# Marineland Magnum 350 or C-220 for 55 Gallon?



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

I know this has been beaten to death, but just need some more reassurance.

I have a 55 gallon that is empty currently, with pool filter sand and flat rock in it. I am doing Malawi Mbuna and Peacock's in the tank and most likely Yellow Labs, yellow tail Acei, and still deciding on the peacocks.

I already have a Tetra Whisper EX-70 H.O.B. that does a steady job. I also have a Top Fin 60 filter which is just way too noisy and doesn't do that many gallons per hour at all. So i am trying to decide between the Magnum 350 and the C-220.

I know the Magnum is rated at 350 gallons per hour and that would technically put me at 690 GPH in my 55, but then again the C-220 has a lot more options with filter media and bio-wheels, but is only rated at 220 GPH, but i would still be at the recommendation and at 560 GPH on the tank.

Do you think it's better with more media choices, or just use carbon, or the micron pad in the Magnum and have more water flow? Prices are $81.99 shipped for th Magnum 350 and $91 shipped for the C-220, so price doesn't matter, i just want the best one for my tank.

Keep in mind i will still be running the Ex-70 at all times also with carbon filter cartridges.

Here's my tank currently, i am going to find more boulders/large rocks for it, but all the flat rock will stay in the tank.










Thanks!


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## Ensorcelled (Mar 1, 2011)

First off, great looking tank. Love the rockwork! Second, I don't have much experience with marinelands canisters but if it were me, I would probably choose the C-220 for the exact reason you brought up; more media options. I would also not even worry about carbon as its not needed for every day filtration. Just there to remove colors, odors, medications etc, so if you wanted you could keep some on handy just incase you need to remove said pollutants. Hope this helps! :thumb:

P.S.; I have been curious on the performance of those new whisper filters. How would you stack it up against the other HOB competition?


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

That's a tough choice... Keep in mind you don't have to put charcoal in the 350's media basket. You can fill it with whatever you want. If you went that route I would fill it with Biomax or some other kind of bio media.

With that said... I have the C-530 on my 135gal and so far, love it. It is easy to prime, quiet, and has a ton of room for media. I have it pretty much packed with nothing but Biomax, except the bottom tray which has the mechanical foam/sponge filter pads.

I personally would probably go for the C-220. It's newer technology and like you said, it will give you more choices to use different media within the filter at the same time...


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

I started to get a magnum 350 but have since decided on a sunsun hw-304b. Cheaper...more media options(3 media trays) and it does 525gph plus UV. I don't really care so much about the UV but the 525gph and multiple media trays interest me. I have read some good reviews. Just another thought.


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## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Ensorcelled said:


> First off, great looking tank. Love the rockwork! Second, I don't have much experience with marinelands canisters but if it were me, I would probably choose the C-220 for the exact reason you brought up; more media options. I would also not even worry about carbon as its not needed for every day filtration. Just there to remove colors, odors, medications etc, so if you wanted you could keep some on handy just incase you need to remove said pollutants. Hope this helps! :thumb:
> 
> P.S.; I have been curious on the performance of those new whisper filters. How would you stack it up against the other HOB competition?


That's a good point. Plus i've read that after about 2 weeks Carbon is useless anyway, so i might just avoid it completely except on the HOB filter.

I like the EX-70 a lot. It is VERY quiet compared to the Marineland penguin filters, the Top Fin, and Aqueon filters i've worked with. The only thing i hate is how expensive the filters are and how thin the filter floss is. I think i'm just going to make up my own filters to fit in the filter instead of paying $13 for 4 filters when mine takes 2 at a time.

So it seems like the consensus is...more options of media and newer technology is better than a slight increase in the GPH?


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

The new whisper HOBs are a joke IMO I've seen em. You still can't beat an Aquaclear. You could put a 110 and a 70 on there and be laughing, if you don't want to go canister.

Otherwise you could go AC70 and Eheim 2215. They're cheap. Especially today (boxing day) and it is my prefered can. Some hate em. I don't. No bypass.

My 90 has a 2217 and an AC110 but I will be adding more filtration. It takes too long to clear out particulate after feeding atm. You know when fish chew and you get those little tiny bits that float around for a short while. The while's not short enough for me on mine.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

aquariam said:


> The new whisper HOBs are a joke IMO I've seen em. You still can't beat an Aquaclear. You could put a 110 and a 70 on there and be laughing, if you don't want to go canister.
> 
> Otherwise you could go AC70 and Eheim 2215. They're cheap. Especially today (boxing day) and it is my prefered can. Some hate em. I don't. No bypass.
> 
> My 90 has a 2217 and an AC110 but I will be adding more filtration. It takes too long to clear out particulate after feeding atm. You know when fish chew and you get those little tiny bits that float around for a short while. The while's not short enough for me on mine.


FX5 baby!!! I am for sure getting one by the end of summer. Still going to get something in the meantime and still trying to make sure I get the right one. I wish my local chain store had the AC110 but they don't. Still think I am going to order the sunsun canister or aquatop. I wish the eheim was enough and have had them in the past and they are very good canister filters.


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## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Well considering the AC110 is $89 at my store, a canister filter would be cheaper. So i think I'm going to order the Marineland C-220 and go that way.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Let's keep 'where to get the best deals' type of posts out of the open discussion forum, please and thanks. A post was removed.


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## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Well i went ahead and ordered a AC110 since the price was awesome. So i will be either keeping both the AC110 and the EX-70 or doing an AC-110/C-220 on my tank. I'm gonna try it with 2 HOB filters and see how it goes, if it's not doing a good enough job, we will have to buy a canister. But with the 2 filters i will be TECHNICALLY getting 840 GPH flow out of the 2 filters, so that's awesome!


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