Do I really need a canister?

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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 28, 2007
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So I've recently gotten back into fish keeping after nearly 20 years and decided to give salt water a try. I purchased a used setup consisting of the following parts:

55 gal tank w/ stand
Lighting (not sure of the specs on the lights, but it was being used with a coral setup. It has very bright white lights and blue lights)
Coralife Super Skimmer (setup for HOB)
Penguin 1140 power head
sand
Water Test Kit
Assorted chemicals.

The lady I bought it all from said I didn't need any filter except for the skimmer, but I think she is very mistaken. I intend to make this tank a FOWLR and would not feel comfortable without a filter of some sort (I like my water clean and clear).

So my question is, if I have at least 30 lbs of LR which filter will give me the best bang for my buck? Do I really need a canister (I was looking at the Fluval 405, but the price is a bit steep at this point), or would a HOB like the Emperor 400 be sufficient? I won't start cycling this tank for at least another month or two due to an impending move, but I'd like to get all of the parts so I can start once I've moved.
 
No, a canister is one of the worst filters on a SW tank IMO. actually i have run my SPS tank with nothing more than a skimmer for a long time now. if you have a skimmer that is rated for more than the volume of the tank, and you do your regular waterchanges (10% bi-weekly or 20% monthly) you should be just fine.
 
if you like hob I'd get an AC
 
You could use your cannister if you run it with out any media in it. It will work just fine as long as there is nothing in there to trap detritus.
hth
Max
 
You don't need a canister or HOB filter on a FOWLR, the live rock and sand is your biological filtration. For polishing you can run a canister but you won't want to put any biomedia in it and you'll want to clean it out consistently so it doesn't start producing nitrates heavily. In this way a canister will benefit you, but if you leave it running with a bunch of gunk in it all the time it will only make things worse. You can also use a HOB for polishing, but again, don't add any biomedia and rinse the filter pads every day to remove waste.

As far as biofiltration make sure you have plenty of live rock, at least 1 lb per gallon, 2 would be even better, since that's the main component in keeping a FOWLR tank stable and healthy. Plenty of live rock will allow you to grow plenty of nitrifying bacteria to convert ammonia and nitrites, and denitrifying bacteria to lower nitrates, and your skimmer will allow you to remove waste before it is converted to nitrates by your biological bactera.

The best filtration in a SW tank, IMO, is rock and a skimmer. You don't even NEED a skimmer with a lightly stocked tank, you can use water changes to keep the nitrates as low as you want. Canister filters aren't required in the least.
Right now I'm running my lightly stocked 20 long reef tank on nothing but a couple of powerheads and I never have ammonia or nitrites and my nitrates are consistently below 15. Nitrates would probably be lower with the use of a good skimmer.
 
Max;1172705; said:
You could use your cannister if you run it with out any media in it. It will work just fine as long as there is nothing in there to trap detritus.
hth
Max
Click to expand...

So what is the point of it??? You want the stuff caught you just have to clean it out alot more often then on FW. As in every 2 weeks or so.
 
You can add chemical filtration in there, like carbon or Purigen.
 
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