HOB & CANISTER on a 75G
- Thread starter Tpepe321
- Start date
In all honesty I would just use two hobs instead of hob plus cannister. Cannisters are such a PITA to clean vs a hob. So in the long run, will cause you to do the cleaning less and less often due to the long difficult process of cleaning. Plus the risk of breaking something during the cleaning and putting the can out of action till you get spare parts. Where as cleaning a hob takes 15 minutes at most and normally there is no risk of parts breakage during the process.
I have had 6ft 125gal tank with three hobs and they did just fine even with a 12in cichlid.
I have had 6ft 125gal tank with three hobs and they did just fine even with a 12in cichlid.
I have a HOB (Aquaclear 110) and a Canister (Fluval Fx5) on a 120g. I use the canister more as a biological filter and it gets cleansed about every 6 months (give or take). I use the HOB more for mechanical filtration and clean it once a month. I have 4 ancient fish (Bichirs) so it's pretty low maintenance.
I´m with Jexnell on this,
to me a seldom cleaned canister becomes a production house for elevated nitrate, compared to a couple frequently cleaned HOBs.
Once a tank is cycled, nitrate is the most toxic substance we end up in our aquariums.
I consider any nitrate level above 10 ppm as toxic, because in nature nitrate is almost always < 1 ppm.
I have been testing natural waters from Lake Michigan to Costa Rica, to the Cenotes in Mexico, for more than 20 years.
and in all those places (unless the water is considered polluted, usually by excess fertilization, or excrement (human or animal)),
nitrates are always undetectable.
I now ive in Panama where I test every river where I collect my fish.
In every watershed where have collected , and found healthy species, nitrates have been undetectable.
Below are a number of tests from water samples in Panama. (yelloe are nitrate, red pH)
to me a seldom cleaned canister becomes a production house for elevated nitrate, compared to a couple frequently cleaned HOBs.
Once a tank is cycled, nitrate is the most toxic substance we end up in our aquariums.
I consider any nitrate level above 10 ppm as toxic, because in nature nitrate is almost always < 1 ppm.
I have been testing natural waters from Lake Michigan to Costa Rica, to the Cenotes in Mexico, for more than 20 years.
and in all those places (unless the water is considered polluted, usually by excess fertilization, or excrement (human or animal)),
nitrates are always undetectable.
I now ive in Panama where I test every river where I collect my fish.
In every watershed where have collected , and found healthy species, nitrates have been undetectable.
Below are a number of tests from water samples in Panama. (yelloe are nitrate, red pH)
I agree. HOB's are fine. Easier to maintain. What I have done in the past is hang on the back and just have a background at back of tank to hide them.
I would usually opt for all HOBs but I have seen some members here use canisters where the intake is replaced with a DIY perforated pvc pipe, then fit with a tubular foam prefilter so they can easily be changed out when fouled. This has always interested me because the main drawback to cans is how they get gunked up easily and need to be clean to work properly, and it seems the swapout foam prefilter would really help with that.
There is a large contingent of members who dislike canisters. I personally love mine and though HOBs are simple and effective I prefer the quiet and hidden canister. My tank is not overstocked, and I don't overfeed, and have no problem with the can getting gunked up. I clean it every 3 to 4 months and there is some solids on the foam media, it is never even a layer thick, no better or worse than the few years I used HOBs and the layer of gunk they collect. I have also recently started using probiotix food, and others have discussed using ridx in the water column to prevent even this amount of buildup.
My fx is a bit bigger than your 407, but depending on what you stock it with, you may not even need both filters. As for placement you'll just have to play with it. I like my canister outflow at one corner flowing lengthwise across the top, and my intake is in the middle of the back. I also have a couple airstones and a powerhead in there that kicks on a couple hours a day, so it took some playing with to see how these each affected circulation and prevented dead corners, without making the current so strong it disturbs the sand substrate or pushes the fish around.
My fx is a bit bigger than your 407, but depending on what you stock it with, you may not even need both filters. As for placement you'll just have to play with it. I like my canister outflow at one corner flowing lengthwise across the top, and my intake is in the middle of the back. I also have a couple airstones and a powerhead in there that kicks on a couple hours a day, so it took some playing with to see how these each affected circulation and prevented dead corners, without making the current so strong it disturbs the sand substrate or pushes the fish around.