i just got a penguin 330 bio wheel filter today
- Thread starter skirrby
- Start date
bdhough
Active Member
Do you have live rock or will you be getting live rock? Mechanical filters should not be bought for thier filtration power but for their circulation power. The 330 is fine for a 55 but its only going to effectively cover half the tank since the 55 is so long and narrow. You will need 2 power heads on the other side of the tank blowing towards the 330.
I say it should be bought for its circulation power because established live rock and sand is your filtration. It can handle any resonable amount of bioload placed on it. The 330 will handle oxygenating the water and providing more surface area for bacteria to culture. You can choose to not buy filter pads if you wanted to. I would only do this if you DO have live rock. The filter pads use is to run carbon in your system to absorb impurities in the water occasionally. I've been told carbon should be run once a month at most, ie changing the pads monthly. If you don't use the pads carbon can be bought seperately and placed in there once a month.
Another note is when you purchase a skimmer you should place it on the other end of the tank to increase circulation over there. The two power heads can then be directed to the front of the glass to stir up the front of the tank while the 330 and skimmer pull from the back and refeed into the back of the display. When you do buy power heads try to get 2 that do 200-250 gph shooting for the higher end if possible.
As far as the live fish store telling you this
its very in depth and hard to do in a setting like that. Its good you don't trust the store to some extent but alot of the kids who work there generally know what they are doing. I used to be one of them. If something ever sounds out of wack certainly ask around and always do your homework.
I say it should be bought for its circulation power because established live rock and sand is your filtration. It can handle any resonable amount of bioload placed on it. The 330 will handle oxygenating the water and providing more surface area for bacteria to culture. You can choose to not buy filter pads if you wanted to. I would only do this if you DO have live rock. The filter pads use is to run carbon in your system to absorb impurities in the water occasionally. I've been told carbon should be run once a month at most, ie changing the pads monthly. If you don't use the pads carbon can be bought seperately and placed in there once a month.
Another note is when you purchase a skimmer you should place it on the other end of the tank to increase circulation over there. The two power heads can then be directed to the front of the glass to stir up the front of the tank while the 330 and skimmer pull from the back and refeed into the back of the display. When you do buy power heads try to get 2 that do 200-250 gph shooting for the higher end if possible.
As far as the live fish store telling you this
its very in depth and hard to do in a setting like that. Its good you don't trust the store to some extent but alot of the kids who work there generally know what they are doing. I used to be one of them. If something ever sounds out of wack certainly ask around and always do your homework.
skirrby
Active Member
i dont trust them guys up there. its a petland. id go somewhere better than them but they are like 2 min up the road..it was just some random guy that told me it was a good filter.. i do plan on getting live rock and live sand.. i dont even got water in my tank yet! lol good idea with the powerhead and the skimmer.. ill do that... lol my mom keeps getting worried about what the power bill is going to go up to now
bdhough
Active Member
Its not to bad until you start getting into the heavy duty lighting. Which you don't need unless you plan on buying corals and even then there are varying degrees of lighting choices.
You do need the following though, not right away but eventually.
2 powerheads NOT RIO's
1 skimmer
aragonite sand NOT CRUSHED CORAL
live rock
salt
hydrometer
thermometer
heater
RO water - VERY IMPORTANT TO USE SOLELY
Well some of those right away.
As for the power bill i have 2 tanks, 12 and 20, and am running 6 different pumps and 2 seperate lighting systems plus heaters and the bill isn't much.
You do need the following though, not right away but eventually.
2 powerheads NOT RIO's
1 skimmer
aragonite sand NOT CRUSHED CORAL
live rock
salt
hydrometer
thermometer
heater
RO water - VERY IMPORTANT TO USE SOLELY
Well some of those right away.
As for the power bill i have 2 tanks, 12 and 20, and am running 6 different pumps and 2 seperate lighting systems plus heaters and the bill isn't much.
bdhough
Active Member
Hmm. Distilled is ok but RO is the absolute best. You may run into algae problems but worry about that when it happens because it doesn't always happen. Where are you getting it from? If you are going to buy distilled from the store by the gallon RO is cheaper. You can find RO water for about 30-50 cents a gallon depending on where you look.