Canister Filters??!

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AquaAlex1993

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I am going to be doing a large South American Amazonian display tank that will have Myleus silverdollars, red tail barracudas, severum, chocolate, and angelfish. I am at the filtration part of the planning. I should first start by saying that I have NEVER had a canister filter before. I have never used one.
I have heard that canister filters work the best and are good for freshwater tanks. What is everyone's opinion on canister filters? How hard are they to clean than HOB filters and what do they need?
Would a canister and a few HOB filters be good filtration on the tank?
 

M@T!@$

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I am going to be doing a large South American Amazonian display tank that will have Myleus silverdollars, red tail barracudas, severum, chocolate, and angelfish. I am at the filtration part of the planning. I should first start by saying that I have NEVER had a canister filter before. I have never used one.
I have heard that canister filters work the best and are good for freshwater tanks. What is everyone's opinion on canister filters? How hard are they to clean than HOB filters and what do they need?
Would a canister and a few HOB filters be good filtration on the tank?
I've got three canisters and a sump on my 240. They can hold quite a lot of media. Although they can be expensive, the fx6 is like $400 here, while I bought the aquatops for $150 cad each. Cleaning can be a pain. Honestly I'd just stick with a sump

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viking252200

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I'm the opposite, never had a sump and probably never will.
I like the simplicity of a canister, it's pretty much plug n play, not much to go wrong.

I have an eheim 2260 and a 2250 and those 2 combined have a capacity of around 30 liters, so you can stock pretty heavily.

Cleaning, I find to be fairly easy, doesn't take me much more than 15 min per canister.
And I usually only clean them when I see a reducing in flow.
 
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Fish Tank Travis

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I have used canisters, HOB's and a sump. By far and away I like my sump the best. If I could easily put a sump on every tank that I own, I definitely would. Even my son's 10 gallon glofish tank. Canisters are a PITA to clean compared to a sump, and I don't find HOB's to be much better. Properly setup sumps can be a big effort at first, but then they are much easier to maintain, and help achieve the highest water quality. This is because you are removing the organic material much more often instead of letting it sit and decay. For instance, viking252200 viking252200 mentions that he usually only cleans them out when there's a reduced flow. This means that there is already a lot of organic material decaying inside, which is not good for the water column. Typically, in a sump, these organics are removed far more often, before they have much time to decay.

OP, what size tank are you setting up?
 

Bigfishnut

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Sump for sure...a well planned sump is the way to go. Sumps do not need to be complicated to out-perform all other forms of filtration. For large tanks with heavy bio-load it's really the only sensible option. You'll increase your water volume, have a place to hide heaters, have more options for mechanical and biological filtration, and with an overflow you'll get surface skimming...which in my opinion is the key to keeping a tank a healthy environment.
 
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AquaAlex1993

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I've got three canisters and a sump on my 240. They can hold quite a lot of media. Although they can be expensive, the fx6 is like $400 here, while I bought the aquatops for $150 cad each. Cleaning can be a pain. Honestly I'd just stick with a sump

View attachment 1260004
Aquatops seem to be the cheapest canister how are they? How does one clean a canister?

I'm the opposite, never had a sump and probably never will.
I like the simplicity of a canister, it's pretty much plug n play, not much to go wrong.

I have an eheim 2260 and a 2250 and those 2 combined have a capacity of around 30 liters, so you can stock pretty heavily.

Cleaning, I find to be fairly easy, doesn't take me much more than 15 min per canister.
And I usually only clean them when I see a reducing in flow.
Good to hear. How do you clean your canister?

I run both on my 220. I have 2 canisters and 3 aquaclears. I like the combination of both for water movement.
Yea, one of the reasons I want a canister is the water movement and no hob on the back of the aquarium. Although some hob such as Aquaclears are great.

I have used canisters, HOB's and a sump. By far and away I like my sump the best. If I could easily put a sump on every tank that I own, I definitely would. Even my son's 10 gallon glofish tank. Canisters are a PITA to clean compared to a sump, and I don't find HOB's to be much better. Properly setup sumps can be a big effort at first, but then they are much easier to maintain, and help achieve the highest water quality. This is because you are removing the organic material much more often instead of letting it sit and decay. For instance, viking252200 viking252200 mentions that he usually only cleans them out when there's a reduced flow. This means that there is already a lot of organic material decaying inside, which is not good for the water column. Typically, in a sump, these organics are removed far more often, before they have much time to decay.

OP, what size tank are you setting up?
I am setting up a 180 gallon aquarium. Sumps are something that I have been interested in for a while. I was planning on setting up one for my saltwater aquarium and could set one up for my freshwater tank too. What does it take to maintain a sump?

Sump for sure...a well planned sump is the way to go. Sumps do not need to be complicated to out-perform all other forms of filtration. For large tanks with heavy bio-load it's really the only sensible option. You'll increase your water volume, have a place to hide heaters, have more options for mechanical and biological filtration, and with an overflow you'll get surface skimming...which in my opinion is the key to keeping a tank a healthy environment.
How do you set up a sump? I have never used a sump so I am beginner in that aspect of the hobby.
 
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Bigfishnut

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There are literally endless options with sumps and overflows...the best thing you can do is check out some old threads in the DIY section. Also watch a few King of DIY videos on you tube. He has several detailed videos explaining sumps and how to build them and set them up. J jaws7777 Fish Tank Travis Fish Tank Travis here we go again!
 
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AquaAlex1993

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There are literally endless options with sumps and overflows...the best thing you can do is check out some old threads in the DIY section. Also watch a few King of DIY videos on you tube. He has several detailed videos explaining sumps and how to build them and set them up. J jaws7777 Fish Tank Travis Fish Tank Travis here we go again!
Ok. Cool I will watch some of his videos today.
 
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Aqualoon

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I live in a place where the power goes out constantly during the summer (but for like, a few minutes at a time) so even with a properly setup up sump, I'd still be nervous as it happens throughout the day and I work during the day. Thus I only have Canisters and HOB filters on my two 125 Gallons. Had an FX5 years ago so have an FX6 now, easy to setup, easy to clean (for a canister), I then picked up some SunSun 304B (under $100 a pop shipped and can jam full of media).

Also, for the stock you want, the Angelfish are supposed to be feeders for the Barracuda right?
 
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