Do canister filters work in half-filled tanks?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
the flow will be a bit lower but the syphon will do alot of the work .

if you start it by sucking in water from the outlest the filter will just fill up to the level of water in the tank and the pump will do the rest . might wanna try not using a spray bar as it will block quickly . just have the water drop back in
 
canisters rely on gravity to fill them and use the pump to lift the water back up to the tank. Thats why you need the canister below the level of the tank.

Attach a foam pre-filter kit to a small powerhead. (they come with instructions on how to do this.) This keeps a LOT of the nasty junk out of the canister and extends servace intervals. (you wont have to clean it out as often.) attach the output from the powerhead (make sure you block or cover the airation hole.) directly to the pickup hose of the cannister.(with this set up you don't need the strainer. The foam prefilter does the same job.) The power head lifts the water and even add's to the flow rate...allowing the cannister pump to operate at maximum efficiancy.
 
of course, when using a sponge prefilter you WILL have to clean the sponge as often as necessary, whether it is daily or once a week. still a lot easier than dragging out the canister, but it has to be done almost religiously otherwise you'll really cut down on the flow rate.
 
thanks watuga.
what's a prefilter though?

and wolf; so you're saying the part where the water comes out of the powerhead is right infront of the intake of the canister filter right?
what did you mean by it will be upsidedown?
 
Not in front of it....ATTACHED to it directly. A pre filter is a piece of foam that fits over the power head intake that you can pop off and rinse in the sink every couple of days to cut down the number of times you have to open the canister. A good pre-filter will allow you to go a couple of months or moer between cannister servacings. Normally the power head outlet is spraying out into the tank but with this set up it will be spraying UP into the intake hose of the canister.
 
okay, you have the filter itself. . . . so a prefilter ('pre' means 'before') is something that goes before the filter. . . like a sponge. by putting a sponge over the intake (which is where the filter itself begins) you create a prefilter, which catches particles before they go into the filter.
 
oh ok. sorry thanks.
I get it now.

filterintake connects with the tip of powerhead..which has a sponge on it's butt
oh, I'm wondering though.. once I turn the poweroff from the powerhead, will all the garbage drop off the sponge? or is it stuck to it good?!
 
exelent question...what I do is to cover the prefilter with a plastic bag and then pull it off of the powerhead while it's running.... take the plastic bag and the prefilter to the sink to rinse it off and leave the powerhead and cannister running. The short time without a pre-filter wont hurt anything.
 
JEAE21;1172833; said:
oh ok. sorry thanks.
I get it now.

filterintake connects with the tip of powerhead..which has a sponge on it's butt
oh, I'm wondering though.. once I turn the poweroff from the powerhead, will all the garbage drop off the sponge? or is it stuck to it good?!
Click to expand...

Some will fall off. I usually stick a cup underneath it before I turn it off and then lift the powerhead out with the cup so it doesn't end up back in the tank.
 
thank you wolf & shadow!
 
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