Marineland Bio-Wheel Penguin Aquarium Power Filter

I waited a while to write this review, to give the filter a chance to prove my first impressions wrong. However, unfortunately, it has only confirmed my thoughts that the quality of Penguin filters has recently declined. I've used Marineland Penguin biowheel filters on my tanks for over thirty years, and have always been super happy with them. Recently, I replaced an old filter, and am disappointed that the quality just doesn't seem to be what it once was. The biowheel rarely spins. For the first month or so, it would spin for a day after I totally clean the filter (yes, after 30 years, I know how to do it thoroughly) and replace the cartridge, but then stop. I'd reach in a couple of times a I waited a while to write this review, to give the filter a chance to prove my first impressions wrong. However, unfortunately, it has only confirmed my thoughts that the quality of Penguin filters has recently declined. I've used Marineland Penguin biowheel filters on my tanks for over thirty years, and have always been super happy with them. Recently, I replaced an old filter, and am disappointed that the quality just doesn't seem to be what it once was. The biowheel rarely spins. For the first month or so, it would spin for a day after I totally clean the filter (yes, after 30 years, I know how to do it thoroughly) and replace the cartridge, but then stop. I'd reach in a couple of times a day and give it a spin by hand, just to keep the surface moist, but it never spins or stays in contact with the water long enough to build a biofilm. Lately, however, even though I'm changing the cartridge and cleaning the filter every other week, the wheel doesn't spin at all, not even freshly cleaned. The filter does not seem to pull up enough water flow to keep the wheel spinning. Either the biowheel design has changed, or the pump motor on these filters is not as strong as they used to be. My aquarium is definitely not staying as clean. I may wind up going to a larger sized filter, or researching other brands. … more

I bought two of these total for my 75 gallon tank. Within a couple of months, they started making an awful grinding noise. I replaced the impeller on one, then the other a couple of weeks later. Less than a month later, same thing again. No, nothing got sucked up into the filter, the impellers were not damaged or scratched. I went back to using aqua-clears. Not a problem since. Don't waste your money on these.

The first day I put this together, it worked great. I read the reviews and thought I wouldnt have the same issues others had. Of course I was wrong. If your power goes out, it does not refill itself when the power resumes. It was running for maybe 2mins before the power came back on and it has never worked since. I tried everything to get it to work, but like others said, after a power outage it just stops working.

It’s a filter and it seems to be doing its job. However unlike my older version it doesn’t seem to draw as much water. Lower powered pump perhaps? Bio-Wheels are junk. Brand new setup and they only turn every so often. Yes I have the proper water level and have made various attempts to fix the issue. The “plastic bearing” they rest in has to be one of the dumbest designs I’ve seen. Also The quality of the wheels themselves are pretty bad too. They are nowhere near being concentric. You can see how much they wobble when they do turn. Which is likely why they get stuck. Overall, yes it does it’s job, but I know Marineland can do much better than this….

I have used Penguin HOB filters for more than 30 years both the 350 and the 200. This is my first experience with a 150 but it is the same reliable principle as the 200 and the 350. They are a real work horse and run for years without issues. Though outdated by today's technology they still do a great job at an amazing price. The new Penguin Pro 175 would have cost $30 more. Though I prefer the bottom to top water flow as in the Tidal 35 or the Fluval 20, the price point for the Tidal is $40 and the Fluval 20 at $30, so I will deal with the sideways waterflow of the Penguin 150 for $7.87. :-)

Whelp. I really wanted these to work. I added them to a 75-gallon cichlid tank as additional filtration. BOTH failed within a couple of days. They just shut down. Thankfully I still had the canister filter or I might have lost all of my fish! Unplugged and replugged and one came back on but quit again after less than an hour. I’m super bummed. I have another on a 29-gallon tank that sounds like an airplane getting ready to take off so I doubt it will last much longer either. I’ll be replacing it ASAP. Thankful for Chewy’s excellence in customer service though!

I bought this filter because it was priced pretty low the filter itself works well in a 55 gallon tank but if you have many fish ide buy 2 filters. After about 6 to 12 months the filters start to become noisy and doesn’t sound nice especially if your tank is in the living room. You get what you pay for :)

I barely got this May 2021 and now its not working, Bio wheel stopped turning and the only way I can make it work for a bit is turn it off and then turn it back on and its ok for another couple of days.

So I have had this filter on my 20 gallon high for 3 weeks, it has done a great job filtering the water and keeping it clear besides the immense tannins that are naturally seeping from my driftwood and more so my soil, I even got a separate UV light pump separate from the filter to help with any possible algae in the water flow that could occur as I figure out my lighting strength. So far so good. There's tons of brown slime all over the filter media, so it doing a good job getting what it can from the intense load as i did water changes for 3 days. But!! This darn wheel, I had to fidget with it and the filter media to get it to roll multiple times, it finally was constant for 20 days. I noticed So I have had this filter on my 20 gallon high for 3 weeks, it has done a great job filtering the water and keeping it clear besides the immense tannins that are naturally seeping from my driftwood and more so my soil, I even got a separate UV light pump separate from the filter to help with any possible algae in the water flow that could occur as I figure out my lighting strength. So far so good. There's tons of brown slime all over the filter media, so it doing a good job getting what it can from the intense load as i did water changes for 3 days. But!! This darn wheel, I had to fidget with it and the filter media to get it to roll multiple times, it finally was constant for 20 days. I noticed alot of slime slower water flow, so I wiped out everything in tank water. Started up, wheels moving, then I realize I had to change one of the pads, once I did the wheel stopped moving. NO there was nothing blocking the: turbine, the intake tubing, the intake filter grates. The bio-wheel bearings or arms. Filter media was not clogged. And the water level was literally a little over the the outflow lip, meaning plenty ;) So my cycle was starting to work in those 20 days, then got interrupted from the wheel not moving for 2 days (meaning the amount of surface area that the bacteria was active with water flow was much smaller than normal due to the wheel not rotating) so my ammonia spiked and nitrites started to turn into nitrates but then ammonia stopped getting eaten. Okay, so I poke at things and make it work and did something that did! Because I really do like this filter It does a good job, especially with a 20g/30g capacity ratio. So I pulled apart the bio-wheel, The frames a little snug, but nothing became damaged, and had a solid pleated sheet, so I placed it inside the second media slot, with the filter/charcoal media in front and after 8 hours I did a chem test and could see the two bacterias where cycling!!! So no, I don't recommend This product to anyone because I know no one would likely be like me to take apart the wheel and figure out a way to make it work. Lol but I do like the filtration power ;) … more

I bought one of these about two months ago. and it stopped working after a little bit, but i assumed it was just a fluke and decided to get another because i like the water flow and it does a great job. but after i received my second one, it stopped working after three days. i’m beyond frustrated and upset that i wasted money on these:(