Hello I’m new to this but I have a filtration question. I have a 55 gal freshwater tank of community fish and my hanging filters seem to get clogged up very fast, So I was considering going to a canister system but are they any easer to keep clean.
Help whith a new filtration sys
- Thread starter Les
- Start date
Welcome to Aquaria Central!
To answer your question... yes, and no. If setup properly, canisters can be quite easy to clean... however, if setup improperly, they can get just as clogged up as any other filter... and its a bigger pain in the butt to clean up, because you need to take the whole thing apart.
Canister filters are built for biological filtration, not mechanical filtration... thus their large media capacity. However, a quick addition can make them effective enough in terms of mechanical filtration. Go to your LFS (local fish store), and buy some sponges (I find aquaclear 300 sponges work well in most applications). Cut a slot/hole in the sponge, and fit the sponge over the intake of your canister filter. Clean out this sponge once a week, and you're golden. I do this to all my canisters... this eliminates the need to put in a mechanical filtration layer in the canister, so I can have more biofiltration capacity.
That said, you can probably quickly see how this method can be easily adapted to even HOB (hang on back) filters. Just grab a sponge, and fit it over the intake of your filter. That should stop/slow down the rate at which your filters get clogged at.
What I usually have setup in a fish only tank (of 55 gallons or higher) is this:
- At least one HOB filter of appropriate size, completely dedicated to mechanical filtration. I stuff the filter with sponges. The sponges I clean out weekly, or biweekly. Some people put in filter floss, and replace that weekly... I'm cheap, so I skip that part.
- At least one canister of appropriate size, completely dedicated to biological filtration. I stuff the canister with biofiltration media, and cover the intake of the canister with a prefilter (made via my previous explanation). I only take the canister apart once every 4-6 months for a quick check, and a quick cleaning if needed. The prefilter I completely rinse out at least once a week. Whether the prefilter is rinsed with dechlorinated water or not is no concern, since its there for mechanical filtration, not biological.
HTH
-Richer
To answer your question... yes, and no. If setup properly, canisters can be quite easy to clean... however, if setup improperly, they can get just as clogged up as any other filter... and its a bigger pain in the butt to clean up, because you need to take the whole thing apart.
Canister filters are built for biological filtration, not mechanical filtration... thus their large media capacity. However, a quick addition can make them effective enough in terms of mechanical filtration. Go to your LFS (local fish store), and buy some sponges (I find aquaclear 300 sponges work well in most applications). Cut a slot/hole in the sponge, and fit the sponge over the intake of your canister filter. Clean out this sponge once a week, and you're golden. I do this to all my canisters... this eliminates the need to put in a mechanical filtration layer in the canister, so I can have more biofiltration capacity.
That said, you can probably quickly see how this method can be easily adapted to even HOB (hang on back) filters. Just grab a sponge, and fit it over the intake of your filter. That should stop/slow down the rate at which your filters get clogged at.
What I usually have setup in a fish only tank (of 55 gallons or higher) is this:
- At least one HOB filter of appropriate size, completely dedicated to mechanical filtration. I stuff the filter with sponges. The sponges I clean out weekly, or biweekly. Some people put in filter floss, and replace that weekly... I'm cheap, so I skip that part.
- At least one canister of appropriate size, completely dedicated to biological filtration. I stuff the canister with biofiltration media, and cover the intake of the canister with a prefilter (made via my previous explanation). I only take the canister apart once every 4-6 months for a quick check, and a quick cleaning if needed. The prefilter I completely rinse out at least once a week. Whether the prefilter is rinsed with dechlorinated water or not is no concern, since its there for mechanical filtration, not biological.
HTH
-Richer
Just a couple of questions. What sort of HOB filter are you using currently and how much do you feed your fish and at what intervals? Also how many of what kinds of fish are in your tank?
No two tanks are readily comparable, as the water, handling/upkeep, feeding, etc. are all variables. That said, my tank filtration techniques are much the same as Richers, all my tanks are multi-fitered, generally with biofiltration in prefiltered external canisters (for low maintenance beyond prefilter rinsing) and mechanical by powered internal canisters (also frequently rinsed). The specific filters chosen to do the jobs is personal choice - work with what is easy for you to do and to maintain. How much of each filtration is required is a function of the rest of the setup - how messy the fish are, what foods are used, how heavy the bioload is, etc. You need sufficient mechanical filtration to capture all the particulates visible in the water fairly quickly, but that is a pragmatic choice - if it works, you have enough; if it doesn't, you need more or different mechanical filters or media.
One hint which Richer already mentioned - a fairly coarse prefilter on an HOB with finer media inside the unit will avoid clogging longer than would just the use of the finer media alone.
One hint which Richer already mentioned - a fairly coarse prefilter on an HOB with finer media inside the unit will avoid clogging longer than would just the use of the finer media alone.
Thank You all
I added a canister whith a pre filiter, and stufed my HOB whith sponges and ill give this a try.
I added a canister whith a pre filiter, and stufed my HOB whith sponges and ill give this a try.
Just a quick note, depending on what decor you have to hide the sponge pre-filters, you may want to use black sponges, Big Al's sells some bulk black sponges. The AC sponges are great, but a yellow or white sponge in you tank stands out unless it's totally hidden. I also put a sponge on every intake I own, Saves a bunch on media and maintenance.