Opinions on the Penguin 350?

[Potawato]

Picked one of these up the other night, and so far it's doing an AWESOME job keeping my tank crystal clear with all my fish

 

[IDunnoWhy]

Marineland Penguin filters are by far NOT the most popular among most people on this forum it would seem (I've read more than one thread about them).

I however have them running on all of my tanks.

I Currently Own:

Penguin 330 (I have 3 of them, One converted to a HOB refugium for my SW tank)
Penguin 150 (2 of them)
Penguin 125 (Old thing....just won't die)
Penguin 100 (Great Mini Filter)
Magnum 350 Canister

Aside from the Bio-Wheel bearings getting gummed up (Only happens on the older models) I have had zero problems with them, and I agree they keep the water crystal clear!

 

[HomeSweetFishTank]

I've owned this filter for ~8 months and I'll give my 8 month findings.

I use this on my 55 gallon freshwater community tank. It's not a bad filter at all, but there are a couple small annoyances. To start, the biowheel bearing gum problem is still around and while mine don't always completely seize up, one generally has a hard time turning and requires frequent cleaning. I have however, not had to replace the biowheels for any reason... They seem to be holding up just fine. Also, after 8 months the unit isn't as quiet as the day I plugged it in. While it's still far less than audibly annoying, it's noticeably louder. The upside is that the filters are pretty inexpensive if you buy them in quantity and the filter does a pretty good job of keeping up with my bio-load. I typically had both filter media cartridges filled, swapping out one every 3-4 weeks. For anyone looking to buy a Penguin 350, A competitive product to the Penguin 350 would be the AquaClear 110, which is IMO, a bit better.

Having said that, I'm moving to a large wet/dry filter setup and switching some stuff around in the tank shortly here. I will be keeping the penguin on the 55 during the switchover, but I will move it to a 20G spare after that.

All-in-all, it's not a bad filter but I'd suggest to anyone serious in the hobby to get a decent canister or something and be done with it.
-HSFT

 

[exhumed07]

I love my penguin filters. I have a 150 in my 10g and 2 350's in my 55.(needed the extra cerulation after putting in the driftwood.) and they do an absolutly awsome job in my tank. I have never had any of the bio wheels siezing up. I've had the 150 for about 2 years and have only cleaned the bearings because I was cleaning the whole filter. the only annoyance I have had has been when changing the filter meadia the crap coming loose and clouding up the tank for a while as well as when the power goes out which happens alot for me. (dang trees and city folk lol)

 

[Potawato]

I love my penguin filters. I have a 150 in my 10g and 2 350's in my 55.(needed the extra cerulation after putting in the driftwood.) and they do an absolutly awsome job in my tank. I have never had any of the bio wheels siezing up. I've had the 150 for about 2 years and have only cleaned the bearings because I was cleaning the whole filter. the only annoyance I have had has been when changing the filter meadia the crap coming loose and clouding up the tank for a while as well as when the power goes out which happens alot for me. (dang trees and city folk lol)

I've got my filters backed up by a Belkin 550va battery unit.. It can run the filters for a good hour - 2 hrs

 

[HomeSweetFishTank]

I guess I forgot to mention the poo-stir-up thing. That does happen when you change the filters, like exhumed07 said. The good thing is the filter clears all that junk up within a few hours, so it's not too bad. Like Potawato, I've got my tank on a 500VA APC backup, so no problem there when the power goes out.*thumbsup2

 

[MrBungle]

that's a good idea with the battery backup. might have to pick one of those up. my friend has this filter on his 35g and has had no problems. I myself use emperors but have a penguin 100 on my 10g with no problems

 

[HomeSweetFishTank]

Regarding battery backups here's a tip:
If you want a battery backup, call your local Interstate Batteries or Batteries Plus dealer. I buy battery backup replacement batteries in droves and the manager recognized that I kept coming back. He mentioned that he gets quite a few consumer customers that bring in "bad" battery backups to dispose of. He said generally it's just dead batteries and he replaces the battery, whala, free battery backup! If for some reason it's dead, the majority of them are still covered under manufacturer warranty and he simply ships them out to get fixed. The returned units just sit around the office and they use them on everything. He mentioned if I call ahead, they can dig up a few battery backups without batteries and as long as I buy the batteries, they'll give me the unit for free. Easy way to get a battery backup on all your gear.

 

[exhumed07]

well if the battery backup works for 2 hours or so lets see let me do the math for the last big power outage I would need 120 battery backups. I was out of power for 10 days in january. the tank was in the basment and water temp got down to 43*. that was the big problem. at least we have a wood stove on the first floor so my tropica fish were ok.

 

[Potawato]

well if the battery backup works for 2 hours or so lets see let me do the math for the last big power outage I would need 120 battery backups. I was out of power for 10 days in january. the tank was in the basment and water temp got down to 43*. that was the big problem. at least we have a wood stove on the first floor so my tropica fish were ok.

We have life support devices here for someone on Hospice, if we were to lose power for any extended amount of time we would be forced to rent a generator.