Canister Filters. Are they as bad as people say? Looking for both sides of the story

FascinatedbyFish · 09-12-2006, 09:20 PM

Hello, I am setting up a 100 gal. this weekend and I have a NEW Fluval 405. It was recommended to me by 2 of the LFS and canisters in general by other articles, books etc. After reading some of the forums off another site, they are the worst things in the world and you are doomed if you have one. If they are that bad of a filter, why are they still being sold. I looked around for a while before buying it and come to the conclusion through talking to locals and reading books that canister filters are a good choice because you can customize the options. Well today I went to the LFS I bought my tank from and told him what i read and if it was still a good choice. He told me it was just like any other filter, If you don't clean it it won't work. Which made since, and after a lengthy discussion about the fluval and its pros and cons I decided to keep it and give it a try. He said he used one in a reef tank at his house with carbon and to remove phosphates and used another on his display at his store and never had a problem out of them. he knows what he is doing so I trust his word. I just wanted to see if anyone else has had experience with similar canisters and how it went. I know the net can be a deceiving place, so please only post if you have experience or know first hand how they work. Thank you.

This is my first post so PLEASE be nice.

Fly Guy · 09-12-2006, 10:14 PM

Welcome to TRT.

In my opinion, the only thing that that filter is good for in a reef tank is for running carbon and/or phosban. I cant recall how much that filter is but im pretty sure its well over 100. Either of these do a fine job. The only time you need to clean them is when you change the media and its a 30 second job then. I would recommend getting your money back on that, buying one of hte canisters i linked and investing the $100+ you save on something else or towards something else.

I run canister filters on both of my reefs, running phosban 3 weeks a month and carbon 1 week amonth out of them. That is subjective. I supply them and my chillers water by teeing off of my return pumps so no extra pumps are needed.

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...tor.asp?CartId=

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...tor.asp?CartId=

Hope that helps. : )

Loverotties · 09-12-2006, 10:31 PM

I use a Fluvalfor 30+ yrs.(knock on wood)still working,I think that's the only thing still orginal and still looks new!I use it for Phosban,pollie filter and carbon once in a while and when it's empty it's just for movment with a spraybar on it.

coralcat · 09-12-2006, 11:13 PM

I have severall fluvals, that i used for fresh water. At that time i wanted the sponge in them to catch detris, and make a bio filter with it. As you can see from the above, there good for SW is carbon and phosban, BUT not the sponge. Your only keeping the canister to hold the carbon and phos, and that's it, maybe a very thin layer of floss, to keep it from comming out. The hole idea, behind all saltwater setups, is to get the detris out. Now if you can be dissplin enought to keep the floss clean, ok. If you don't, then you are creating an unwanted bio load.

Before I go further. WELCOME. Now let me ask you. Is this your 1st saltwater tank???

carlos_fb · 09-13-2006, 02:13 AM

Are you getting a canister filter to avoid getting an overflow box and sump?

RobinsonFam1 · 09-13-2006, 08:09 AM

i have run several smaller tanks (less than 30 Gal) on cannisters very successfully.
but just as everyone said above.....carbon, phos-gard only. once a month i would change 1/2 the carbon out and the phos too.
i still highly recommend a good hang on skimmer too though! not a prizm or sea clone. something along the lines of a remora or another quality skimmer. skimmers, pumps, and lights are definately places you will want to concentrate your money on.

welcome to TRT!
BR

Geoff · 09-13-2006, 09:11 AM

the problem with cannisters is the media inside, not necessarily the equipment. as you can see several people have them, but are not using them they way they are sold. the problem comes with all of the media that traps the detritus in the cannister. this trapped detritus breaks down very quickly leaving only the solid matter. the phosphates that were in the detritus is then released back into the water column. these free phosphates are then able to be used by algae in the system. in other words it does not help your phosphates, but makes them worse if run normally. they can also increase nitrates, but not by a huge amount. all of the fast moving oxygen rich water flowing through it does not harbor the nitrate eating bacteria like your LR does.

HTH,

G~

FascinatedbyFish · 09-13-2006, 09:07 PM

UPDATE

Ok, just so you know where we were going with it:

My fiance and I are setting up a 100 gal. FOWLR. For filtration we were going to have a Fluval 405, Maxi-jet 1200 powerhead, and a protein skimmer( was going to be a Bak Pak, but not big enough. Now either a Coralife 125 or 220. Leaning towards the 125 because of the recent expendature.) which we do not own yet.

We had heard good things abot the fluvals until a few days ago, and after researching it more decided to go another route. That is why we were asking.

Today we decided to completely change our filtration. We went to our LFS and told him wht we were wanting to do and what we had room for, we are now getting a 30 gal. that we are setting up for a refugium. This is going to be a show refugium sitting next to our 100 gal. We know it should be a little larger but it is all we have room for. We returned the fluval and have two options right now, do we: keep the powerhead and get a 550gph pump or return the power head and get a larger pump around 1200 - 1500 gph?

We are still getting the skimmer listed above, just not sure what size to get. Hopefully this set up will be adequate and user friendly, this setup is what my fiance wanted from the start. Oh well.

Any input on going this route, just wondering what you guys think about this setup.

Alos, what do we do for lighting? we are looking for a good inexpensive way to light the fuge for macroalgae fish and possibly a coral or two.

Thanks.

mstouks · 12-25-2007, 02:53 PM

I have been running a fluval 405 along with a aquaclear 110 converted to a refugium and two aquaclear 70Powerheads for over a year . I have no sump but every week take it apart and rinse out the foams and prefilter material. In the filter I run 1 Bag of fluval Opti-carb (change every 3 months) 1 bag of Charcoal ( EVERY 3 MONTHS) and Fluval prefilter and biomax. I also do a 7 to 8 gal water change every week and replace the powerhead prefilters weekly. No problem with anything, no crashes nothing has gone wrong. I also have a pleum sytem with 3.5 inches of live sand separated in the middle with plastic screening. Water perfect, sand white. Great system

mstouks · 12-25-2007, 02:57 PM

Forgot to say I also use 2 Fluval Polishing pads changed weekly and 85 Lbs of live rock. 40 asorted hermit crabs. 2 pepermint shrimp and 10 Narrsi sails. 10 Cerith 10 turbo's for clean up. and for Lighting 2 48 inch Hagen T5 double units with 2 marine glow and 2 powerglo turned on for 12 hours. live Stock is Xenia, Assorted mushrooms. yellow tang, gobi, 2 clowns coral beauty,

motorslave · 12-25-2007, 03:45 PM

The issue with canisters and hang on filters is if you dont want to be doing cleaning on them all the time.Then they will be huge water quality problems, concentrated rotten po machines. They dont rmove anything from the water column. They trap poop, the water keeps getting pumped through it and spreadin all the nasties that result from the decomposing all through your tank.
A skimmer on the other hand actually removes the poo and other ugly stuff from th water. Takes it out! You clean the neck once in a while (takes a few minutes and maybe adjust here and there and thats it. Oh and you dont have to spend money on filter bads, bio media or whatever. You dont need a sump either. The Live Rock in the tank provides all the denitrifying bacteria and IMO one piece of electrical equipment is better than sveral. Just my two cents.