I know little about marine fish, but I have always wondered why canister filters or not considered good fiters for filtering marine water. Can some give me some insight on this?
Why are canister filters not used in marine fitration.
- Thread starter goldfish freak
- Start date
In general, they just collect gunk and hold it. You want bio processes (Live Rock and a Deep Sand Bed) to break that gunk down, not just hold it.
its not just canisters... all filters that trap particles are not good for SW tanks because they will result in higher nitrate and phosphate levels, both of which are harmful to marine life.
I use an eheim 2217 on my 50gal reef. I actually use it as a glorified pump. It only contains about 10lbs of base rock. I do not use any of the canister filter media as this would create nitrates. I only use the canister because it was leftover from a FW set up and I do not have a sump. It also comes in handy when you want to use chemicals(carbon, phosphate pad).
Brian
Brian
Thanks for the reply Slip. How difficult is it to keep live rock and a DSB? Can it be sucessfully done with a puffer?
It will be useless with a puffer. Puffers and triggers will blow water at it to get the things that keep a sand bed alive. What I did with my 209 is a aragonite bed of about 2.5inches to keep a wrasse of some sort someday. There will be a puffer and two triggers in the tank. Triggers and puffers also pick at the live rock making it not so interesting. Are you thinking of your little green spot puffer?
MonoSebaelover, yes I am thinking about using live rock and maybe a DSB with my green spotted puffer and my monos. Would at least the live rock work as effective filtration?
are you going to use a sump?
if you are you could setup a DSB in the sump. add a little light and harvest some macroalgaes also.
if you are you could setup a DSB in the sump. add a little light and harvest some macroalgaes also.