I'm done with canisters

Redearsunfish said:

I tell you this, i wont use another canister again, unless i set up a planted tank. then yes. but for anything else i'll stick with HOB and or sump or internal.

Canisters add to my laziness. not a good thing.

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I feel that sponge filters are the best in planted tanks. Leaves don't get sucked up or sucked against the inlet tube.


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Saying a canister is a nitrate factory is something I've never understood. Seem like someone threw the term out and people started believing it. I've heard all the reasons people think this is true, and don't buy any of them. If it were true, then it would hold true or a UG filter as well. Use it as an excuse to not use them. But thinking they cause more nitrate in a tank without a canister is just not true.


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I always laugh when that term gets thrown around...they are suppose to be nitrate factories, in fact, the faster the better!

Then it's up to me to get rid of the nitrates...


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I work in a nitrate factory.

Actually a cheese factory. I lied.

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All plantless tanks are nitrate factory because nitrate is a byproduct of nitrification. However, there are productive and wasteful nitrate factory. A productive one produces nitrate no more than necessary to feed the fish. A wasteful one increases nitrate production by feeding not just fish, but also a large population of benthic organism that feed on wastes collected in the filter.

WC is an effective way to reduce nitrate in a plantless tank, unless you allow excessive accumalation of waste in your filter. If nitrate rebounds quickly after WC, there is too much waste/food left in the filter to feed the benthic organism. Benthic organism is not just bacteria, but also higher form of invertibrates such as protozoa, rotifiers, etc that feed on organic matter.

I still say, especially for DIY large tanks, canisters are much safer.

If anything ever happened to your overflows... they become clogged, whatever.. the result could be catastrophic. We're not just talking water on the floor.

Most DIY large tanks have two huge vulnerabilities related to this:

1- if it overflows, water damage to the outside of most DIY builds means the whole thing is compromised. Mainly, plywood. Previously soaked plywood, if it doesn't fail immediately is a time bomb.

2- or, in some designs, water pressure and depth might exceed what was intended... blowing it out.

A normal aquarium, glass or acrylic.. these are non-issues... they overflow.. all you get is a wet floor.

mudbuttjones said:

I work in a nitrate factory.

Actually a cheese factory. I lied.

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Love Cheese Factory but expensive.......throw some coupons this way !!!

spiff44 said:

I still say, especially for DIY large tanks, canisters are much safer.

If anything ever happened to your overflows... they become clogged, whatever.. the result could be catastrophic. We're not just talking water on the floor.

Most DIY large tanks have two huge vulnerabilities related to this:

1- if it overflows, water damage to the outside of most DIY builds means the whole thing is compromised. Mainly, plywood. Previously soaked plywood, if it doesn't fail immediately is a time bomb.

2- or, in some designs, water pressure and depth might exceed what was intended... blowing it out.

A normal aquarium, glass or acrylic.. these are non-issues... they overflow.. all you get is a wet floor.

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Great points. These are the reasons why my large tanks are all in the basement using sump or in the process of using sumps for all these tanks. For tanks on the main floor, I use most HOBs and a couple of canisters.