Canister vs hob ?

[heavyhitter]

+1
A gunk up canister is not just a nitrate factory, it can go anaerobic and spill out toxic gas in a power surge. A leaky canister can drain a tank all the way to the intake level. Such disasters will never happen to HOB because it is an open system and it has no external plumbing or O-ring to leak. The only perceived negativity of HOB is that it needs to be cleaned frequently due to small media capacity. But its negativity is its positivity because cleaning frequently means that nitrate build up will be curtailed.

That's not true, the only floods Ive ever had were from HOB. The sponge in the Aqua Clears floated up on me 2x in 2 different homes and had the water run up and over the top. I ran double length siphon tubes to get lower in the tank so it took out most of the water.
The hobs were also tilted forward to prevent that in theory but it didn't work.
Later the Aqua Clears started putting a molded edge to help prevent that, to hold the basket in from floating up.

HOBS do have their place and I used them exclusively for 20 years I switched to canisters 15 years ago and never looked back.

 

[tiger15]

You are right about AC, which is not a traditional HOB. I am referring to majority HOBs such as Penguin, Whisper or Aqueon that moves water forward, not upward, through the media. AC has another weak link. It has an O ring attachment to the motor that requires unscrewing to clean the impeller. Over time, the O ring will fail and leak. This is why I never like AC contrary to being the most popular HOB. AC is perceived as an inexpensive HOB canister because of its large media capacity and indeed it behaves badly as one.

 

[duanes]

I believe filtration is often misunderstood.
Many people think because stuff is pulled into a filter, it makes the tank cleaner.
And that may be aesthetically true.
But that only gives the illusion that the tank is cleaner, because you can't see the particulate/gunk. And its what you can't see, that is the most troubling.
Can you see ammonia, can you see nitrite, can you see nitrate, can you see fish urine, can you see pheromones and amino acids?
If you don't clean filters, all that particulate is still in the water, breaking down into nitrate, and other DOCs which degrade water quality..

 

[RD.]

AC has another weak link. It has an O ring attachment to the motor that requires unscrewing to clean the impeller. Over time, the O ring will fail and leak

Been running AC's for longer than I can remember, rarely had the need to clean an impeller, and never had an 0-ring fail and leak. My current (8) AC 500's are 10-15+ yrs old.

I've also never had one spill over, and I don't clean mine nearly as often as Duane.

 

[Hendre]

You are right about AC, which is not a traditional HOB. I am referring to majority HOBs such as Penguin, Whisper or Aqueon that moves water forward, not upward, through the media. AC has another weak link. It has an O ring attachment to the motor that requires unscrewing to clean the impeller. Over time, the O ring will fail and leak. This is why I never like AC contrary to being the most popular HOB. AC is perceived as an inexpensive HOB canister because of its large media capacity and indeed it behaves badly as one.

I need to get some spare O rings.

I believe filtration is often misunderstood.
Many people think because stuff is pulled into a filter, it makes the tank cleaner.
And that may be aesthetically true.
But that only gives the illusion that the tank is cleaner, because you can't see the particulate/gunk. And its what you can't see, that is the most troubling.
Can you see ammonia, can you see nitrite, can you see nitrate, can you see fish urine, can you see pheromones and amino acids?
If you don't clean filters, all that particulate is still in the water, breaking down into nitrate, and other DOCs which degrade water quality..

DOCs?
Stuff like that is why I do 60%+ WC on any tank regardless of stock

Been running AC's for longer than I can remember, rarely had the need to clean an impeller, and never had an 0-ring fail and leak. My current (8) AC 500's are 10-15+ yrs old.

I've also never had one spill over, and I don't clean mine nearly as often as Duane.

Wow, I haven't heard of the AC500. Larger model?

I had one instance where the impeller gunked up and made noise, the rest of the time it's smooth sailing. I clean my floss weekly and sponge usually every 1-3 weeks

 

[RD.]

Wow, I haven't heard of the AC500. Larger model?

Original model number, for what is now called AC 110. 500 is probably before you were born. lol

BTW - I have spare o-rings sitting here collecting dust. The only way O-rings typically wear out on an AC motor, is if one is constantly removing the motor from the filter housing. Otherwise, should last 20 yrs or more.

 

[Hendre]

Original model number, for what is now called AC 110. 500 is probably before you were born. lol

BTW - I have spare o-rings sitting here collecting dust. The only way O-rings typically wear out on an AC motor, is if one is constantly removing the motor from the filter housing. Otherwise, should last 20 yrs or more.

Ah alright. 500gph then?
Could have easily been done before my time

I have maybe removed it 4 times in total just to clean out and check the impeller and haven't had to for some time

 

[robham777]

Gotta say I have never had water on the floor from an aquaclear or canister, which is not to say that it won't happen. I have had leaking tanks however and there is an inherent risk to having a container with a large volume of water in your house no matter what you do. I would imagine most leaks in Aquaclear filters would be because the motor is not seated properly. The only time I have taken the motor off any of mine is to swap out an impeller.

 

[heavyhitter]

Original model number, for what is now called AC 110. 500 is probably before you were born. lol

BTW - I have spare o-rings sitting here collecting dust. The only way O-rings typically wear out on an AC motor, is if one is constantly removing the motor from the filter housing. Otherwise, should last 20 yrs or more.

Not just the AC naming convention but remember when the Aqua Clears used a brown tinted plastic before they switched to the grey plastic now? I still have some AC500's and a 200 in the old color, now I'm just dating myself.

I bet if I plugged them in they would work.

 

[RD.]

Lol, yes I remember the old brown plastic ones, but I don't have any left.

One of the reasons AC's are so popular is that they almost last forever.