I've got a penguin 350 and a penguin 150, the ones off the new line.

Right now they both have the blue cartridges that came with them in their back slot, and some aquaclear sponge in there and the 150 has and aquaclear biomax bag in there. This is the media that I used to help get them cycled.

After Christmas, I'm going to have a little bit of money to help optimize my tank performance and I was wondering what you all recommended for the best type of media to use in these filters. there is *tons* of space in there, and right now a lot of it is going to waste.

I'd like to find the best way to have it set up for the minimal cost. I'm really happy with the filters, they keep the water crystal clear and I never get any ammonia or nitrite readings.

Also, I want to get some extensions for the filter intakes so that they reach down to the bottom of my tank, but I'm not sure how the cheapest way to do that would be. Can I order an extra mid-level intake and extender piece from Marineland and then just cut it to length, or are there places that sell rectangular tubing like that?

Either your tank's really tall or you didn't get the extentions. ;;
But the easiest way I've seen is to purchase some tubing from the pond section in a hardware store and cut a long enough piece to act as an extention. Very convenient!

What I'm setting up for my new 350 is bags of Seachem's Matrix and just filling every little crevice. The matrix says the pieces are big enough to use without a bag, but I like bagging it for convenience.

Btw, what do you think is better? Setting the cartridges towards the back or towards the front?

My filters came with the filter, then a little tube coming off it, a mid level intake and then an extension off of that, and then a strainer for the end.

The tank I have is 36 inches long, 12 wide and 23 inches deep, so they don't reach the bottom of the tank. So they do sell rectangular tubing then?

The instructions on the penguin say that they should be in the back, but when I was setting it up to start out with, I put it in the front and it worked fine. When I took them out to swish them around last week and make sure they were clear of any debris, I placed them in the back.

I've been thinking about not using the cartridges at all and cutting an aquaclear sponge to fit along the back of the filter, and then stuffing the front jam packed full of this. Do you think that would work?

I keep the cartridges just for debris collection and use other bio-media to house bacteria, so it's really up to you and whether you feel a DIY sponge will catch your solids sufficiently enough.

The cylinders look good and I like how it's pre-bagged, so you should definitely go for it!