I am going to buy another filter since between the two tanks I am justbarely covered with the 10x rule.

I have:

two Emperor 280's=280 gph each for a total of 560
a Whisper 20i= 125 gph
a Whisper 40= 170 gph

Right now I have both 280's and the 20i in the 55 gallon, for a total of 685 gph, pretty good, but moving the cycled filter over left me with only 175 goh on the 20 gallon, a bit underfiltered. I like to have more than the 10x anyway, plus they may not all be running at full capacity.

So I am thinking about getting a Penguin 350 or an Emperor 400.

First question is, between those two which should I get? Obviously the Emperor has 50 more gph, but is there anything else that makes it better than the Penguin? I love the Emperor's I have now but have never owned a Penguin. Does the Penguin 350 come with an extension tube that will reach the bottom of the tank, or is that extra? And does it have an extra media basket that comes with it or is that also extra? If I had to buy those two things the extra $15 for the Emperor that already has them would be worth it.

Also, once I get a new filter, how should I set them up? I was thinking since the new one won't be cycled that I would take one of the Emperor 280's off the 55 and put it on the 20, and keep the 40i in the 20 also, so it would be cycled for hospital if needed.

Then have the new filter (Emp 400 or Peng 350), the current Emperor 280 and the Whisper 20i on the 55.

So the 55 would have 805 gph if I got the Emperor 400 or 755 gph with the Penguin 350. The 20 gallon tank would have 455 gph, with 175 gph available to be pulled off for a 10 gallon quarantine if needed, still leaving it with 280 gph.

There will be four fish in the 55, messy ones, 2 huge comets and two big commons. The 20 will house a small black moor probably, and possibly a small loach or pleco.

If I haven't confused you to death, let me know what you think! And for the record, yes, I do over analyze everything.

Anyone? Or have I scared you all away with my obsessive craziness? Or should I go with an Aquaclear? I want to buy a filter this week so any advice would be awesome.

Hi Jen - I can only comment on the AquaClear as i have 4 of them. I've never really seen any biowheel filters around Sydney - otherwise i'd like to give one of these a try.

But AquaClear's are good and reliable. The impellor needs a periodical clean but other than that, they make a good add on filter for any tank

Does the Aquaclear 70 or 110 come with an extension tube that will reach to the bottom of a 55 gallon or will I need to buy one? And does it come with media or will I need to buy some? That will be part of my decision making process, thanks Jen!

Well the 70 comes with 1 sponge, 1 bag of ammo chips and 1 bag of carbon so what I did was sewed noodles into one bag and got another sponge and voila! Better filtration

My 70 came with 2 intake stems and the measurement of it once put together (hang on while I go measure....) is exactly 35 cms from the top edge of the tank. I purchased an additional intake but it ended up too long. As it is now, it sits about 13 cms above my substrate. I am going to cut the 3rd intake stem back a bit so that it reaches the bottom and this is easy enough to do - as a matter of fact, i'll do it this weekend (thanks for reminding me)

Thanks Jen! That was very sweet of you to measure that for me! I may still go with the emperor 400 as it is on sale right now and uses the same cartridges as my 280 which I have stocked up on, but I am glad to have that option as well. Thanks~!