HOB or Canister Filter for 60G

[Hoodstream]

Hello,

I am working on building a 60G tank. My question is what you all recommend. I want to do a Canister or HOB filter. But want to know what the pros and cons could be or what peoples experiences are. I don’t want to do a sump, please nobody educate me on how beneficial a sump could be or how many headaches it will save. I’ve seen a 55 Gallon Salt tank on a Facebook group and the person was using one Aquaclear 110 HOB filter for the whole tank and his reef was beautiful. I’ve never used a canister filter but I know how they work but wondered if I could achieve same results with a HOB. Thanks in advance.

Edit: I am planning a UV and a Skimmer.

 

[blaxsun]

Get the HOB. Canister filters are a freshwater relic. The maintenance and upkeep on them alone is a reason not to use them. My order of preference:

* External sump
* HOB filtration
* Internal sump (AIO)
* Nothing
* Canister filter

 

[MaxTremors]

I would also recommend HOB over a canister filter. I would get a small power filter for mechanical filtration, and then get a ready madeor DIY a HOB refugium, it will do more for your tank than a skimmer will (not saying it’s either, I would do both).

 

[stephj03]

Why not a hang on back skimmer?

 

[blaxsun]

Why not a hang on back skimmer?

He's saying do both, ie: skimmer and refugium.

 

[JachPot]

Hello,

I am working on building a 60G tank. My question is what you all recommend. I want to do a Canister or HOB filter. But want to know what the pros and cons could be or what peoples experiences are. I don’t want to do a sump, please nobody educate me on how beneficial a sump could be or how many headaches it will save. I’ve seen a 55 Gallon Salt tank on a Facebook group and the person was using one Aquaclear 110 HOB filter for the whole tank and his reef was beautiful. I’ve never used a canister filter but I know how they work but wondered if I could achieve same results with a HOB. Thanks in advance.

Edit: I am planning a UV and a Skimmer.

I've personally used a marine land emperor 280 on a reef for years and I've used aquaclears on a bunch of freshwater tanks. I'd recommend either (marineland 400 or 2-280s) or the aquaclear 110 (they have variable flow to some degree, you might run it in the middle). In my opinion, you want to "over filter" with HOBs instead of ever being close to under filtering.


The marineland has the advantage of having carbon in the filter pads and basically filter floss. They're easy to rinse off with water and scrub with a brush to get a lot of life out of them. So instead of changing filter floss in the sump you can scrub the pad every 3-4 days. The aqua clear has a little bit more free space to put media in, but it comes with a sponge that you probably want to replace. I used to run filter floss on my freshwater on top of a bag of carbon and purigen.

Imo you can't go wrong with either. The marineland pads are a bit expensive up front, but I bought them in a bulk and cleaned them a lot. The aqua clear allows for a bit more customization. You'll probably want to run a HOB skinner either way if you stock your tank up to a medium-high bioload.

 

[Hoodstream]

I would also recommend HOB over a canister filter. I would get a small power filter for mechanical filtration, and then get a ready madeor DIY a HOB refugium, it will do more for your tank than a skimmer will (not saying it’s either, I would do both).

Get the HOB. Canister filters are a freshwater relic. The maintenance and upkeep on them alone is a reason not to use them. My order of preference:

* External sump
* HOB filtration
* Internal sump (AIO)
* Nothing
* Canister filter

I've personally used a marine land emperor 280 on a reef for years and I've used aquaclears on a bunch of freshwater tanks. I'd recommend either (marineland 400 or 2-280s) or the aquaclear 110 (they have variable flow to some degree, you might run it in the middle). In my opinion, you want to "over filter" with HOBs instead of ever being close to under filtering.


The marineland has the advantage of having carbon in the filter pads and basically filter floss. They're easy to rinse off with water and scrub with a brush to get a lot of life out of them. So instead of changing filter floss in the sump you can scrub the pad every 3-4 days. The aqua clear has a little bit more free space to put media in, but it comes with a sponge that you probably want to replace. I used to run filter floss on my freshwater on top of a bag of carbon and purigen.

Imo you can't go wrong with either. The marineland pads are a bit expensive up front, but I bought them in a bulk and cleaned them a lot. The aqua clear allows for a bit more customization. You'll probably want to run a HOB skinner either way if you stock your tank up to a medium-high bioload.

Thank you all this is great info. Really appreciate it everyone.

 

[Vaundey]

Hello,

I am working on building a 60G tank. My question is what you all recommend. I want to do a Canister or HOB filter. But want to know what the pros and cons could be or what peoples experiences are. I don’t want to do a sump, please nobody educate me on how beneficial a sump could be or how many headaches it will save. I’ve seen a 55 Gallon Salt tank on a Facebook group and the person was using one Aquaclear 110 HOB filter for the whole tank and his reef was beautiful. I’ve never used a canister filter but I know how they work but wondered if I could achieve same results with a HOB. Thanks in advance.

Edit: I am planning a UV and a Skimmer.

You can certainly achieve the same results with a HOB as a canister, but people who claim that canisters are a massive pain probably haven't used the newest generation of products. I run a Fluval 107 with an inline heater and skimmer attachment, and it takes maybe 5-10 very hassle and mess-free minutes to maintenance, which only needs to happen once every 3-4 weeks unless you are overfeeding an overstocked tank (which most people are).

I will admit that an HOB is easier to access and maintain generally, but know that the HOB option is always noisier and usually uglier.

 

[reddevilant]

I use two HOB filters on my 90g. They are fantastic! I use Seachem Tidals. I really like the size of the media basket, the pump is in the tank rather than out (which is why most are noisy), and it has a "skimmer"/surface intake as well.

 

[Duncan62]

Hello,

I am working on building a 60G tank. My question is what you all recommend. I want to do a Canister or HOB filter. But want to know what the pros and cons could be or what peoples experiences are. I don’t want to do a sump, please nobody educate me on how beneficial a sump could be or how many headaches it will save. I’ve seen a 55 Gallon Salt tank on a Facebook group and the person was using one Aquaclear 110 HOB filter for the whole tank and his reef was beautiful. I’ve never used a canister filter but I know how they work but wondered if I could achieve same results with a HOB. Thanks in advance.

Edit: I am planning a UV and a Skimmer.

Use both. You'll have the ability to use a wide range of media from live rock rubble to resins and provide more flow.

 

[Tamberav]

The Seachem HOBs are really nice. They surface skim.

 

[Hoodstream]

I use two HOB filters on my 90g. They are fantastic! I use Seachem Tidals. I really like the size of the media basket, the pump is in the tank rather than out (which is why most are noisy), and it has a "skimmer"/surface intake as well.

Use both. You'll have the ability to use a wide range of media from live rock rubble to resins and provide more flow.

I was actually thinking of using both canister and hob. I know it sounds tacky but I wanna either paint or hang a black backing to hide wires and everything plus I love the clean black look backing on some tanks. Appreciate this feedback I live in the chicago suburbs and setting up a pump is not ideal for my living situation so this advice really helps. Cheers.

 

[Hoodstream]

The Seachem HOBs are really nice. They surface skim.

I heard Seachem Tidals are incredible. Honestly this Aquaclear is the best hang on back I’ve used yet and have recommended it to my customer base, wish we sold tidals here

 

[reddevilant]

I was actually thinking of using both canister and hob. I know it sounds tacky but I wanna either paint or hang a black backing to hide wires and everything plus I love the clean black look backing on some tanks. Appreciate this feedback I live in the chicago suburbs and setting up a pump is not ideal for my living situation so this advice really helps. Cheers.

Lol I did the same thing. I have a cheap plain black background that you could get at petco or any pet shop. I think it looks great! When coralline grows on the back panel it makes it more noticeable.

 

[Duncan62]

Lol I did the same thing. I have a cheap plain black background that you could get at petco or any pet shop. I think it looks great! When coralline grows on the back panel it makes it more noticeable.

Mine are all blue. Lol

 

[vlangel]

I have not used a canister filter in a long time but in the day they were more trouble than a HOB filter. However one big advantage they had was they were clean looking. Imput tubing and return nozzle tubing is all that is in the tank. I liked that.

However for reasons of economics and ease of maintenance, when my 56 gallon column tank as an AIO, I chose an AquaClear 70. It did a great job.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Get yourself an FX4 or FX6 (if you can fit it) and an aquamaxx 1.5 hob skimmer.

I use an FX4 with that skimmer on my 75 gallon. Love them, easy to maintain and water changes are a dream.

 

[Hoodstream]

Get yourself an FX4 or FX6 (if you can fit it) and an aquamaxx 1.5 hob skimmer.

I use an FX4 with that skimmer on my 75 gallon. Love them, easy to maintain and water changes are a dream.

Going to look into the skimmer now. Appreciate it.

 

[GARRIGA]

Have used both and prefer the canister as it will allow the least amount of bypass. I've found they go longer between maintenance and that plus quick disconnects makes servicing them no issue for me. You can also direct the return better and will be quieter because of it. HOB require a certain fill level or could be possibly noisy from the sound of water.

An FX6 would be a perfect match as it carries more area fro biological, mechanical and chemical filtration yet the flow can be cu in half if needed.

 

[AquaBen]

Hello,

I am working on building a 60G tank. My question is what you all recommend. I want to do a Canister or HOB filter. But want to know what the pros and cons could be or what peoples experiences are. I don’t want to do a sump, please nobody educate me on how beneficial a sump could be or how many headaches it will save. I’ve seen a 55 Gallon Salt tank on a Facebook group and the person was using one Aquaclear 110 HOB filter for the whole tank and his reef was beautiful. I’ve never used a canister filter but I know how they work but wondered if I could achieve same results with a HOB. Thanks in advance.

Edit: I am planning a UV and a Skimmer.

I used a HOB skimmer for years on my 40 gal and liked it very much. It was a CPR Bak Pak 2. It had two compartments, one for the skimmer and one for bio media. I took out the bio media and replaced it with Cheato so I had a refugium. As long as I kept it clean I had no trouble with it and the skimmer cup was easy to monitor and empty. At the same time I also kept a canister which had a compartment for bio media and a compartment for carbon. I also had a UV filter in line. The entire system worked well for me. Now I have a larger tank (65 gal) and I use an HOB that runs to a sump for the refugium. I am thinking about hooking up the old canister again and making one compartment into a GFO reactor and using the other for carbon again.