Just got my tank set up and I was wondering if a aqauclear 79 will be enough? I have a 40 long tank.

Do you mean an Aquaclear 70? I'm not aware of a 79.

For me, an AC 70 would not be enough on a 40 gallon, but that's just me, and if you had a super light bioload and lots of plants it might do okay. I'd go with a Penguin or Emperor, the kind with two intakes, like an Emperor 400.

Sorry yes a 70.

It's rated up to 70 gal., I would think it should do the job depending upon how many fish will be in the tank. As inexpensive as they are you could always add another. For just a little more you could go to an Emperer 400 as Liz states which is good up to a 90 gal and has 400 gph. I am a big fan of the Emperer. I've owned two 400's and have had no issues, and very clean tanks. Be careful what you put in the tanks as some fish may not do well with the flow from larger filters, while some fish do very well.

Thanks for the info, are the empor's quiet? This tank is set up in a bedroom and noise is a issue. So far the aqua clear is really quiet. I've done the canister thing before and the 2 Ive had weren't really quite compared to this aqua clear 70

I find the Emperer to be very quiet. I also have a Marineland C360 that I have to put my hand on it sometimes to see if running it's so quiet. I really believe that you have plenty filter for your 40 with a 70 gallon rated filter though. Just pay attention closely to check against ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. If your not having issues your okay. As I mentioned you can always upgrade or add to it. There is a lot to be said for quiet in the bedroom.
Other filters I use are Aqueon 75's. Do a very good job filtering and polishing, but they are loud. Inexpensive but I find they take 1 to 2 months to quiet down. I had space limitation is only reason I purchased over the Emperer.
Good luck

The only reason I think it might not be enough is that I was running an AC 70 on my 20 long puffer tank, lol! They are very quiet, IME, and the good thing is you don't have cartridges, but you have foam blocks that do a great job of filtration but also hold onto good bacteria, and you just rinse them out. Excellent quality too.

I tend to cut in half the rated filtration recommendations, but I'm a rebel!

I used an Emperor 400 on my 40-gal breeder and was very happy with it. As long as I kept the water level up so there wasn't splashing, it was very quiet. For real quiet operation a canister would be a consideration too.

Get an AC 110 I have 3 of them, I also have 2 Emperor 400s. The AC filters hold more media and gives you more space. As for being quiet AC gets my vote as well. Nothing against the Emperor 400, I just think AC filters are better.

I still love my sponge filters over everything else.... simple, cost effective, great filtration, reliable and efficient...

Thanks everyone , gonna run my ac70 and noisy top fin 40 till next payday I'm picking up a marine 350 canister for $50

Great deal. Good luck. As you can see everyone has an opinion. When you search the internet and think you found your answer/solution you find there are often equal opposing answers, opinions, biases and so on. If it's working for you and your happy, go for it. Expensive is not always the best.

Yea I know but opinion s always help I was thinking if I went the sump route I could do away with hob filters all together right?