Best pump for canister filter

I came really close to making a diy canister. I am an avid diy junkie no matter the project. I had everything laid out and called it off once I priced out my parts list in its entirety, ended up buying a new tank with an overflow and doing a sump. I was using 6" pvc. I got the pipe for the body at a good price but found threaded cleanouts and endcaps were around $30 each. That plus bulkheads, unions, ball valves. .. it would cost more than an fx5 or 2260. You however may have better luck.

I got a marineland nj1800 pump rated at 475gph. Your going to want something with secure threaded pipe fittings on the inlet and outlet, even if you decide to run it inside the canister as opposed to inline on the return outside.

In theory the velocity of the incoming water should negate the effects of head pressure loss. Any pump you get should be running around its max flowrate or close to it with an empty clean canister.

You however may want to keep flowrates on the low side to help with contact time with the media.

Id recommend having the siphon upsized larger than the return. I was going to do 3/4" and 1"

After alot of research I decided the best design was a long vertical canister with the siphon entering the bottom and being pumped from the top, much like the design of eheim classic canisters.

Hope this helps. Hey atleast I didnt jut try to persuade you not to do it right?




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Honestly I have no idea when it comes to diy canisters but as far as gph is concerned I would shoot for 6x turn over or greater. With your setup being a 125 that'll put you at 750gph pump. Thats without head loss from your plumbing etc; so to answer your question, if I was building it for myself I'd probably use a 900gph pump.

If done right the canister will be under negative pressure. Be sure the container is strong enough that it will not implode.

If I were using a bucket I would buy a second one, cut off the bottom and epoxy it over the filter to make sure it's strong enough. If it fails it will siphon your whole tank

Also buy an extra ball valve and small bulkhead to add a purge on the top of the canister. Itll make it easy to bleed any air out that accumulates on the top.

If your not concerned with power consumption look at danner mag drive pumps. They are incredibly robust and affordable. Not sure how a centrifugal punp will handle any sort of negative head pressure on the input - maybe someone can chime in on that one


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Sorry to double post

You may also want to consider just going with some hang on back power filters.

An ac110 is an excellent choice. Hell, you could buy 3 whisper 60's with bio sponges for under 100 bucks if money is an issue.

I went full blast with canisters because they are cool, they are better than hang on back filters and they arent as ugly. In the end I'm going back to HOB power filters on tanks that I dont have drilled.

A canister filters better, but if your like me you dont have the patience to clean it as often as one should and that negates its benefits over simple filters. I've got 2 aqueon quietflow 75's on my oscar tank along with sponge filters. Its so easy to change and maintain... better than my 406 would if I neglected for months.

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Mudbuttjones had a good suggestion with the AC110's imo. You could get 2 for under $200 and that would handle that 125 as long as you dont overstock it. I ran 2 AC110's on my 120 for a couple years and it worked very well. Later on I added a canister. The AC110 is a rock solid filter. I've had both of mine for around 8-10 years with zero issues.

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why DIY for $$$ when you can buy a sunsun 304b for $$?