We bought a 29 gallon fish tank and all the little things that go with it about a year ago. The first filter I bought was the Whisper Filter I had to clean it two or three times a week, even though the filter was a big one it just did not do a good job. I just kept cleaning it and putting it back in the tank. I also had to clean the tank weekly there was just too much junk in the rocks. My husband went looking for another one and came home with the Penguin Biowheel Mini this is not big enough I told him. He did not realize that it was a mini filter. He wanted to use it anyway and said if it didn't keep the tank clear he would buy another to put on the other side. I just shook my head and said under my breath, this isn't going to work.

Needless to say I am glad I did not say this out loud, because I would have lost the bet and had to eat my words.

It took half a day and the tank was clear. Hmmmm. Well maybe this will work.

The filter

The filter is about 6 to 8 inches across and looks like most others except it has a little wheel that sits on the top and spins the water around.

The wheel has filter paper in it and looks like it would not last long, but it does, We have had this filter for almost 5 months.

The body of the filter has a long plastic pipe in it that comes apart into three sections. The rounded part of the pipe fits into the body of the filter. I didn't realize until I cleaned it twice that there was another part that comes out for cleaning, this is the part that the round pipe fits into. It is a plastic housing that has a little spinner on it and fits into the bottom of the filter then the round pipe is attached to seated into this.

A charcoal filter fits into the back of the filter. Then the little spinning wheel fits on the front of the filter that is in the water.

We bought a pack of mini charcoal filters that are disposable they come in a four pack and lasted us about 2 months.

Cleaning the mini filter

Each week I take the whole set up out of the tank, I let the water drain out and unplug it from the outlet and take it to the sink.

Here I take everything apart and get a brush and some rice.
I put rice into each section of the plastic pipe and add a little water and put a finger into each end of the pipe and shake. I then empty the rice into a cup and rinse the piece of pipe I have cleaned, looking inside to make sure that all of the junk is gone. I do this for every piece of the pipe. I then take the charcoal filter out and using my spray nozzle on the sink I spray it full force with hot water and this generally lets me use it again. I usually use one of the charcoal filter through three cleaning. Be sure and take the little wheel and spray it with the hot water this cleans it very well.

This mini Penguin water filter keeps my tank crystal clear sometimes for more then a week. I have 4 huge Goldfish and one small bottom feeder catfish that has to rely on food instead of algae. This one did the job better then the large Whisper filter we were using before.

The noise level is not as high as it was using the Whisper filter. It sounds like a gentle flowing trickle and is not irritating at all.

My Recommendation

I would recommend this filter to anyone that has a aquarium.
buy the right size for your aquarium and clean it regularly and you should not have any problems. Just don't do like I did and drop the little paddle wheel behind the bookcase that the aquarium is on. You don't want your husband asking, how did you do that!

Recommended: Yes