it is, no problems.
Good luck.