? for canister filter users and others.....

[tag]

Would be great and especially helpful if you would give your opinion on canister filters. I'm currently running a Rena XP3 canister with a prefilter,alongside a large hydrosponge filter in a 125 gallon tank,barebottom with only discus. Is a canister a decent choice for the bioload? anyone find that the canister houses more bad than good? if you have a particular reason why you won't use a canister filter..can you tell me please. Also wondering what your maintenance schedule is. How often do you clean filter media and what percentage at once or do you clean filter media all at once? what about the canister itself? What about replacement of sponges etc.?Oh...and especially hoses....what do you do with them?
What about flow rate? Do you run your canister at full tilt or a slower rate? I have turned mine down and find the discus prefer the calmer water however I'm not sure the canister is performing with less water movement.

Sorry I know it's a ton of info I'm looking for and
thanks so much for taking the time to help...I'm really struggling with whether to eliminate the canister to optimize the water quality for the discus. Not sure what to think of the canister anymore :-\.

Take care all

Tina

[Nightowl]

Hi Tina, the XP3 is a good filter, they have that "bio-chem zorb" pouch and all that. Of course if you are doing regular w/c's you don't need the Chem-zorb as much.
On a 125, I use a fluval 404, a cascade 1000, (both are canisters)and a cascade hang on the back filter. A few days ago the fluval simply stopped running, so I unplugged it and that was the end of it. That's the problem w/ canister filters in general: if you lose flow they can go bad pretty quickly. They also can go a while without cleaning so I tend to probably not clean them often enough. Sometimes after a cleaning when you get it going again all the slime that has built up in the tubing comes flying out into the tank, so now I bleed the lines a bit first...
As far as cleaning the media, I always clean the sponges or pads but not the bio media. I clean pads in the Cascade and sponges from the fluval under the faucet because I'm not relying on them as a bio-bed. It is not recommended to clean bio-media in this way.
Its often a tradeoff w/ water flow. Slow means less water per hour going through the filter, but it increases the "contact time" of the water w/ the media.Some feel that too slow a flow can create the growth of anerobic bacteria as well ...what seems to be definite is that if the filter is off for a while you don't want to just turn it back on.
Many don't like the canisters...I can take them or leave them. I do know that the hydrosponges are great filters and I have many tanks running on just them. I your case I would leave the Rena, maybe add another sponge. If the rena fails the 2 large sponges will handle the job.
My schedule for cleaning canister filters is "not often enough" I'm afraid. I tend to clean all filters "as needed"(its a time thing).

well good luck.... J.T.

[falcon]

Canisters are good filters. I would use them more for planted tanks then bb. For bb, and your size of tank, I would use aquaclear 500 or maybe two. The reason - ease of maintenance. Other than that, I wouldn't say they are any better than canisters, just my opinion.

If you put a pre-filter on your intake, it will prevent food from getting into the canister and any chance of it rotting away. Generally, canisters are meant to be cleaned every 3-6 months, couple of trays at a time.

I think canisters are better at handling bioloads than aquaclears 'cause of the different media and the amount of it.

I use canisters on my planted tank. I clean them every three months or so and half at a time to ensure you don't kill too much bacteria. I have two eheim canisters in there(added a second one on the weekend). At each cleaning, I will wash the sponge real good. I will replace the floss and wash two baskets out of four. Here is the thing about hoses. If you don't clean them, when you re-start your canister after cleaning, you will notice a lot of junk being pushed into your tank. I cleaned the hoses once, but now I have added a co2 reactor into the equation and it is harder to clean. To combat the problem, I am not priming the canister, I refill it with aged water before I connect it and then just plug it in. This minimizes the amount of junk that is pushed back into the tank when priming the canister. I make sure that I start slowly with the output as well and increase it slowly. The best way to clean the hoses - disconnect them first and get a piece of wire and attach a piece of cloth at the end(old shirt, socks, etc) and feed it through few times. Add water into the hose and feed it through some more. All it takes is about 5-10 per hose to clean it properly.

To sum up, I would clean the canister every 3 months, same with hoses.

I run the canister at full flow rate, it's not too bad. You can position your spray bar/output so that it doesn't disturb the inhabitants too much. I've read somewhere that when your reduce the output, it only means that the water has more time to go through your media and it doesn't reduce performance.

Now that I think of it, I don't think that power filters(aquaclear) are necessarily better than canisters. It seems that it's accepted that for bb, people use aquaclears 'cause of the ease of maintenance. I would be interested to see if other than maintenance, if there is another reason for using them. As soon as you put pre-filter on your canister, you reduce mainteance drastically as well. Just was the pre-filter 1-2x /week and that's about it. Every three months or so, you have to spend and additional hour cleaning the canister. That doesn't sound too bad.

Mind you, on my 30g bb tank, I use aquaclear 200 and my 20g planted tank I use a/c 150. Ease of installation in my case, just hand in the back and you're done. Don't have a stand that would conceal the canister.

falcon

[Carol_Roberts]

I am an ex-fluval user
Canister filters are heavy, hard to clean, hard to reseal (I'm a grandma) and hard to prime. The bacteria quickly dies in a power outage. Much easier for me to use aqua clears and air driven sponge filters - no heavy lifting ;D

[Benis]

Tag,
If you can afford it, I would suggest getting a wet and dry for such a big tank.

Once again, it's Just a suggestion ;)

[mikeos]

If you want trouble free canisters buy Eheim, tried the rest & you can keep them. I know exactly what you mean Carol, fluvals are a pig to seal, and open at times >:(

Cleaned regularly you will find they all work OK, personally I think every 4-6 weeks, clean hoses evert 3-4 months if you feel the need. Just rinse everything in tank water & you will be fine, no need to worry about die off if you use tank water & dont leave them to dry out. If the sponges start to get "solid" ( really clogged & hard to clean) then change them, my eheims usually go 12-18 months before its nessisary.

As to flow rate, dont turn the flow rate below 75% or so or you risk damage to the pump. Reduce inlet and outlet or outlet only, never inlet only. Better is to use the spray bar and direct the flow to the glass, drilling slightly larger holes can help as can more holes or a longer spray bar.

[RyanH]

Unless you are a glutton for pain, punishment and personal anguish I would say stay away from canisters. They are too damn difficult to keep clean enough for Discus. Stick with sponges and power filters like A/C's.

JMHO

[lesley]

I found that a canister filter was a pain to clean also.
I always had the feeling that the fish in that tank weren't as bright as the others in the tanks with the aqua clear type of action (I only tried one type of canister, have not tried the Eheim). I think that the water gets much more oxygen when it is flowing "over" media rather than in a canister where it is only exposed to air when it re-enters the tank. From reading items written by Diana Walstead I get the impression that if you have a planted tank, then your "bio" is coming from the plants and plant media and the filter is only necessary for mechanical cleaning and to keep the water circulating. I did actually try a while ago removing all the filter materal from the two aqua clears I use on the planted tank (had it safe in another tank in case I needed it quick) and tested my ammonia and nitrate levels with the totally new filter media. My normal readings did not change.

HTH

[Cosmo]

Cannisters can be a pain to clean, but if you have a sealed top acrylic tank they're the only way to go. I use nothing but Eheims and love em - never a problem, unless of course you factor in the darned clips on the classic series falling off during cleaning lol.

I've had eheims up and running for several years without any problems - clean them each 3 to 4 weeks or so, especially if you don't run a prefilter on the inlet in which case you might want to do it more often.

Loaded correctly, the Eheims will more than handle the bio load, course, I always run about double what the mfg recommends (ie, 2 each rated at 150 for a 180 gal). The Eheims wet/dry are especially cool as they fill and drain alternatetly but cannot leak like a normal wet/dry with a bad pump.

Use Eheim installation kits to run the outlets thru spraybars to disperse the flow among multiple small jets rather than one large outlet - your fish will thank you.

hth
Jim

[Cosmo]

Lesley,
If you ever decide to try a cannister again, check out the e-eheim wet/dry filters. They have 3 tubes, 1 intake, 1 output, and one breathing tube that doesn't go into the water (for obvious reasons.. lol). The cannister is sealed so no fear of overflow, but it's designed to alternatetly fill and empty so the media is alternately exposed to water and air. Holds lots of bio media and if you use the prefilter, stays clean inside a long long time and requires very little maintenance.
Jim

[lesley]

Hi Cosmo,

the wet/dry you referred to?? Is it noisy? If you put the outlet along the front of the tank (the back of the tank would push the jungle of plants at the back forward)would it make feeding difficult?

Thanks, Lesley