canister versus hob power filter

rourk89

rourk89

AC Members
Oct 7, 2011
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Waterford, Mi
I currently have a 55 gallon tank with an aqua clear 70, but latley the tank water has not been as clear, I have been told since it is a 55 long, a hob filter is no good and a caniser filter is what i need. However the gentelman i was talking to couldnt tell me why. So I was wondering if someone on here could tell me why a canister filter is better. And if a fluval 404 would work as I am trying to get one of of craigslist.
 
One AC70 on a 55g tank is a bit light or small - depending on the bio load.
The problem is the length and height. It's hard to get good circulation with one filter - of any kind - in a tank that size and shape. If you were to add intake tubing and put the intake closer to one end and the outflow closer to the other end (like you can with a canister) the same filter would work better.

Adding another filter so each is essentially filtering and circulating only half the tank, would help. So would a simple power head set to push water from one end towards the filter. A nice advantage of two identical filters is alternating media changes or cleanings.
 
two filters is a good idea on any tank above 20 gallons. on my 55 i'm running oodles more filtration than necessary, but it is better to overfilter than underfilter, and my fish have always been healthy and happy with this arrangement. i'm currently running an Aquaclear 110 hob and a Rena XP4 canister. enough filtration for more than 300 gallons, lol, but it works for me!

i would recommend adding an aquaclear 110 to either half of your tank, this will provide more than enough filtration for the tank size, and the dual hobs will eliminate 'dead spots' in the tank (areas that receive no water circulation).
 
A simple formula that I use for filtration is 10x the gallonage an hour so a 55 I would us either 1 filter with greater then 550 gallons per hour or 2 the combined to over 550 gph. Add another 70 and you should be fine. The guy that told you canisters are needed for a 55 is dumb as hell. You can really run anything up to a 120 very easy and clean with 2 hobs.

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keep in mind that the GPH on filters is rated without the media being added to the filter. once you put in your sponges, etc then that GPH goes down quite a bit, due to resistance of water flow against the media.

i personally don't follow GPH at all, and just look at the tank size the filter is rated for, and aim for a whole heck of a lot more filtration than my tank size.

my 20 gallon long is running a penguin hob filter that is rated for a 55 gallon, for example.
 
Yeah I keep double filters on all my large tanks. (Basically in my situation anything over 10g but even that has a filter rated for a 20g). They are all HOB, I will probably never use a canister. A lot of people love them though.

Don't always trust what petshop or LFS people tell you, honestly, some of them know nothing. Esp. if he can't give you a reason WHY, he prolly just wanted you to spend $150 or how much ever the canisters at his store are lol
 
In my 20G, I use a Sunsun HW303B and a power filter laid horizontally to the gravel to circulate the dead spots. The power filter keeps churning the water so the dead spots are also having the circulation.
 
jayla2251 said:
Don't always trust what petshop or LFS people tell you, honestly, some of them know nothing. Esp. if he can't give you a reason WHY, he prolly just wanted you to spend $150 or how much ever the canisters at his store are lol
Click to expand...

"Esp. if he can't give you a reason WHY"

alot of these employees are just "hear-say." they don't know any reasoning behind it.

I like the 2 HoB filter method, tho idk why. jk =P i did that with a powerhead blowing across the back and heater to keep everything nice and consistent. 1 AC and 1 Penguin cuz i like both for different reasons and can't settle on one.


But i've been looking into the API Nexx easymode lego canister. perfect for lazy people. it all seems great, but the GPH stays low ~130gph even when you triple it up for 165 gallons (or whatever.) so i'm unsure about it. It just seems so easy to maintain. it also promotes alot of chemical filtration which i'm not used to... but it seems like a nice lazy way to do it.
 
i bet you can fix it with a few good water changes, maybe feed less (or less messily,) skip feedings for a couple days, squeeze out the sponge, replace that carb with filter floss, and slap on a powerhead to blow across the back of the tank
 
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