Lets Talk Canisters...

What Filtration do you Use.?

  • Hang On Back Filter

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Canister Filter

    Votes: 9 40.9%
  • Sumps

    Votes: 13 59.1%

  • Total voters
    22

...

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Hello reefers, today I have done some filtration research and I do want a mostly natural reef although a canister can save me a bit of money from reacters pumps etc, so who here uses canisters? I know people use them for reacters which is partly what I am doing for some carbon and some bio media now when people refer to canisters as nitrate factories, why.? Wouldn't it depend on your schedule and media? I know people in the real word don't switch filter socks everyday. What if you have biohome ultimate and you change a filter pad every week? I know canister filters are inconvenient but lets refer to the fluval fx series. Ease of access and you can even drain the water from the inside. I know other canisters are more inconvenient but can't people with smaller tanks or have no room for a sump have a canister, I feel like there is far to much shaming on canisters. I have used a crappy Aqua Zonic Aquapro 800 on my 40 gallon and my phosphates and nitrates are very low and I service every month and a half. Also canisters are much less prone to failing like for a sump you have a pump, overflow, pipes etc. For larger aquariums I do believe you need a sump because it will be cheaper and yes, servicing a canister to some 'Energy Efficient' reefers is a no-no and that's fine but I am also like that. I have no room in my cabinet for a sump but I can put a cansiter filter on the outside of my cabinet and it will not look that ugly. Now yes, sumps do have two major pros, more water volume and equipment hiding, but I realised that if you just get a Hang on Fuge you can have a fuge and put some equipment in there. Also, for someone who doesn't want to calculate measurements, spend a bunch of money on piping and drilling overflows, a canister is still doing its job, the job isn't a bunch of fancy features and equipment, its reliable filtration, there are tech junkies out there and this may not be for you but the things any filtration needs to do more Important than anything is-

Get Rid of Floating Particulates
Biologically Filter out Ammonia,Nitrite,Nitrate and Phosphate (Last two not fully and rock mainly does that.)
Make the Water Clear of Impurities, Toxins, Oders, etc. (This is carbon btw, I think you know. Lol)

Now sumps do all this and so do canisters, Yes in a canister you won't have all the room like a sump but you can still incorporate it. Now people are probably saying 'I don't want a Hang on Fuge or HOB Skimmers' and there are some low profile options that go in tank such as the Tunze DOC Comline skimmers which are black and small. Get rid of bacterial films on the surface and yes, they don't pull out all the skimmate in the world but it comes down to these facters: Small or Large, Less Chance of flood or Higher Chance of Flood. and for the Hang on Fuge, you can get a in-tank refugium or acclimation box for the macroalgae you so desire or if you want the reverse photoperiod for pH stablilty, get the aquifuge because the only part that goes in your water is the pump and the front of it is black and it has plenty of room in it for growth and you put a drawstring where the water enters the fuge for some mechanical filtration.

UV Sterilisers are useful additions to the reef tank and maybe use the big, bulky expensive ones on the return line on their sump, fair enough but the aqua ultraviolet Hang On uv sterlizers are good to! Low profile (To an extent) and does its job of what UV sterlizers do, just connect it to the outlet of your canister filter and if it doesn't fit, just find a low profile reliable pump to put in your hang on fuge or in the tank and it will pump water through the UV Sterilizer.

People like sumps because of their ablilty to add more water volume, why.? I am not sure on this one but I heard it was for coral toxins, CARBON! If you have a larger water volume it won't be able to add more anything and coral toxins will just build up more! Now writing this I just realised that it keeps things more stable but anything 30 or above keeps thing stable anyway, Yes swings in water chemistery will be worse and yes, I admit I cannot find anything to fight for this,.

Hope you reefers enjoyed my write up on canister filters :)

Happy Reefing,
Charlie :)
 

MERKEY

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Hey Charlie,

Thanks for the write up!

We use canisters for both of our tanks and have for almost 5 years now. 1 is a fluval fx6 and the other is a fluval 307. We have never had any issue with nitrates. We clean on a weekly basis and are diligent about it.
 

R.Weller

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We had a canister for our 60gal saltwater system for about 2 years & just couldn’t replace the media fast enough to keep nitrates in check. We also had insufficient live rock for the water volume & generally had very little knowledge on proper husbandry for a reef ecosystem. Two problems we have tried to resolve. We were freshwater converts & that really didn’t help.

I have no doubt you will be successful with the canister based on your write up. As we have upgraded since moving away from the canister option, there tends to be more flexibility with sumps & I appreciate that I have not replaced any media (no carbon or filter socks) as we rely heavily on biological filtration & we have not done a WC in 6 months since bringing our larger system online.

As with many things, it depends on the system and the reefkeeper. Enjoy your success & great write up.
 

highest_tides

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I use a Marineland canister filter :)
+1

I have a small 55g corner tank with lots of live rock and sand. I stay on top of switching my floss pad weekly and carbon bi-weekly. I'm new to the hobby..but for a tank my size the only difference I see now is more manual management. I switch out my sponge once a month and it has not been a nitrate farm yet. I am stocked very light now and moving slow strictly because of using a canister filter.
 

Auquanut

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I've never used canister filters on my reefs, but used to use them extensively on my FW tanks. I only use HOB's on my FW now. In my opinion, a canister is fine as long as (like with anything else) you do your research and keep up with testing and maintenance.

Just a few things to keep in mind:

Gas exchange.
Being a closed loop system, canisters are very poor at oxygenating the water. Easily correctable by pointing a power head toward the surface for surface agitation or using an HOB skimmer as you mentioned.

Surface skimming.
Without the use of a weir, films and oils can collect at the surface. Agitating the surface will help, but not completely eliminate it. From what I understand, some HOB skimmers provide surface skimming?

And the biggy for me.
Leakage.
Having the filter completely separate from the tank, and disconnecting it regularly, greatly increases the chance of leakage into the room. I've only had a couple of catastrophic leaks through the years. Mostly it's that slow seep that you don't notice until you find water on the floor. I always made sure to keep an extra seal and to check the seal and hose connections an hour after maintenance for that tell tale line of water seeping out.

All that being said, while I can't give any "best practices" type of advice, I do know that lots of reefers are very successful using canisters. Reef on!
 

FlexingFishSticks

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+1

I have a small 55g corner tank with lots of live rock and sand. I stay on top of switching my floss pad weekly and carbon bi-weekly. I'm new to the hobby..but for a tank my size the only difference I see now is more manual management. I switch out my sponge once a month and it has not been a nitrate farm yet. I am stocked very light now and moving slow strictly because of using a canister filter.
On the same boat! My favorite part of using the canister is being able to connect it to a chiller quite convenient I must say.
 

rob taft

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I'm using a Oase Thermo Pro 350 on my 55 gallon pentagon tank. I use it because I can't fit a proper sump and skimmer under the tank. I also use a Aquamaxx HOB skimmer. I run the Oase with little filter media i.e. foam or floss. The Oase has a prefilter which makes cleaning pretty easy. That is the only foam in the filter. The trays are filled with depending on the situation either Chemipure, Phosguard, Purigen and Carbon.

I also have a 25 watt UV on the outlet side of the canister filter. I run this canister a bit differently than most as I use a Modular Marine overflow box and the filter draws its water from the overflow box mounted at the surface. The output of the filter comes through piping from the overflow box. I also drilled an additional hole to support a Algae reactor that has its separate plumbing but draws intake from the same overflow box.

I used the overflow box which is hard piped to just before the canister because with the intakes mounted just 2-3 inched below the water line, if I do have a major leak, it will not be catastrophic. Leaving the overflow box I installed Spears gate valves on the intake and output in the event I have to cutwater off quickly. Which paid for itself when I didn't seat the Oase filter correctly and had a major leak. I was able to quickly close the valev and cutoff the intake flow.

One advantage of the Oase is that it has a built in heater so with the MP10 powerheads (2), I don't have any cords in the tank. I do use an Inkbird controller with alarm that has its sensor mounted in the overflow box as I have had some terrible heater failures on past tanks that has resulted in livestock death.
 
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