I just wanted to know if a Marineland filter that is recommended for 55-75 gallon fish tanks can also be used on a 30 gallon fish tank.

Greetings and welcome to the board!


Which filter are you thinking about using for the 30? Chances are,
you should be ok. What kind of fish are you going to have? The
only thing you may notice, the current may be a little strong, just
observe and see how it goes to begin with.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

My 36g bow tank has 2 -280 Emperor filters that hang on the back. These filters each go up to 50gals. The water quality is excelent in that tank (tetra). And they don't seem bothered by the water flow at full force either.

I'm thinking about getting the Marineland Penguin BIO-wheel Filter 350gph for up to 75 gal. tank model 350. Right now, I have four 10 gallon aquariums containing fancy goldfish. 1 contains 2 fantails, another contains 2 calico pearlscales and a black moor, the other one contains 2 lionleads, and a ryukin, and the fourth one contains 2 orandas. They're all an inch long and I have a 30 gallon aquarium ready(without filter) to put the fish in so that they can grow big. Don't worry, i'm not going to let them stay there for their entire lives. I will buy a bigger aquarium when they get big again.

Oh yeah, Hello everybody and I feel so happy to find such a wonderful forum dedicated to goldfish.

At 350 gph you would normally be doing just perfectly for a 30 gallon tank. THat is a bit over 10 times turn over per hour which is the minimum rule of thumb for goldfish.

This filter comes with two baskets in the back. I recommend you really pack them brimming with bio-balls, ceramic cylindars or sintered glass bio media, because you are dramtically over loading the tank, even if the fish are small.

If you pull the six fish that are overstocked from the 10's, that is still a tremendous load for the 30. I think I would even drop another, small filter over the edge of the 30 until you can upgrade or get another tank - simply to add the extra filtration and bio-base to support all those fish. You will also need to really watch the water parameters - and will problably have to do water changes every 4 days or so. If you have not already bought the Penguin, you could go for the Emperor 400, a wonderful filter that has adjustable flow and the same large space for biological filtration. It adds just a few more gallons per hour. (Remember, that gph is only in ideal situations - as soon as it gets a bit dirty, it slows down.)

Remember - you may be able to keep the water under control, but your fish will simply not get "big" if they are cramped for too long - particularly in the young developmental age.

I am happy you are here! It sounds like you have a really interesting set of fish!

I used to have a Emporer 400 on a 20 gal. Imagine 20x Now I have 2 Emporers and a Eheim on my 120 gal

Hi ElenasALH,

I actually just set up a 29 gal tank with the Penguin 350 Bio-Wheel and it seems to be working well. The current is a little strong (my two fish were used to a 10 gal tank with a Aquaclear mini filter before I moved them) but they seem to be getting used to it.

The amount of fish you are considering putting in this tank seems like alot. I have 2 goldfish in there (both a little over 2 ") and am debating putting a third to max out the capacity. I think the rule of thumb is 1 fish per 10 gal., however I swear I have the dirtiest goldfish in the world. So I may not add any more.

Because you are going to put so many fish into the tank I would definitely use at least a 350. Good luck!