HOB FILTERS; Aquarium Power Filters

QUESTION:
I was looking to purchase an Aqua Clear Filter for my aquarium with guppies, tetras, and danios. My tank is 40 gallons. Is this a good choice and what should I no about this or any other HOB filter?


ANSWER:
HOB filters (hang on the back- power filters) are quite popular for good reason. They are generally inexpensive and simple to operate. If you go with an Aqua Clear I would recommend the model 50. However they do have a couple of weaknesses.

[1] Bio filtration; The Aqua clear is better here than others, but it has a weak impeller design that is not very durable. The Aqua Clear is also a poor mechanical filter with a high "flow by rate" (the amount of water that actually is forced thru the filter media).
This said, most larger models of Aqua Clear Filters (the Aqua Clear 70 and 110) have large capacities and are very versatile especially for marine Nano Reef uses, in fact this is where the Aqua Clear shows its strengths is it is more adaptable for use in small marine aquariums provided you change out some of the carbon or other media for live rock crumbles, volcanic rock, or Bio Home so as to perform de-nitrification (the removal of nitrates), otherwise your Aqua Clear or other HOB filter can become a nitrate factory when used in a marine aquarium.

I should also note that many experienced aquarists use Aqua Clear filters, however I disagree with many of these aquarists that the cartridge style filter are expensive to operate. If you add Pre Filter to your Whisper or VitaLife, you will make the cartridge last substantially longer AND improve mechanical filtration further (the pre filter will remove the medium to coarse debris leaving the cartridge to remove the fine debris). With this combination you will have superior bio AND vastly superior mechanical filtration. T should also be noted that many Whisper filters come with a bio sponge and the Via Aqua VitaLife comes with a bio grid and surface skimmer.


That leaves the cartridge models starting with the Penguin. The Penguin has a much lower "flow by rate" than the Aqua Clear and is less prone to leaks, but their bio filtration is poor, EVEN with the bio wheel, which is vastly over-rated in my tests I preformed through my aquarium maintenance business. I removed the bio wheel on penguin filters on comparable aquariums with comparable bio loads and fish and found no discernable ammonia spike. Yet when HOB filters that had running pre filters attached to their intakes were removed, there were discernable ammonia spikes. For Saltwater use I would recommend the Penguin even less as there is no way of converting the bio wheel to a combination nitrifying/de-nitrifying filter (sadly I still read many anecdotal responses about using Bio Wheel equipped Penguins for small marine aquariums, especially at Yahoo Answers, which is about as bad a place to go for aquatic information on the internet possible). I would make an exception to this for the Emperor filter as there is more space add de-nitrification media, however you still end up with the nitrate factory bio-wheel.

The Whisper, Via Aqua VitaLife, and ReSun the HOB filters (The ReSun are very reliable, but also very basic HOB filters) are the style prefer the most based on my experience and notes I have kept dealing with before and after water parameters in fresh and saltwater. All of these style filters have a low “flow by rate”. The ReSun is a much better value and is less prone to leaks, but the ReSun currently has a poor choice of filter size options.

Again as noted above for marine aquariums, I recommend replacing the bio grid in the VitaLife or Whisper filters with live rock crumbles, volcanic rock, Bio Home or similar media that can perform de-nitrification.
(Please click on the picture to the left to enlarge the demonstration of volcanic rock/live rock, etc. placed in filter such as a VitaLife or Whisper)

This brings me to the point that HOB filters are best equipped with Pre Filters (the Filter Max is the best due to its patented sponge technology). Pre Filters vastly increase bio filtration, are inexpensive ($4.99 and up), prevent baby fish from being sucked into the filter, and provide a measure of bio stability when the cartridge is changed.

[2] The other weakness of HOB filters is the poor cross circulation they provide (HOB filters provide vertical circulation). Cross circulation is especially important in larger aquariums such as a 48” 60 gallon aquarium. For small aquariums such as 20 gallons or less, this is of less concern, although I would still consider an addition filter such as an air driven sponge filter for redundancy.
This is easily remedied with an Internal Filter. I recommend the Via Aqua Internal Filter due to its reliability, and inexpensive sponge media which keeps it simple to keep.
For more information about sponge filtration, please see this article: “Sponge filtration”

For a marine aquarium, I would recommend a power head instead for cross circulation, especially if live rock is employed (which I recommend) for bio filtration. The power head will provide necessary flow through the live rock assuring good nitrification and de-nitrification within the live rock.
For a smaller marine tank such as a 40 gallon I would recommend either a Via Aqua 1300, ReSun 1 or 2, or a Via Aqua 480 (the VA 480 best for tanks under 20 gallons).




For MUCH more information about Filters (such as Aqua Clears), please see this article: “Aquarium Filters (filtration)”

CONCLUSION:

For a 40 gallon aquarium I would recommend the Via Aqua VitaLife 200, not that Aqua Clear 50 would be a poor choice, however based on close to equal bio filtration (the Aqua Clear holds a slight edge here, although a pre-filter would change this), the better reliability, surface skimming feature, and better mechanical filtration, I would recommend the VitaLife HOB Filter