Opinions On Marineland Emperor

[RossW]

What do people think of these?

1. Do you need to buy Marineland replacement media or is it possible to fill and swap as I feel fit with whatever makes me happy?
2. Are they noisy?
3. Is it true they make more current than others HOBs?

I need a couple for two 25g tanks I have and see that Big Als has them on for a good price on Boxing Day.  As far as HOBs go, I have only ever used Aquaclears.  These 25g tanks will be primarily grow out tanks.

Thanx,
Ross

[hamstercaster]

If I were you I'd keep on using Aquaclears.  I find them to be quieter and more reliable.  To answer some of your questions though, you can buy your media at Walmart.  They are selling Regent Aquatech or Regent something anyway which is basically a renamed Penguuin HOB filter.  I had one for my 55 gallon and bought my media at Walmart as it was about half the price or less and was IMO the exact same component as the Marineland. 

[charlie]

If I were you I'd keep on using Aquaclears.  I find them to be quieter and more reliable.  To answer some of your questions though, you can buy your media at Walmart.  They are selling Regent Aquatech or Regent something anyway which is basically a renamed Penguuin HOB filter.  I had one for my 55 gallon and bought my media at Walmart as it was about half the price or less and was IMO the exact same component as the Marineland. 

The Reagent media is exactly Marineland , in fact so is the filters , but there is no reagent media for the Emperor line , i just use the extra media case that can be filled with media of your choice , such as Polly media, exceptional bio filtration, & not noisy in my experience.

[fischkopp]

I have one Emperor in operation that I got used. It works, have to push the impeller once a while to get it started, but this also happens with Aquaclear. I didnt notice any higher noise levels. The current is quite high and not much adjustable, so this could be a problem in a fry tank. You can use any media - I am just switching all my filters (AC, fluval, emperor, biowheel) to regular sponge and Eheims Ehfi substrate. What I find is that the flow inside the Emperor filter is not as good as in AC, just from the design, so you have to me careful that you dont stuff too much stuff in there to avoid any dead spot inside the filter.

[artw]

1. Sort of.  they come with a little white tray with slots, like an icecube tray in which you can place carbon, ammo chips etc.   the blue pads really only fit one way but you could probably slide in a sheet of floss etc

2.  Sort of.   Any HOB can be rattly and noisy

3. Not sure


I tell my customers this.   Emperor 400:  great for biological, great for ease of maintenance, slide out the blue pad, rinse it, slide it back in.
Aquaclear 500 (110)  Great mechanical filter,  meh for maintenance

[KLKelly]

I have a mix of both - AC110s and smaller and Penguin 100 and Emperor 280s.  I hate the Emperor compared to the aquaclear.  I got the emperors on sale.  The biowheels stopping is annoying.  But seeding a new tank with one of these is so much harder if you use the penguin 100s.  The space in front of the blue pads is very small.  I couldnt fit in much cycled ceramic media and I made a big mistake thinking I could customize the media in the back of it and go without the blue insert.  The aquaclears easily allow you to add or remove carbon, seed other tanks, the filter foam is easy to rinse.  I set up a qt tank with one of my spare penguin 100s and I had to cut open the blue filter pad to shake out all the carbon as I needed to medicate (bought a really sick fish thinking I could save it).  When I need to put carbon back in this will be annoying.

I do like the cartridge in the 280.

If I had the choice I would go with the AC. 

[Vizerdrix]

I have two Emperor filters, and I love them!   Don't have anything else to compare them with though...

I find them easy to maintain, and as mentioned prior, they come with an additional insert that you can fill with whatever your heart desires.

Both are on my 65g, because I needed the extra filtration for the goldies when they were in there, and it makes beautiful current.  The only problem I've had with them is during water changes, if the level gets too low, the unit stalls, and that isn't very low.

Overall, I would highly recommend them.  I'm thinking of grabing another one from BA on Boxing Day, but I just had to get $70 worth of "emergency" supplies, including a powerhead, today, and I think I blew the budget (well, hubby says I did, anyhow...).

Thanks for the tip about the Regent media, I will have to check that out next time I'm in WallyWorld!

[clouxles]

I have had a number of Emperor filters Always a big BIO- Wheel fan. I am currently running an older Emperor (400?) on my 55 gallon. As long as they are maintained no problem. You can't just leave them for weeks. I do a weekly rinse of filter media to maintain water flow. Although my filter has re-usable plastic cases when using previous filters I did buy the cartridges at Wal mart... but as I read more on this forum I realized I did not need the carbon. So I started removing the blue filter material (xacto) and dumping the spent charcoal then wrapping new filter media on the old casing held on with a couple of thin elastics - works great save s money - and if you need to add carbon open it up add some and then close it. My Emperor filter works great I bought used at my first BIG OVAS auction...$20.00(?).

[attachment deleted by admin]

[dan2x38]

I got a Marineland Emperor (380 ?) they have a refillable plastic cartridge. I ordered one then stopped using the inserts. So I two refillables. I added bio-max to the inner stage and the one near the back added some carbon pellets. The bio-wheel I keep going by cleaning the spray bar out with a brush when I see some of the holes not spraying. It does create more surface turbulance then any of my ACs.

PetSmart has the AC 110 on this week $30 off so it is $51.