Is a proper canister filter really more work?

[Roatan Reef]

Lol ...another day another let's ShYte on Cannister Filters.

I've had mine for 8 months now...and guess what....it's a breeze to clean and put new Filter media in...and I don't clean it every weekend...lulz!.

Currently, I have not cleaned my Cannister Filter for over 1.5 months....because my tank is starting to do its own thing.

I run Chemi Pure, Carbon, Filter Floss, Poly FilterPads and bio media in a 4 basket Cannister Filter...and it's been great so far. Initially I did once every 2 weeks of cleaning Cannister Filter..with weekly water changes....my tank is doing so good now, I'm waiting till next week to clean and put new Filter media in Cannister...will be 1.5 months without cleaning.

I have a 40GB tank.

Sure...if you have a massive tank or anything larger than 75-100 G....by all means do a sump.

But anything less...you will be good.

It's honestly not hard and complicated as many on R2R try to fool you to believe.


I also come from 20 years of Freshwater ...in which Cannister Filters are a game changer! ..

You see on R2R everyone wants to be like the people who brag about not doing water changes for 2 years, and they grow the best sticks and SPS.

But also, you'll notice many people complaining about cleaning Filter socks every 2 days in their sump, asking about if Roller Mats are worth it...etc..etc...


So which is it?


I'll tell you which is it..



You do you Boo! If it works...great! If not try something new.

Hell...I've seen lots of HOB filter tanks on 75 to 125 Saltwater tanks doing awesome also.

Don't let the folks here fool you.

 

[Jesus]

They are recirculating garbage cans. Unlike filter pads you can quickly remove and rinse in a HOB, or swap a sock, you have to shut the canister down, remove the layers, rinse the biofoam and what not that becomes a detritus trap, and then place it all back, and reconnect the canister. They actively dis-incentivize you to frequently clean the mechanical filter. Frequent mechanical filter cleaning is one of the easiest ways to avoid unnecessary build ups of nitrate and phosphate. Canisters are often not very good at aerating the water, and combine this with all of the decaying matter inside that may not be cleaned often, is not great for oxygen in the tank.

I've been running a very successful 55 gal frag tank with only a small canister filter no uv light, no skimmer I only clean the pads , replace the carbon and phosphate media every 3 to 4 months , my nitrates are 3 my phosphates are almost undetected the only problem I have is some green hair algea I just added some snails and a tang which should take care of it but my frags sps lps ,soft are all growing and looking great

 

[LPS Bum]

The Biomaster 850 I'm looking at has a prefilter section that is very easy to remove and clean which collects most of the gunk in the tank before it enters the main filter area, which I would only fill with biomedia.

Now, people keep saying you have to clean them often, but don't you have to clean filter socks and the protein skimmer every few days? A guy I'm watching on youtube has a very successful tank using just a Biomaster 600 (with the high PPI pre filter foam and biomedia in the main chamber), and an inline algae reactor (Tunze). He says all he does is take out the prefilter and squeeze the gunk out and put the foam back on (every 3-4 days).

The system I'm planning out includes the stronger Biomaster 850, a chaeto reactor on its own pump, and a UV sterilizer on the output on of the Biomaster that can be turned on/off as needed. The lily inlet I'm getting provides both surface skimming and pulls in water from the middle column.

If the prefilters are cleaned regularly why is this not a viable system? At least you don't have to worry about cleaning the filter socks and protein skimmer every few days...

My reef system is pretty advanced and heavily automated, but my large FOWLR is decidedly low tech.

I run it with a large canister filter and a HOB skimmer. I clean my canister once a month during my water change and empty my skimmer collection cup every 2 weeks (literally takes 1 min). I run a lot of bio media and some chemipure in the canister.

Now my nitrate and phosphate are high, but the fish don’t mind. Soft corals would probably do well in this setup, but likely not hard corals (and certainly not Acros).

Bottom line, you can certainly have a great, simple and low tech aquarium. Lots of ways to do it.

 

[GARRIGA]

I've been running a very successful 55 gal frag tank with only a small canister filter no uv light, no skimmer I only clean the pads , replace the carbon and phosphate media every 3 to 4 months , my nitrates are 3 my phosphates are almost undetected the only problem I have is some green hair algea I just added some snails and a tang which should take care of it but my frags sps lps ,soft are all growing and looking great

Bet most claiming not to use a canister have never used a canister. Kept my nitrates under 20 ppm in the 90s. Fish only but was heavily stocked. No clue on phosphates as I didn’t know to test for them then. No algae either but lights sucked and why it was not converted to reef. Was still saving up for VHO and no CUC other than a single red legged hermit who after molting was taken by my snowflake and still no algae. Canister was never cleaned and only opened to replace carbon if water started to yellow. Sometimes best not to disturb and let nature do its thing. Was a slow flow Eheim and as it clogged probably employed denitrification what I’m guessing

 

[Damion123]

Simplicity.

Every one always has an opinion. And everyone thinks their opinion is the right one. They say if you get 10 surgeons in a room trying to solve a problem, you will end up with 11 opinions. I think the tank you got looks super clean. Looking at just a clear box with no pipes or drains in it looks sweet. I think you should just go for it with the canister filter. But just accept that you will have some stuff hanging in the tank. Even if you had a reef ready tank you would still end up with cords for power heads and stuff in the tank.

 

[jmatt]

OP, don't give up. I have run reef tanks on a Fluval 300 canister back in the day. Three chambers: floss, activated carbon and bio-pellets of some sort. Worked fine.

One of the problems in noobs like us asking questions here is that you're taking to guys who have been in the hobby for years and years and invested tons of money and time in complicated high-end gear. That's not an issue -- but understand they view everything from that perspective.

Do it. You're so close. And apparently your options for not doing it are limited re: resale value. And how many people here can say they have a tank with four viewable sides without a hob filter or even an entire panels blacked out?

Okay, so you're gonna have to clean the glass siphon. Big deal. I'm sure you knew going into this there would be regular maintenance.

Do it.