main difference between HOB and cannister filter?

In an overstocked tank with no plants I would personally use a HOB (and this is coming from someone who loves canisters.) With so much debris coming into the media, I would want a simple and fast complete throwaway sort of deal. HOB's provide this, even if it will cost a lot more money. Like I said, I encourage nitrate in most of my tanks because I'm a plant enthusiast. My filters rarely get any maintenance. The tanks are also rather understocked for this very reason. I go literally months without touching the insides of my canisters.

This I would not dare in a rift aquarium.

So in my estimation it's less an opinion thing as it is a system by system thing. Consider that I have two 5.5g betta tanks that have no mechanical filtration at all. It's purely botanical and manual.
 
echoofformless said:
In an overstocked tank with no plants I would personally use a HOB (and this is coming from someone who loves canisters.) With so much debris coming into the media, I would want a simple and fast complete throwaway sort of deal. HOB's provide this, even if it will cost a lot more money. Like I said, I encourage nitrate in most of my tanks because I'm a plant enthusiast. My filters rarely get any maintenance. The tanks are also rather understocked for this very reason. I go literally months without touching the insides of my canisters.
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This is true, that's why I tend to like the setup that focuses more biological filtration on the canister and mechanical on HOB on the same tank. I used to only use very coarse sponges in between media inside the canister. I still like this setup. :)
 
I don't understand why people think HOB's are better at mech than a can. with most canisters there is little to no bypass for the water to flow through, especially Eheim classics, if you stuff the last layer with floss you have fantastic mechanical filtration much better than HOB's Imo. Most HOB's have huge bypass issues, I have yet to see one that has NO bypass.
 
mott said:
I don't understand why people think HOB's are better at mech than a can. with most canisters there is little to no bypass for the water to flow through, especially Eheim classics, if you stuff the last layer with floss you have fantastic mechanical filtration much better than HOB's Imo. Most HOB's have huge bypass issues, I have yet to see one that has NO bypass.
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HOBs are not better than canisters for mechanical filtration. But HOBs are much much easier to clean than canisters. That's why I have both Eheim Classics and AquaClear filters on all tanks where I expect lots of blockage.
 
The fact that HOBs get dirty so fast and need to be cleaned more often is also a benefit, not necessarily a drawback. Another reason to run both types on the same tank. When I actually see all the gunk that's built up already in my HOB, I also know it's accumulating the same way in my canister below. So it's a good reminder that makes me think (as I'm cleaning the HOB)... hmm, how long HAS it been since I last cleaned my canister filter?
 
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