Discussion: Canister Filters Pro & Con

[bschuhart]

CON: Canister filter power off, bacteria dies quicker.

If the power goes out, how long before the bacteria in the closed canister filter dies and causes problems.

 

[YSS]

CON: Canister filter power off, bacteria dies quicker.

Is this a proven fact?

 

[bschuhart]

Don't know!

Is this a proven fact?

 

[danger_chicken]

Is this a proven fact?

It has to do with the oxygen getting depleted when the canister is off.

 

[Tony]

PRO: They're quiet and can't spill water on the floor

CON: They suck to clean and lose flow very quickly

 

[dogofwar]

I'm not a fan of canisters because they're a PIA to clean and expensive.

If you use them for mechanical filtration, you should clean them frequently. If you don't then, they can become a nitrate source. An alternative is to use a pre-filter to keep gunk out of them.

Matt

 

[mchambers]

Canisters

I actually prefer having a canister filter to a hang on back filter. I have two Aquaclear filters, one Emperor, and a SunSun canister (cheap on eBay). The canister is much quieter and needs cleaning much less frequently. (I use a sponge prefilter over the intake, and I do have to clean that every month or two, but the actual internal filter media don't need to be cleaned very often at all, perhaps every six months or year. It is a pain to do that, I will concede.)

I think the advantage of having a canister filter is that it has far more room for media, so that it gets clogged up far less often. I have never really noticed any reduction in flow through the canister. With the Aquaclear filters and with the Emperor, I need to clean them at least every month, or the flow is greatly reduced.

 

[Avatar]

Pre-filters

In my opinion everything that moves water in a tank should have a pre-filter on it. In addition to capturing particulates, they become de-nitrifying filters themselves in short order. I have large fancy Eheim canisters on a couple of tanks (with pre-filters) and they work fine, but as far as inexpensive low-maintenance bomb-proof filtration set-ups for clear water disease free tanks have yet to see anything rival an under-gravel filter with reverse flow powerheads and foam pre-filters. Every few weeks you rinse/squeeze the foams clean in tank water, re-connect and that's it. There's minimal accumulation of deposits in the substrate since the water is pushing out and up through the gravel rather than sucking everything down into it and what is there is pretty much digested and essentially 'dirt' rather than an organic threat to the inhabitants. UGs do have there own inherent limitations but for straight up display tanks they rock.

As for hang-ons, ACs are great, much quieter and reliable than Emperors, but all of mine have pre-filters whether they're little ones on 5 gallon tanks or Emp400s on big tanks with pre-filters of varying density so as not to impede water flow. It really all comes down to surface area and the quantity/time of interface between the water and filter medium where the bacteria do their work. Don't know what Poret is (yet) but the best filter I've ever owned is a dense large fist-sized ugly piece of insulating foam that rides underneath a power head and by itself is probably sufficient to scavenge a moderately populated 55 by virtue of its density and intrinsic surface area for bacterial colonization.

Bottom line is that pre-filters rock and are a great way to lessen maintenance requirements for larger filters of all types while themselves contributing to biological and mechanical filtration. The hard part is finding nice looking ones or material that is the right size/density.

 

[fischfan13]

In my opinion everything that moves water in a tank should have a pre-filter on it. In addition to capturing particulates, they become de-nitrifying filters themselves in short order. I have large fancy Eheim canisters on a couple of tanks (with pre-filters) and they work fine, but as far as inexpensive low-maintenance bomb-proof filtration set-ups for clear water disease free tanks have yet to see anything rival an under-gravel filter with reverse flow powerheads and foam pre-filters. Every few weeks you rinse/squeeze the foams clean in tank water, re-connect and that's it. There's minimal accumulation of deposits in the substrate since the water is pushing out and up through the gravel rather than sucking everything down into it and what is there is pretty much digested and essentially 'dirt' rather than an organic threat to the inhabitants. UGs do have there own inherent limitations but for straight up display tanks they rock.

As for hang-ons, ACs are great, much quieter and reliable than Emperors, but all of mine have pre-filters whether they're little ones on 5 gallon tanks or Emp400s on big tanks with pre-filters of varying density so as not to impede water flow. It really all comes down to surface area and the quantity/time of interface between the water and filter medium where the bacteria do their work. Don't know what Poret is (yet) but the best filter I've ever owned is a dense large fist-sized ugly piece of insulating foam that rides underneath a power head and by itself is probably sufficient to scavenge a moderately populated 55 by virtue of its density and intrinsic surface area for bacterial colonization.

Bottom line is that pre-filters rock and are a great way to lessen maintenance requirements for larger filters of all types while themselves contributing to biological and mechanical filtration. The hard part is finding nice looking ones or material that is the right size/density.

A person after my own heart.
Great advice!!!

 

[jonclark96]

What are you guys typically using for prefilters? I have cut up AC foam on several of mine, effective but ugly. Any suggestions that are both functional and relatively good looking?

 

[toddnbecka]

I use the replacement prefilters for penguin reverse-flow powerheads on all my hob and canister filter intakes. The foam is coarse enough that it doesn't clog up too quickly, though it does slow down the flow rate a bit by the time I do the weekly cleanings in my overcrowded tanks.

 

[fischfan13]

What are you guys typically using for prefilters? I have cut up AC foam on several of mine, effective but ugly. Any suggestions that are both functional and relatively good looking?

Either AC Foam or, from Jehmco.com...

 

[mchambers]

Prefilters

Like you, I use cut Aquaclear foam on two of my filters. On the other two, I use cut up pieces of Poret foam. The Poret looks a little better, because it's dark grey, but it's far from attractive.

 

[Andrewtfw]

I use the pre filter for the powersweep powerheads. It is square and has a tube inside that usually fits nicely over the intake of the canister. I also use magdrive prefilters.