# emp 400 vs penguin (largest) vs ac 500



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

what woould be an overall better filter?
they both have close to the same gph and same stye of filter but is the emp 400 really worth the extra 40 $ over a penguin?

also i heard emps can be loud. is this true or are penguins the same?
also how would an ac 500 compare?

this would be for a 125 gal as an extra filter to a xp

i was thinking penguin since its half the price but i will strongly concider emp if it is that much better but based on features they are both similar and im pretty sure both made by marineland


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## mike123 (Jul 17, 2006)

AC all the way, ive owned all of them and the ac is by far my favorite ive actually gotten rid of all my emps and penguins.


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## XSPhoto (Sep 26, 2007)

I love the penguin 350, it's quiet as hell so long as the water level remains up.

The Emp and Penquin are both indeed made by marineland. The difference? you can buy 2 350's for the price of 1 400. Sound reasonable enough for me!


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

the only real difference is the emp has 2 motors while peng has one but they both still do the same gph

i also have 2 ac and they are good filters but not sure if they would fit on the rim of my tank since it is about 1.5-inches thick


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## skubasteve! (Feb 14, 2007)

sean-820 said:


> the only real difference is the emp has 2 motors while peng has one but they both still do the same gph
> 
> i also have 2 ac and they are good filters but not sure if they would fit on the rim of my tank since it is about 1.5-inches thick


Penguin 350 does 350 gph-$26.99*
Emperor 400 does 400 gph-$42.99*
Aquaclear 110 does 500 gph-$69.99*
*Prices based on Petsmart.com

So if your going for the most GPH for your money, you should get 2-Penguin 350's for $53.98 which is 700gph VS. 500gph for the aquaclear and youd save $16.01.

I have owned all three filters and the Penguin and Emp are pretty much the same, besides the slight difference in flow rate. As for noise, I would say the Emp and Penguin are about the same with the Aquaclear slightly less noisy. All are not bad at all noise wise if you keep the water level high enough. If they were all the same price, I would say go for the Aquaclear, but they are not. Ive had my Penguin 350 for over 3 years now and it still runs great. My aquaclears Ive had for 6+months and they run great. The Emp Ive only had for a few months but it runs great.

First things first, If I were you, Id take some measurements and make sure whatever you do buy will fit the brace of your tank otherwise your SOL.

Good luck!


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

i wish they were the same price but around me they are about 
for penguin 53$
emp 400 90$ and 
ac for about 60 $

but i live near the boarder so i can probably cross and get it cheaper then the prices you posted becasue the canadian dollar is worth more then the american!!!!!


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

It is really personal preference. The Emp has more media capacity than the Penguin and the Biowheels won't stop if the filter pads get clogged up like on the Penguin. The ACs are messier to maintain IMO and you can't help disturbing the biomedia during maintainence, but those sponges can be reused a lot more times than the Emp or Penguin's cartridges!


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## skubasteve! (Feb 14, 2007)

sean-820 said:


> i wish they were the same price but around me they are about
> for penguin 53$
> emp 400 90$ and
> ac for about 60 $
> ...


 $90 for an Emp???

Those are some really odd prices, but if I had to buy a filter at that store, at that moment, with those prices, Id get the AC.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

well i would like to go over the border to the us and get a small rhom from a store so i might want to check out petsmart and get some stuff since its much cheaper


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

If you're going to go to petsmart, remember that they do price matching which means that the price on the web site is what you pay at the store. So, remember to look up what you want, print out the webpage and bring it in with you when you buy your 'stuff'. More than not you will save a bunch of money because I go to petsmart a lot and they seem to overprice things by a lot, I'm glad they do price matching. Or maybe it's just the area I'm in?


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

skubasteve! said:


> the only real difference is the emp has 2 motors while peng has one but they both still do the same gph
> 
> i also have 2 ac and they are good filters but not sure if they would fit on the rim of my tank since it is about 1.5-inches thick


Penguin 350 does 350 gph-$26.99*
Emperor 400 does 400 gph-$42.99*
Aquaclear 110 does 500 gph-$69.99*
*Prices based on Petsmart.com

So if your going for the most GPH for your money, you should get 2-Penguin 350's for $53.98 which is 700gph VS. 500gph for the aquaclear and youd save $16.01.

I have owned all three filters and the Penguin and Emp are pretty much the same, besides the slight difference in flow rate. As for noise, I would say the Emp and Penguin are about the same with the Aquaclear slightly less noisy. All are not bad at all noise wise if you keep the water level high enough. If they were all the same price, I would say go for the Aquaclear, but they are not. Ive had my Penguin 350 for over 3 years now and it still runs great. My aquaclears Ive had for 6+months and they run great. The Emp Ive only had for a few months but it runs great.

First things first, If I were you, Id take some measurements and make sure whatever you do buy will fit the brace of your tank otherwise your SOL.

Good luck!
[/quote]

IMO this is a really, really, really good post. This is the same information that I would have said. Good information and break-down between HOB filters.

If it was me, I would buy two 350's and call it a day. Of course, you are using this extra HOB for additional filtration so two might not be what you are looking for. However, even for one additional HOB filter I would still go with the 350. I also use this filter, and I have never had any issues with them.

As for price, get on-line and start with google. Research the various sites that house these filters and find the best price. The prices you stated:
for penguin 53$
emp 400 90$ and 
ac for about 60 $
definitely sound like LFS prices. Normally, you can order on-line and with shipping factored in, you can get the filter for half price, or just barelly over.

Just an FYI, with the set of 350's I have(four of them on various tanks), I have only had to replace one of them in seven years. Definitely a great bang for the buck.


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## scotty (Oct 3, 2007)

i have two emp 400s on a 125 one is very quiet the other is noisy. i've tried cleaning the impeller that does not work. basically i like them they move alot of water one is quiet one isn't. they are about 1 year old.


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## Zip (Apr 17, 2005)

I prefer the Emperor mainly because my first requirement in a filter is not to have to worry about water leaks/damage.

The Emperor is made of a tougher, more flexible plastic (the AC's plastic breaks more readily as evidenced by the fact that the first AC I bought was shattered in the box it arrived in).

The Emperor's "tank" is one continuous sealed piece of plastic - the AC's tank has a gasket which connects to the motor where a possible leak could develop.

The AC has some little funky plastic piece which you have to attach to the bottom to make sure the unit tilts forward so the water doesn't flow over the back lip if the sponge becomes dirty. A friend of mine had an AC which emptied most of his aquarium onto his floor while he was at work, because he either didn't have this piece installed, or it had been bumped to the wrong position - don't know which.

As someone else pointed out, I like being able to change out various filters on the Emp without disturbing all the media.

I will give the nod to the AC for having quite a bit more flow than the Emp though, although more 'gph' does not necessarily equate to better filtering when you're talking about 2 different systems with different filtering setups.

One disclaimer - I haven't bought either brand in 3-4 years, so possibly there are some design changes which I am unaware of.


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## XSPhoto (Sep 26, 2007)

StryfeMP said:


> If you're going to go to petsmart, remember that they do price matching which means that the price on the web site is what you pay at the store. So, remember to look up what you want, print out the webpage and bring it in with you when you buy your 'stuff'. More than not you will save a bunch of money because I go to petsmart a lot and they seem to overprice things by a lot, I'm glad they do price matching. Or maybe it's just the area I'm in?


Are you sure about that? It would be amazing if they do do that!


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

skubasteve! said:


> the only real difference is the emp has 2 motors while peng has one but they both still do the same gph
> 
> i also have 2 ac and they are good filters but not sure if they would fit on the rim of my tank since it is about 1.5-inches thick


Penguin 350 does 350 gph-$26.99*
Emperor 400 does 400 gph-$42.99*
Aquaclear 110 does 500 gph-$69.99*
*Prices based on Petsmart.com

So if your going for the most GPH for your money, you should get 2-Penguin 350's for $53.98 which is 700gph VS. 500gph for the aquaclear and youd save $16.01.

I have owned all three filters and the Penguin and Emp are pretty much the same, besides the slight difference in flow rate. As for noise, I would say the Emp and Penguin are about the same with the Aquaclear slightly less noisy. All are not bad at all noise wise if you keep the water level high enough. If they were all the same price, I would say go for the Aquaclear, but they are not. Ive had my Penguin 350 for over 3 years now and it still runs great. My aquaclears Ive had for 6+months and they run great. The Emp Ive only had for a few months but it runs great.

First things first, If I were you, Id take some measurements and make sure whatever you do buy will fit the brace of your tank otherwise your SOL.

Good luck!
[/quote]

Best price online with just a minute of searching was $59.99 for the AC. Thats ALL I HAVE!! I cant give any suggestions on the others but to me it seems as if you "throw away" all the good stuff when you toss the cartridges. Also, they seem to be flimsy. I prefer the AC's

I stopped by a LFS in Edison, NJ and wrote down the prices. I was surprised how inflated they are! I forgot to write down the AC but think it was around $80!!

emp 400 $65.99
emp 280 $45.99

penguin 350 $52.99
200 $39.99

Off topic but...
canisters
fluval 405 $199.99
FX5 $299.99
305 $144.99
205 $109.99

Marineland C-360 $192.99
220 $139.99


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## skubasteve! (Feb 14, 2007)

XSPhoto said:


> If you're going to go to petsmart, remember that they do price matching which means that the price on the web site is what you pay at the store. So, remember to look up what you want, print out the webpage and bring it in with you when you buy your 'stuff'. More than not you will save a bunch of money because I go to petsmart a lot and they seem to overprice things by a lot, I'm glad they do price matching. Or maybe it's just the area I'm in?


Are you sure about that? It would be amazing if they do do that!
[/quote]

Yes they do.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

why are there on line prices cheaper then in store? (i know they can be and the price matching is true but why?)

soory about the no replys but i forgot i posted this

it would be for a 125 gal tank as an additional filter (to an xp) for same mech but mostly flow and oxigination

my thought is to eventually end with xp3 and 1 hob

and coldfire: those are not lfs prices they are just general prices for all stores (chain included) andi am in canada so other canadians know that even though the $ is pretty much the same we still pay like 2x what the americans do cuz of shipping, border crossing and multiple middle men all jacking the prices for us up


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## Piranha_Mcfly (Jan 11, 2007)

BioTeAcH said:


> It is really personal preference. The Emp has more media capacity than the Penguin and the Biowheels won't stop if the filter pads get clogged up like on the Penguin. The ACs are messier to maintain IMO and you can't help disturbing the biomedia during maintainence, but those sponges can be reused a lot more times than the Emp or Penguin's cartridges!


Why not reuse the emperor cartridges? The carbon lasts for about a week anyways. I only swap the cartridges when they are getting thin and trashed. They usually last me 3-6 months. Also wash them off in aquarium water and keep the bacteria on the cartidges. I have hear the whole carbon ammo chips thing is a rip-off. My tanks are fine without them.

I reuse the cartridges and fill the media baskets with bio-media that I rarely clean.


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## Doktordet (Sep 22, 2006)

IMO, the emp400 is a better choice. AC500 is a very good filter. But IMO the Emp offers a true wet/dry principle that the ACs just cant lay a claim on. The biomedia for ACs are fully submerged inside the filter while the Emp 400 has that PLUS the biowheel which gives you that wet/dry filter effect. The bacteria that grows on the biowheel take their oxygen from the air and not from the water thus they do not compete with the fish for saturated oxygen in the water. And the more saturated oxygen in the water available for the fish, the better for the fish. And the Emp 400 has that extra media container (albeit a small one compared to AC500) for you to fill with whatever media of your choice (mechanical, chemical or bio). But again, thats just my opinion.


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## Reddish (Jul 24, 2007)

Right now petsmart.com has the penguin biowheel for $26.99 free shipping on all orders over $25.00. So for $26.99 shipped thats a great price


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Piranha_Mcfly said:


> It is really personal preference. The Emp has more media capacity than the Penguin and the Biowheels won't stop if the filter pads get clogged up like on the Penguin. The ACs are messier to maintain IMO and you can't help disturbing the biomedia during maintainence, but those sponges can be reused a lot more times than the Emp or Penguin's cartridges!


Why not reuse the emperor cartridges? The carbon lasts for about a week anyways. I only swap the cartridges when they are getting thin and trashed. They usually last me 3-6 months. Also wash them off in aquarium water and keep the bacteria on the cartidges. I have hear the whole carbon ammo chips thing is a rip-off. My tanks are fine without them.

I reuse the cartridges and fill the media baskets with bio-media that I rarely clean.
[/quote]

ac filters media are more like plasic and are heavy duty while emp and penguin is like floss so it will break up more and more after each rincing while a ac could probably last for years if it is silll washed well weekly

another thing i just thought of
from sitting on the tank how far does each filter sit back (from outside of rim to the outside of the filter) b/c my tank is on a wall and i dont want to empty a 125 to move it forward a couple inches (if they dont fit ill just get another xp)


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