Hey everybody! my first post in the saltwater pages of the forum. I am switching from flowerhorns to salt because my wife said flowerhorns were boring... anyways I have a question. Im gettin g a 75 gallon sw tank ready and i was curious about filtration. I have a magnum 350 canister filter currently and i asked the owner of my LFS if i needed a different filter for it and she said i could get away with using the canister only. My question is is it possible to only use a canister on a 75 or would i need to get a skimmer or w/d and just use the magnum for polishing inside of the sump? Another question i have is: If i would only need a canister, how would i go about changing the filter media if i used the polishing pad? Would i be able to clean it out with bleach like freshwater or would that kill the bacteria inside of the filter? My last question is polishing pad or carbon container? Thanks for the help!
new to saltwater
- Thread starter cichlid_king
- Start date
For Fish only tanks canister filtration is pretty much the same as freshwater but probably needs cleaned out and media replaced more often. Carbon that is replaced every 30 days can remove dissolved protiens like a skimmer does however carbon can only hold as much as it's surface area will allow. Skimming is more important for corals and sensitive inverts like anemones and clams as large amouts of dissolved protiens turn into large amounts of Nitrate and Phosphate.
Bleaching polishing pads isn't gonna hurt so long as the bleach doesn't make it's way into the tank. Liverock is your main biological filtration, the canister moves the water and can hold chemical filtration if desired along with polishing pads for particulates.
Bleaching polishing pads isn't gonna hurt so long as the bleach doesn't make it's way into the tank. Liverock is your main biological filtration, the canister moves the water and can hold chemical filtration if desired along with polishing pads for particulates.
Thank you for your help! So which would you prefer? Polishing pad or carbon? I want to have atleast 2 anenomes in there for my clowns so therefor i should go with the carbon container? Or should i just get a skimmer and run the polishing pad in my canister?
Your talkin' apples and oranges - carbon is used to remove dissolved impurities and pads to catch non- dissolved particles. I wouldn't be quick to add anenomes in a new to salt set-up. For some it takes a year alone for their food source to grow in the tank. Being an invert a skimmer is probably a good idea, and because anenomes can release toxin when stressed or dying I'd def. use cabon.
Well, i got a skmmer. Its a coralife super skimmer 125. So now im just gonna run the polishing filter in the magnum. Thanks for your help!
It is definitely possible to use a canister on a Saltwater tank. But it should be noted there is a difference in "possible" and "preferable". I used a Magnum 350 on my first saltwater tank that was fish only with live rock (ROWLR) a few years ago. There are a couple issues though, first among them is maintenance. That canister got nasty fast, and I did a 20% water change weekly. It can be hard to keep nitrates down while using a canister as a result of this. You also are extremely limited as far as biological filtration, you can only fit so much media in that little canister. You would be much better off with a sump/refuge but if you have to use the canister I would recommend using live rock rubble in the canister to maximize your bio filtration. Feel free to ask me anything, I will help to the best of my abilities. Welcome to the addictive world of saltwater aquariums. 
I have the opportunity to buy a REna filstar xp2 for 25 dollars. If i put the live rock rubble in the Rena and ran the polishing pad in the magnum do you think that it would help? Or would i just be wasting my time running 2 canister filters on a 75? gimme your opinions
I wouldn't bother running two canisters, IMO if you are for sure sticking with canisters the Magnum 350 is sufficient. As I said before just stay on maintenance. Another point would be make sure you have plenty of live rock in the DT, more rock = more bio filtration. 1-2lbs. per gallon as a minimum. I would put live rock rubble in your canister and make sure you wash the pad out weekly when you do your PWCs. Shouldn't have too many problems with that .
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