The Peguin 330 Bio-filter

[Guest superwen]

Hey gang

Is the peguin filter a good brand as biofilters go?

[daryl 11]

Penquin filters are one of my favorites. I really like the 330 because it has separate baskets that you can put extra bio-media in.

The Penquins that are smaller rely completely on the bio-wheel for the support of your bio-base. I like having the bio-wheel, but it seems to take longer to get colonized and does not hold as much bacteria as other media. I have taken apart the cartridges of the 170s and filled them with media so they contain more.

The Emperors - the next step up in the same brand are also excellent filters. There is an Emperor 280 that has a basket for biomedia. This is the equivilant to the Penquin 330 - except that it is not as wide and has only one biowheel. An Emperor 400 is a good worker too. I have one on each of my 30 gallon tanks and they have given me no problems.

I run a Penquin 330 on one 20 gallon tank and an Emperor 280 on another. They are good filters.

Since you do not need to throw away the cartridges as often as they say, they are a fine buy, also. I just shake the cartridge down really well every cleaning and put it back. I only replace it when it gets good and hairy and worn out.

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[toothless 4]

My favorite as well!

Some might not agree with me on this point but, here goes:

Once the filled media baskets and bio-wheel become good and colonized with beneficial bacteria (youll be able to tell by the growth of brown gunk on the media and baskets) you can use straight tapwater to rinse the filter cartridges off. This is especially usefull when youve got a handheld showerhead or a sprayer on your garden hose. The water pressure that you can blast the cartridges floss with will prolong the use of each cartridge almost ten-fold. Not to mention that it speeds up the cleaning time. After a week or two of use out of a new cartridge, i suggest cutting a slit at the top edge of the cartridge. Then shake all of the spent carbon out into a trashcan. this will make spraying the gunk out much easier. if you really feel the need to, you can always put fresh carbon back in (not necessary).

I wouldnt suggest doing this with just any filter though. Most filters out there dont have the media baskets and bio-wheel to handle the bio-load. Subsequently, they have very delicate bio-filter capabilities. If this were to be attempted on a filter that doesnt utilize a media chamber and bio-wheel, you could very easily crash your bio-filter by killing off the beneficial bacteria on the floss/cartridge.

Another good thing is that you can save the floss cartridges as they wear out and re-set them with new filter-floss with a little silicone or superglue (once dry, superglue is safe to use in the tank). This also greatly cuts down on the expense of filter cartridges.

paul

Edited December 5, 2004 by toothless

[Guest Brianz06]

The penguin is the best filter you can buy. I have look at them all.

You will get an extremely powerful filter with

1. Wet/dry biological filter

2. Very durable cartridge

3. Extra baskets that you can add additional active Carbon or biomedia.

They are very easy to clean and are clearly the best bang for your buck. The design on the penguin is excellent and well planned.

The worst filter I've seen are the Whisper power filter. They are built cheap, they are not durable at all. The cartridges will fall apart so easy and they have no biological filtration at all.

The canister filters are a royal pain to change.

The Aqua Clear is just water running through a sponge which is a problem. I'm not impressed at all by this. When you try to clean the cartridge, it will kill all your good bacteria in your biological filtration. You also touching a sponge full of dirt. I am not sure why people say such good things about this filter.

I have had goldfish who lived over 14 years and my setup is basically a 75 gallon tank running 2 penguin 330 with active carbon in the extra basket they provide. They are the real deal.

You should go to www.thatfishplace.com and get the penguin power filter. They are awesome filters. I even purchased a spare filter in case I ever wanted to setup another aquarium.

Edited December 4, 2004 by Brianz06

[koko 14,361]

I agree to. I have three penguin's in my tanks and love them very much. I have never had a problem with them and never had to replace one of them. The price compared to the quality of the filter is just out standing..... two :thumbup

[lovemypets 0]

I agree too. I have Penguin 330's on all my tanks--one on each of the 29 gallon tanks, and 2 in the 55 gallon.

[ali 0]

Oh they are great!!!

I have the 330s on all my 20/29gs and 3 of each in my 55gs. I use those and Empeors....but I like Peguins better

I give it 5 out 5!

:thumbup :thumbup :thumbup :thumbup :thumbup

[grain 0]

I agree, I absolutely love the penguin biowheel 330! I had a 10 gallon tank with a penguin 170, and it worked very well. I upgraded to the 330 when I got a 29 gallon tank. As everyone else said, the extra media baskets are awesome in saving the cycle of the tank when you have to clean out the filter cartriges.

-actually, there is a little shop that sells "generic" refill cartriges that are a few dollars cheaper than the penguin brand and they work just as well, so when my cartriges are completely spent, I just replace them (not both at the same time, i replace one, and wait a week before replacing the other one). But since I have stuff in my baskets, I don't have to worry about killing off the beneficial bacteria.

-good luck, I hope you decide to get one of these filters!

[lepperchan 0]

im chillen on the cheep end, i want to get a bigger one(but no real need as of yet). I have the Penguin MINI for my 10 gallon. and i love it absolutly. Going to add a canister filter to just add some bubbles but yea its great haveing the bio and the particle filter two seperate components... very good design....

Cheers

[Guest unique]

I have 2- 330 penguins and I ahve no complaints. I love them.

[Guest unique]

Thanks Guys.

[Guest Sacreligioushippie]

Just a question. Everyone on here is mentioning the Penguin 330 but I can only find a 350. Is that the same thing?

If not, where can I find one?

~ Jessica

[koko 14,361]

Yes its the same thing hun. they have made an improvement and now its a higher GPH system

[silver8328 15]

Has anyone used the 350b yet? Are they actually better then the 330?

[koko 14,361]

Oh yes I do love the 350 better

The only thing I dont like about them is that the 330 had baskets in them and the 350 uses more filter pads to them.....But its nice to have a flow regulator in it now. the unit sits more down in the tank and the cover on the top now covers all splashing now.

[mookie 1]

B) I think the Emperor 400 is the best power filter on the market, hands down!!! It has two Bio-Wheels and the extra media baskets, plus it does 400 gph instead of 330. Put a couple of these on any tank and you have an awesome filteration system. I have 4 of them on my 125 gallon (1600 gph total) which gives me 8 Bio-Wheels cranking out the good stuff.

[koko 14,361]

True unless your tank is already standing and its to close to the wall, what I found out that my Emperor wont work for me since my tanks are to close to the wall and they are 36 gals and 45 gal tanks.

So i have one just sitting in the closet

[kortniee 452]

Give-away for June, anyone?

:pigs

[toothless 4]

No dougt about it, my favorite filter of all time is the 330. Like Koko mentioned, the two large media baskets are a huge re-assurance that there are plenty of beneficial bacteria to handle the bio-load of goldies.

[Fire_Wolf 0]

You have to buy the bio baskets seperatly with the new 350 models, and you can use them in the 200 models also, they are intercahangable between the two models!

Dr's Foster and Smith have the basket available on there site...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/

[toothless 4]

Thanks for that! I couldn't, for the life of me, think of where that link was (or who posted it). In fact, I didn't even realize that I had already replied to this post before!

Cool! I've been looking and looking for them too!

So, since the 350's use the same cartridge as the 330's, won't the media basket fit in the 330 too?

Or is the extra slot in the filterbox of the 330 too thin?

[Guest Phreno]

I have a Penguin 200b filer, and I need to put crushed oyster shells in it to help with the pH. Where can I get a cartridge to put things in? I know they make media baskets, but I looked on the Drs foster and smith website, and couldnt find them.

Do the filters with 2 bio wheels work better, or is just overkill?

[toothless 4]

Go to THIS LINK and scroll to the bottom of the page. You should see it at the very bottom. For pretty cheap too!

Hope this helps!

Paul

[Guest alaysiaprecious]

so with the penguin filters you dont have to replace the cartridges everytime, you can just rinse them out and re-use them? if so then i have wasted two of them :crp

[daryl 11]

No - actually I do not like to or want to replace them. I usually just plung them aggressively up and down in the bucket of used fish water. If you turn them blue side down and kinda pump the water throught them out the back side they clean nicely. I rub the fronts clean and it is ready.

Occasionally I take the cartridge to the utility sink and put the intensive spray (jet stream nozzle from outdoors) screwed onto the spout and blast it clean.

A blue cartridge will last months and months this way. I slit it and bang the charcoal out. You can drop charcoal into it or bang it out, depending on what you want and need it to do.

Save money. Keep the cartridge.