canister filter

[cubsfan79]

Had a question,i been reading alot on this forum and everyone says to get rid of the canister,but i dont have the money for a sump or refugium,was wondering i took the biological filtration out of the canister,and now im only running mechanical which is the filter pads and chemical which is the carbon,am i still prone to this canister becoming a nitrate factory or am i ok as long as i keep it cleen,is it the biological that i should have gotten rid of????by the way it is going to be a reef tank

[Fish_wiz2]

Well replace the biological media with liverock rubble and rinse the mechanical pads weekly or else it will produce nitrates. I understand you don't have the money but you can make a sump out of a rubbermaid container ($10 each) with a cheap return pump and you got a sump.

[taillonjohn]

Yes I'm in the same situation as you, no sump or fuge, so I've been running my canister for filter and carbon, and I like the results. It does have to be cleaned regularly, and the bio-media should be taken out (as you said you did), so no worries

[cubsfan79]

thanks i just want everything to go right this time,my tank is 3 weeks into cycle a little paranoid about everything,wish the brown algae diatoms would go away lol

[Sk8r]

RUnning a reef sumpless can be done, but is futzy. I have a thread going where we just got into the sandbed problem at length: it's entitled THINGS NOT TO BUY IN YOUR FIRST 6 MONTHS, or suchlike; and toward the end I have a long, long post about choices with sandbeds and filters, etc.
You have 75 lbs lr in a 55, and that will help you a lot. Fill that cannister with live rock rubble, and even get rid of the filter pads and carbon unless you turn out to need carbon temporarily... Stock lightly, re fishes: I have a 54g, and you can see my fish list: they're little guys. Not only does it mean your fish will survive a power-out, they will generate only light waste which your sandbed can take care of. You have 3-4" of sand, right? Deep sandbed?
Once you get corals, which you could start doing, I would advise concentrating on either lps or softies. Either loves sucking up floaty bits in the water, so they'll be happy with the absence of mechanical filtration. The lr rubble will give you another pound or so of live rock filtration: make it coarse enough so detritus doesn't pile up in there: good flow through is your aim.

And just settle back and plan your reef once your chemistry is steady.

[HABS#1]

Our 31 Gal is running with no real problems other than the usual startup algea blooms that go away after a bit. We use a Fluval 205 on our 31 and rin bio media carbon and rowaphos in it. I don't want the mess under my cabinet of a fuge/sump system.

[seapug]

The problem I see with canister filters is that they are expensive and the "out of sight, out of mind" factor with them makes them dirt trappers that circulate the entire contents of your tank through their dirty, nasty filter compartments multiple times./hour, turning your water into pollution tea. But you can't see that so it's fine, right? Wrong! They are usually 10 times nastier than a sump when people finally do get around to cleaning them.

Replacing the bio-balls with live rock is usually a waste, as well. If a canister filter has a bioball comparment, it is designed to create a wet/dry "trickle zone." The benefits of live rock come from having it submerged, not used as a trickle filter medium. When it's used as a trickle filter medium, it basically does the same thing as bioballs. Waste of good live rock. Take that same rubble and put it submerged in your sump and you get a pod breeding area and denitrification zone.

Sumps are cheaper to set up and allow you to keep heaters and protein skimmers hidden away and the extra space they provide allows you to increase your total system volume and set up refugiums. For the money you spend on a canister filter, you get more for your money with HOB surface skimmer and overflow, 20 gallon tank and return pump.

Just my 2 cents....

[cubsfan79]

like was said before though, really anything can get dirty a sump a refugium everything can ,what can happen in a cannister can happen as well in these other methods too.....its all a matter of opinion though ive seen many succesfull tanks with canister filters even reef tanks