Can i use a canister filter for saltwater

You can also purchase more as they wear out. Filter floss in a chamber is a cheaper way to filter out the solids. You can just remove it and replace with new floss each week. This is where you can really improve the efficiency of a canister filter with ease because of some great products that are available. Most seasoned canister users will place the following two products into the two chambers following the filter floss:. This is a synthetic filter media that is designed to absorb Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate compounds.

It also has an added benefit of polishing the water, similar to what Activated Carbon does. As the Purigen becomes exhausted it changes its color to dark blue and eventually black. The great benefit to this product is that you can recharge the media by removing it and washing it in a bleach and water solution.

It comes in a bag which can be placed in a tray and will have to be disposed of once it is exhausted. The manufacturer recommends you change this out every months providing you have sized the amount of Chemi-Pure correctly. You can now also get Chemi-Pure Elite which adds a Ferric Oxide material to the media to help reduce Phosphates and Silicates at the same time, but only lasts 4 months. The recommended usage is 1 unit for every 5 — 40 gallons.

I highly recommend you add in a little media to greatly help with Biological Filtration. I mentioned that your rock will be your main biological filter, but if you have space left in your canister then I highly recommend MarinePure Biofilter Spheres!

MarinePure is a relatively new form of biological filter media. These are being installed in many aquarium sumps and canister filters to provide more surface area for bacteria to colonize. Install the app. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.

You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Can you run a reef tank with a canister filter. Thread starter chuckyshoe Start date May 23, Hello, This is my first post. I have only been into this hobby for about 6 months so I am very new. I have a 90 gal tall, with about lbs of very mature live rock which I got from my friends established tank, I have 2 tangs, 1 clown, 3 damsels, 1 blenny, 1 goby, 1 aero crab, 2 shrimps, 2 sallie crabs, 2 starfish, and a ton of hermit crabs 25 or so.

As far as coral I have mainly soft, leathers, mushrooms, toadstool, green start polyps, a small brain, and some zooanthids. The tank has VHO lighting, the filter I am using is an Fluval FX5 that contains carbon, clearmax and some media for bacteria to collect, the protein skimmer is a dual back back and I also have the turbo twist UV sanitizer system running. I test my water weekly as well as do water changes 15 gal at a time.

My levels have been perfect up until about a week ago when my nitrates went up to 30ppm. Everything in the tank seems to be thriving but when I went to my local store they told me that a canister filter cannot run a reef tank. If the FX5 canister is not good because of the mechanical filters can I take them out and just put some live rock in it? If anybody has any advice on this matter that would be awesome. ChrisOaty Member. Canister filtration tends to eventually become a nitrate factory as much of the filtration becomes anaerobic.

Best thing you can do for any take is build a sump for it. It'll allow you to put away all of your equipment, add water volume to your system, and effectively separate your filtration from your display, meaning controlability. If you need help, theres tons of DIY sumps that include how-tos on plumbing.

There's plenty of gurus on here that'd be more than willing to help you design something. SecretAgent Member. I ran Eheim canister filters for a couple of years with my two tanks I ran three on each, the 's, and ever since I took them off, my water hasnt been anywhere near as clear as when I had those on I just hated the cleaning of them monthly. I wouldnt clean them more often because when I did, the water never stayed clear, but I found when cleaning them monthly, the water was always clear Now I have a sump on both but my water is just before being crystal clear.

BUt no matter, I still like the sumps better WAY better. SecretAgent, Did you ever have problems with nitrates? My FX5 keeps the water crystal clear and is dead silent which is great that is why I would hate to get rid of it.

No issues whatsoever. I used carbon and the ceramic media that comes with them, and the pads. In fact, I hardly ever bought the white fine filter pads because I would rinse them out and reuse them for about 6m at a time. I dont have nitrate issues with the sumps either Only downside to the canisters was seeing the green hoses hanging, but that was when the reef was still young and not much grown in to hide them.

I got the sumps because I wanted a refugium and didnt want to hang one on the tank. Just speaking for myself, I didnt dislike the canisters and they served me well, I would use them again if I had to Thank you for you input, that makes me feel a little better.

Any idea why all of a sudden my nitrates are going up? I would think if you are just starting the tank, that would be a part of the cycle? DaveK Well-Known Member. Can you keep a reef system using a canister filter? Yes you can, but you tend to have problems noted in some of the other posts. Mainly it tends to become a nitrate factory. Note that you have experienced a rise in nitrates, although there may be other sources.

Your system is still new. To carry this a step further the question should be, is a canister filter the ideal filtration for a reef system? To this I would say, no, it is not. There are a lot better alternatives. On a larger tank, I would recommend using a berlin type sump, with a large powerful skimmer, and optionally, a refugium. The canister filter can then be transferred to the new tank to help quickly get the tank through a cycle and reduce any risk of exposing your fish to deadly ammonia during the transfer.

If you are setting up a quarantine or holding tank, a canister filter is perfectly suitable to be the primary source of filtration since the levels of debris will likely be far less compared to a display reef tank full of rock, fish and corals.

In this case, I would choose to run both mechanical filter sponges and biological filter media. Then add some carbon on an as needed basis to remove medications or just keep the water in pristine condition. Canister filters also work great as a sort of deep cleaning tool. Just like the pool monster that runs around the bottom of your swimming pool catching leaves, the canister filter can be used to catch and remove debris from your aquarium water.

Turn off your filtration, break out the elbow grease and scrape your glass, blow off the rocks and even stir up the sand bed in very small portions. This will get all kinds of debris and detritus suspended into the water column. Next, fill your canister with some coarse plastic sponges along with some fine filter floss or micron pads.

Then just take the canister filter and move it around the tank to pull out this suspended debris without having to perform a water change. The long uptake tube of the canister filter makes it easy to reach down to deeper depths that would otherwise may not be effectively filtered by your primary filtration.

The water is filtered by the canister and simply recycled back into your display. Just as long as you are careful not to allow sand or rocks to enter the filter, this is a great way to get detritus out of your tank on a regular basis which will result in a cleaner, more healthy aquarium. The same concept could apply for polishing your water as well. Fill the canister full of carbon and some fine filter floss and just run it for 24 hours. The carbon will help remove colors and odors from the water and the fine filter floss will catch small particles.

The end result will be ultra clear water for a beautiful viewing experience. Remove it from your tank and show off your hard work to your family and friends.