So on my 600 gallon tank I want to add a few large canister filters ( FX5's or some pool filters or something) for more mechanical filtration, but I dont want the tubes in the tank. Is there any easy way to hook a couple up inline with my overflows now?
Hooking up canisters in line???
- Thread starter fishguy23
- Start date
No. You cannot do this. The pumps will not match perfectly, and the resistance in each canister will be different. This is not possible with standard canisters.
I thought about doing it with a couple of XP3s, and I had a long thread (which I'll link if I can find it). I decided against it in the end. It's probably better to just run them individually unless you pull the pump out of the first can in the series.
it is always dangerous, imo...pumps are all different, different capacities, canisters clog differently, things would go askew quickly...
Heres an idea. With however many canisters or pool filters you end up going with, plumb their intakes together and the returns together. Of course if you did this you would want to step up from the size of plumbing from the filters so the high water flow is not restricted and the pumps dont work against each other.
Slave cannisters (those without thier own pumps) can be hooked up this way but with powered cannisters your asking for trouble. It's also a bad idea to try to run multiple cannisters on a single inlet/outlet pipe. In any case...it's always best, water flow wise, to spread the individual pipes out and run large tanks in a cross flow configuration whenever possible.
As long as it is plumbed correctly there is no problem in combining the intakes/returns. Even if a pump works slightly harder then unrestricted, which they run restricted once the canister needs a cleaning, it wont hurt it. They are magneticly driven pumps.