Customer Reviews

Marineland Penguin Power Filter, 30 to 50-Gallon, 200 GPH

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have had my Penguin 200 with the bio-wheel for about a month now. Before I bought it, I did some research and read the reviews about this particular model. I saw all the bad press people were giving it about it's "restart problems" and "Bad Connections" etc. etc. and I have to say, the only problem with the P-200 are the short-bus riders who don't have their water ALL THE WAY UP TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OUTPUT AREA.

5*s*t*a*r*s, the bio-wheel is super, it isn't noisy (you know it's on, but it doesn't stop you from reading a book), and my fish have personally told me that they love it. My fish talk to me.

I wasn't expecting much with this filter because of the reviews. I was told it is a great filter so I decided to give it a go (plus its pretty cool).

I don't quite understand those who say they have problems with noise. There is a range that you have to keep our water level between. As long as it isn't too high or too low, it is pretty quite. The water sound is louder than some other filters I've had, but the motor is barely audible. It won't take long for you to figure out at what level to keep the water.

The second problem it the bio wheel not rotating. I can't figure out how this can happen if the filter is clean. I keep the bushings of the bio wheel clean and it rotates just as well as the day I purchased it.

The third problem I read on here is the restart difficulty. I did have difficulty restarting the filter once, when it kicked off as I was setting the tank up. I don't blame the filter though because I caused back pressure to form in the intake tube due to rearranging the tank decorations. You just have to know how to restart it. If you have problems, follow the steps below:

1. Unplug the filter and raise the intake tube a couple centimeters.
2. Prime the filter (fill it with water). By raising the intake tube, you prevent the water from siphoning through the intake tube into the tank.
3. Make sure the water level of the tank comes up to the outlet ramp of the filter.
4. Have someone plug the filter in. When you feel the pressure of the impeller, lower the intake tube a couple inches back to its original location.

The water should start flowing.

If you purchase this filter and it starts misbehaving, just take a step back and calmly follow the instructions. The filter is most likely not the reason why it isn't working. Its a great filter and I would by it again any day.

This power filter rocks!!!!!!! It replaced 2 filters i was using that weren't doing there job. I can finally show people my tank and not feel ashamed. The waters crystal clear and the fish are happy and healthy.

I am used to canister filters. However, I wanted another filter on my native fish tank, in order to increase surface flow and to serve as a backup biological filter. This seemed perfect. Compared to the Hagen, the plastic on the Penguin is superior. The Hagen is hard plastic and is often found cracked at the bottom, even when new! Here are my pros and cons for the Penguin 200.

PRO:
-good power/flow.
-output noise: like a mini-waterfall sound. Not bad when you have the water level higher than the output chute but very loud if you have your water level low in the tank. Kind of peaceful sounding, actually.
-restart: you must have the water level of the tank as above or their won't be enough power to auto-prime when coming on from a power outtage. Keep the water high.
-inexpensive compared to Hagen
-biowheel is an excellent biomedia. This filter is effectively a "wet-dry" filter.

CON:
-filter design. Not as good as Hagen. I just do not like Penguin's panel type filter. It limits what media you can use. It would be nice to have a bag of biomedia if you wanted but this filter is not designed for that. I do not use Penguins disposable panel filters. Instead, I bought a large hard foam and cut it to size to use as a pre-filter.
-noise. Aside from output noise, there is a coarse hum from the impeller and also from the biowheel spinning that is easily heard when standing near the tank. It is personal opinion what is too much.

SUMMARY:
-excellent filter. I consider it to be superior to the comparable Hagen in every way except filter media design. That is a trade-off that I can easily live with. However, if you cannot have the tank water almost to the top of the tank (maybe 1cm below lid on my tank), this HOB filter may not be for you.

I needed just the bio-wheel. Amazon had the whole filter with bio-wheel for 5 dollars more than the bio-wheel inself. I used the extra intake to extend the filter inyake since I have a tall (hexagon) tank. Works great.

I have had three of these filters. I like the filters when they work, and they do work well. Unfortunately, they have an annoying problem of the motors burning out. The first one I owned took a couple of years to burn out, and the second one took only two months! Of course there is a warranty, but I cannot have my fish without a filter while Marineland processes my return and the replacement, so I ended up buying a third filter, which means that when I get the replacement, I will have an extra new filter on hand. Oh well, I guess that will be nice for when this third one finally burns out. While checking reviews elsewhere on this unit, I find that I am not alone in this experience. These units are apparently very sensitive to power fluctuations and temporary power outages, so I have put a battery backup/surge protector on the new unit. Hope that helps this one last longer. Speaking of warranties, when calling to get the RA, I was stuck on hold forever and never did get an answer. Will try again tomorrow.
Bottom line: Filter works well when it does work, but longevity/durability is a problem, and customer service is an epic fail.

We have two of these filters, the Penguin biowheel 200 on our 36-gallon tank and the Penguin biowheel 100 on our 10-gallon tank for the baby guppies. They are quiet and seem to filter the water much better than the Aqueon filter that I used to have on the large tank. I also appreciate the space for extra filter media. The smaller Penguin 100 took a few minutes to start the first time but it has worked great ever since then. All you have to do is fill the filter with water before plugging it in and it should start easily. And I had no problems with starting the larger Penguin 200 filter. And the 200 series really moves the water! Our red-tailed shark and bristle-nosed plecos love that! I'm a vet tech and I think that the biowheel is a great idea for the biological filtration that is so very important with aquariums. I would recommend this product.

I'm pitching in because I haven't had the negative experiences others have expressed in these reviews. I have replaced this filter once in 25+ years, and the replacement is running smoothly after at least 10 years.

My previous one had a reset lever on the side, which this one lacks. It has not been a problem. From time to time (rarely), the wheel slows down or starts and stops, but I've always managed to get it going again.

I recommend this as a very good product.

Something has changed because the picture on here does not match what I have. My cover says BIO-Wheel 200, which led me to this listing.

The Pengiun 200 is a great little filter. Not loud at all and very easy to access. And I have had no problems with the bio wheel...it spins like crazy.

The key is to make sure the propeller housing is seated properly. There is a little black tab on the top of the housing that needs to slip into a little slot on the case. Once it is lined up, give it a good push down with your thumb until the tab is in all the way. If the tab is not in all the way, the filter sounds like an ice crusher and the flow slows so the bio wheel doesn't spin fast.

I bought the extra cartridge for the second slot and filled it with Seachem Matrx and that has been working great as well.

After being out of town for 3 days, I came home to see one of our filters not working. This filter was just purchased 3 weeks ago, after what we thought we had a broken filter, (roughly 2 years old). We use filter floss, not carbon, since it's cheaper and works better, plus a preventative measure to avoid getting "hole in the head." (For those that don't know, once your carbon filters are used up, if you happen to forget or for the people that are just bad owners and expect stuff to keep working, the carbon will start spitting back out into your tank, which is deadly for your fish.)
Anyway, checked the intake tube, nothing. Plugged in, didn't hear anything. Filter floss had wrapped around the impeller, so after freeing it of that, worked just fine! I haven't had any of the issues other users have had. When cleaning your tank, unplug the filters. Make sure to pull up the intake tube, then fill the water back up, plug in, put tube back in, and should work.