Canister Filters And Saltwater

[jeffopentax]

I keep reading that canister filters are nitrate factories when used on sw tanks. Not sure I agree, but I'm wondering why it's an issue with sw tanks but not fw. I've not been able to find the answer anywhere on the net.


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[nathan]

Lots of people use canisters. I'm one of them my nitrate levels are perfect. I have a protein skimmer I do weekly water changes. Canisters are designed to create a healthy bacterial system. But keep in mind you need to clean the canister as recommended or yes it will be a problem . My system is more like driving a ford while other systems are like a porche but both still get ya there!!!!

 

[jeffopentax]

I used one on my old 135g sw and didn't have issues. I plan on using 2 on my new 270g venture. I'm sure I'm going to take a lot of flak on here over that plan, but I've always had more success with canisters than sumps. The question remains, why are canisters considered perfectly acceptable for freshwater, but completely unsuitable for saltwater?


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[Luke.]

Well I've ran my mixed reef tank for over 2 years with a small filstar canister , nitrates and phos are always very low , and I consider myself lazy when it comes to maintaining them lol .
The trick is what you put in side of your filter personally I only use 2 filter pads and Rowa phos remover and nirta guard (nitrate remover) i change the phos about once every 2 -3momths and the nitra guard i change every 6 months and that's it for that.

I run a good hob skimmer and im good to go !

 

[Luke.]

It can %100 be done but a lot more dedication I always didn't test my water for 3 months and then did every week for a months and it was the same ( I logged it ) lol so I believe in them but it has its disadvantages like not hiding heaters and hob stuff and can't grownpods lol

 

[reef keeper]

You are getting a 270g tank?

 

[jeffopentax]

You are getting a 270g tank?

Yessir. It's being disassembled by current owner, it's got some scratches i want to try to polish out, then i have to put it back together again.


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[reef keeper]

You are going to build a 270 gallon? Get about 100 razor blades and 3 cans of acetone bro.

How big is THAT

 

[jeffopentax]

You are going to build a 270 gallon? Get about 100 razor blades and 3 cans of acetone bro.

How big is THAT

Oh I'm well aware it will be labour intensive and time consuming It is 72" x 24" x 36".


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[Nonuser]

Wow you must have a very understanding landlord. 270 gallons of saltwater can do a ton of damage. But I guess that's what insurance is about. I personally wouldn't want the risk, you premiums will be astronomical with that special rider

 

[David Caplan]

Canister filter is the freshwater term for an reactor, the only difference is canisters aren't clear. I don't see any difference between a sump and a chain of reactors/filters, they do exactly the same thing. I use reactors with biomedia (just like a freshwater canister) on all the tanks I build, even if they have a sump.

 

[SamB]

On a tank that size a canister (or series of canisters for that matter) doesn't make sense
Just get a BIG sump and that's all that you will need
Good luck on your build

 

[jeffopentax]

On a tank that size a canister (or series of canisters for that matter) doesn't make sense
Just get a BIG sump and that's all that you will need
Good luck on your build

There's the flak i was expecting I'm using canisters for a few reasons:
A) lack of sound
B) zero chance of sump overflowing due to power outage (i know there's ways to help prevent that)
C) aside from the toadfish/lionfish incident, i had zero problems in my 135g until i switched to a sump.


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[David Caplan]

I concur that it is probably a bad idea on a tank that big. I wouldn't feel comfortable with less than 6 large reactors if you had no sump. Maintenance would be a real pain with no sump.

 

[jeffopentax]

I hear what y'all are saying, which brings me back to the original question... Why would 2 canisters (allegedly good for up to 200g each) be fine for fresh, but not salt?


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[David Caplan]

As I was saying, you should substitute the term canister for reactor. Can you run a 270 gallon saltwater tank with just 3-4 gallons worth of reactor space as filtration? Its a recipe for a hard-to-maintain tank that has no modularity. There is no reason to buy a canister filter, you can buy as large a reactor as you want and a pump for a similar price.

The seahorse tank I built is 60 gallons and filtered by a 3 gallon reactor filled with biomedia with a UV in line for the pump. It has been the easiest to maintain tank I have ever setup. The system has a low bioload and isn't fed or lit too much. The only maintenance that has to be done is to clean out the sponge on the filter intake.

 

[Nonuser]

I hear what y'all are saying, which brings me back to the original question... Why would 2 canisters (allegedly good for up to 200g each) be fine for fresh, but not salt?


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Well if you have been keeping cichlids then you know they can tolerate quite a large swing in environmental conditions. Water quality between fresh and salt is like night and day.

Depending on what you want to keep in that monster 270. If fish only and maybe some live rock and the fish are of the hardy saltwater variety then go for it. Corals prolly only the hardiest as well.

I'm no expert, but things can go wrong really fast, fresh is very forgiving

 

[Kman]

Canister filters do work quite well if you properly maintain them and you can cover all the basses for biological, chemical and mechanical filtration removal all in one location. If you change the media every few weeks to a month (depending on bioload) and do water changes you will have no nitrate or nutrient issues. They fell out of favor because people get\got lazy because it is a huge pain to maintenance them so they would leave them for months on end and not clean them. This caused nutrient issues. Even though it was the reefer that created the situation and conditions for high nutrients because they were lazy the canister got wrongly blamed for the nutrient issues. I myself don't run them long term anymore as I hate cleaning and maintaining them regularly.

OP If you are looking at getting two Canister you should look at the Fluval FX5 or FX6. I have the FX5 that I run from time to time to polish my water or for emergency situations and it easily handles my 360 gallon water capacity as it is rated for up to 400 gallons. Canisters are great because of the variety of media that you can use in them. So you can tailor to fit your needs for things like carbon, phosphate media and micron filters. As an added bonus they don't have a large footprint inside the tank and it removes extra heat out of the tank because the pump is external. As canister's go the FX5 or FX6 are not cheap but well worth the cost because of the flexibility and granularity of media you can use. They are also one of the better ones for maintenance because of the design.

 

[heath]

wow, Jeff, you are brave... building a 270g tank...my fish would love a tank that size, don't show them any pictures...good luck and be sure to post a ton of pictures...

 

[jeffopentax]

Due to the depth, this will more than likely be a fowlr tank. I'm fairly certain the lights I'm planning to use (dsuny) won't have the punch or spread to support anything beyond easy lps (i could be wrong!). I have considered the fluval fx model canisters, but of the 4 brands i have used over the years (eheim, aquatop, jebao, fluval), i am least impressed by fluval. I already have a jebao 5 stage, and plan to get another. It's reliable, versatile, silent, and the footprint is only 11"x11", making it easy to fit two into the cabinet i will be building. In the event the canisters can't handle the job, I guess the tank will go up for sale. IME sumps just cause too many headaches and stress. I know, that's part of the fun, right?


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