Please help with my canister filter.

[aussiereefer82]

G'day guys,
I have finally had enough of high nitrates in my tank and have come to realise that my fluval 304 is probably the cause. I dont want to turf it completely because it is serving as a pump for my UVs and is a good spot to run carbon and phosguard as well as been good surface flow in the tank.

What i am thinking about doing is running it bare, removing the sponge pads and the ceramic noodle biological filtration that create the build up of rooting detrius. i normally clean it once a week but it doesnt seem to make much difference.

My tank is 60gal with 90lbs of LR 1-2 sand bed (visable parts only) so i should have enough biological filtration. I have a skimmer that gives lots of good wet skimmate.

Will this help? Should i do it gradually so that i dont interrupt the bacteria to much or just pull it all at once?

Please advise.

[wharyat]

You should be fine just taking all the bio filtration out at once.

[tims]

Lose the ceramic in it and use it as a carbon runner if you need it. with that amount of LR you should be good to go, What is your fish load?

[aussiereefer82]

Thanks guys,
Tim my fish load is fairly high, 2x small clowns, 3x firefish, 1x coral beauty, 1x yellow tang and a couple of hitchhiker brittle stars. No clean up crew because they are hard to get over here and really expensive ($12 per snail or hermit).

Will pulling the ceramics out work, should i remove the filter pads also or leave them there?

[tims]

ouch my freind.. it would almost be cheap for you to come here and get them!


with that amonut of fish i would plan on using it for carbon and keep it clean as possible. keeping the pads in it but cleaning those out often too. IMO i would use it as a back filter to help improve the water

[aussiereefer82]

So tim i should pull the ceramics, run carbon 24/7( i do this now and change it out once a week, mainly for coral warfare) and leave the filter pads in and clean them once a week also. Is this your final verdict?

[Junkzoo]

Remove the filter pads, unless you plan on rinsing/cleaning every couple of days,,,ditto of the ceramic ring bio filter stuff. Carbon and or/ any other chem filtration is fine, some people use carbon only a few days, week, and change, gotta remember some carbons(mebbe most ,) will leach phosphates back into the water , when saturated,,,
Have a 404 on my 75, Carbon and Purigen is all i have in it,,,

[aussiereefer82]

Thanks Jeff. I will do that this weekend and see if it has an impact. I am also going to do a few big water changes to help out in the next few weeks.

[tims]

ditto what jeff said. i run mine with just carbon and or phosgard.. and change it every 4 days or so. i do not let it go more the 7 days...

[aussiereefer82]

Tim, you're the man, always full of good info. Thanks.