Hooking up a canister filter to a tank

Emmanuel.dam · 03/14/2013, 04:46 AM

I'm gonna hook up my canister filter to my tank but it's gonna take like 3L of water and I don't hav a very big tank only 50L give or take, what should I top the water up with once I have hooked the canister up?

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johnike · 03/14/2013, 04:54 AM

Sounds like a great time to do a small water change, and make a bit extra to fill the filter.

Emmanuel.dam · 03/14/2013, 05:09 AM

Oh ok so I can just fill with more salt water?

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fishgate · 03/14/2013, 06:09 AM

Correct, add saltwater.

gone fishin · 03/14/2013, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnike

Sounds like a great time to do a small water change, and make a bit extra to fill the filter.

Unfortunately I must agree with John

klwheat · 03/14/2013, 08:16 AM

Yep...saltwater. You use freshwater for topoff, because you've lost water but the salt remains. If you want to expand volume, you add saltwater, otherwise you'll dilute the salt you already have.

Emmanuel.dam · 03/14/2013, 01:58 PM

Ahh ok thank you guys :-)

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nynick · 03/14/2013, 03:38 PM

When people in the other thread advised you to lower your bio load or incease your filtration they didn't mean to add a canister filter. The amount of fish you have in such a small tank is not going to work no matter what you do. You need to either upgrade to a bigger tank/skimmer or take some of your livestock back to the store. You can put the biggest and best cannister filter in the world on your tank but a 13 gallon aquarium can still not support a Foxface and several other fish.

Since you live close to the ocean you can probably keep stuff alive for a while by doing a TON of water changes. In the end, and this is purely theoretical since he will not live that long, the Foxface fish will barely be able to turn around in your tank.

If you don't want your tank to turn into a little swamp you need to start doing some reading up on the basics of keeping a reef tank (between water changes!). When you have ammo and nitrite readings on a tank that is several months old things definately not going well.

Emmanuel.dam · 03/14/2013, 05:01 PM

What if I put a bigger skimmer and canister whilst setting up a bigger tank?

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Stolireef · 03/14/2013, 05:24 PM

OP:

I took the liberty of looking at a bunch of your posts. It's pretty clear that you have developed a real passion for the hobby and care about your tank. That said, I don't think you really hearing the advice you have received. As almost everyone has noted, your bioload is very likely too high for the tank. While someone will almost certainly tell you that they have kept a foxface in a small tank, the odds are very heavily weighted against you.

With regard to the cannister filter, again, there are those that use them successfully on a reef tank but the large majority of successful reef keepers avoid them for a variety of reasons including maintenance and the risk of them becoming a nitrate factory. Note that they can be useful for occasional water polishing and perhaps as a substitute for a media reactor.

The single greatest tool in the reef keepers shed is patience. The second most important tool is critical research. This means read ALL of the stickies, listen to the advice of others (even if it's not what you want to hear), read books, etc.

I think you're going to be a great reef keeper. Just need to get you thinking like one.

nynick · 03/14/2013, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emmanuel.dam

What if I put a bigger skimmer and canister whilst setting up a bigger tank?

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A cannister filter will work against the skimmer by converting dirt to nitrates etc before your skimmer can simply remove it entierly. Your best bet if you are planning a bigger tank is to do a lot of water changes and feed sparingly. Go read the stickies first though and you will save yourself some major headaches. Almost everything you need to know to get started properly is there.

Emmanuel.dam · 03/14/2013, 08:03 PM

In the canister filter ill only have matrix as a filter media and that's it, it's just more bio filtration :-)

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nynick · 03/14/2013, 08:43 PM

I give up....

Emmanuel.dam · 03/14/2013, 11:18 PM

Ok ok so how often should I do water changes? And scratch the idea of the canister?

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Portsie · 03/15/2013, 06:34 AM

I don't have a sump on my tank so I do use a canister. I run GAC and gfo. I see good results with this. You just have to make sure to clean it at least weekly. My nitrates are undetectable with my API kit. That being said, cleaning it is a pain in the butt, and I would rather use a reactor, just don't want the extra junk in the tank.

SpilledSalt · 05/20/2013, 04:01 PM

I have had my 55 gallon tank about 3 years now I guess, I have no sump, a hob protien skimmer which collects a pretty good amount of junk, and a cannister filter filled with carbon and floss and a biosponge, my skimmer and filter are rated for 100 gallon tank. I change my filter media every 3 months, my nitrates stay at zero, i do a 20% water change one a month. I have had pretty good luck with my cannister filter so far.

SavingOurSeas · 08/18/2013, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpilledSalt

I have had my 55 gallon tank about 3 years now I guess, I have no sump, a hob protien skimmer which collects a pretty good amount of junk, and a cannister filter filled with carbon and floss and a biosponge, my skimmer and filter are rated for 100 gallon tank. I change my filter media every 3 months, my nitrates stay at zero, i do a 20% water change one a month. I have had pretty good luck with my cannister filter so far.

Do you have any phot's of your system?
What kind of CF do you have?

03/14/2013, 04:46 AM	#1
Emmanuel.dam Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 435	Hooking up a canister filter to a tank I'm gonna hook up my canister filter to my tank but it's gonna take like 3L of water and I don't hav a very big tank only 50L give or take, what should I top the water up with once I have hooked the canister up? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

03/14/2013, 06:09 AM	#4
fishgate Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Damascus, MD Posts: 3,340	Correct, add saltwater. __________________ 125RR in-wall, 40B Sump, CS180 BM Skimmer, ATI 4x80 watt, eheim 1262, custom wrap around rock wall, ReefKeeper Elite 120g in-wall, 40B Sump, PC 54wx4, Jabao DC-6000 (full siphon), future seahorse t Current Tank Info: 125g, 120g, 2x40b sumps, ATI 4x80 T5HO

03/14/2013, 08:16 AM	#6
klwheat Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 676	Yep...saltwater. You use freshwater for topoff, because you've lost water but the salt remains. If you want to expand volume, you add saltwater, otherwise you'll dilute the salt you already have. __________________ 180 Gallon Mixed reef President/Co-founder Running4Trisomy A Butterfly's Touch

03/14/2013, 05:24 PM	#10
Stolireef Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scottsdale AZ Posts: 3,180 Blog Entries: 5	OP: I took the liberty of looking at a bunch of your posts. It's pretty clear that you have developed a real passion for the hobby and care about your tank. That said, I don't think you really hearing the advice you have received. As almost everyone has noted, your bioload is very likely too high for the tank. While someone will almost certainly tell you that they have kept a foxface in a small tank, the odds are very heavily weighted against you. With regard to the cannister filter, again, there are those that use them successfully on a reef tank but the large majority of successful reef keepers avoid them for a variety of reasons including maintenance and the risk of them becoming a nitrate factory. Note that they can be useful for occasional water polishing and perhaps as a substitute for a media reactor. The single greatest tool in the reef keepers shed is patience. The second most important tool is critical research. This means read ALL of the stickies, listen to the advice of others (even if it's not what you want to hear), read books, etc. I think you're going to be a great reef keeper. Just need to get you thinking like one. __________________ I want to burn twice as bright and half as long. Oh, and a full tank crash is just an excuse for a new build. Current Tank Info: 125 Rimless Leemar, Apex, Trigger 30 Elite Sump, Vertex 180i Skimmer, 2 X Gen4 Radion XR30W, BM Doser, 2xMP40WES, 2xTunze 6095, Sicce Syncra 4.0.

03/15/2013, 06:34 AM	#15
Portsie Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 741	I don't have a sump on my tank so I do use a canister. I run GAC and gfo. I see good results with this. You just have to make sure to clean it at least weekly. My nitrates are undetectable with my API kit. That being said, cleaning it is a pain in the butt, and I would rather use a reactor, just don't want the extra junk in the tank. __________________ 90g corner overflow, 33g sump, Apex, Vertex IN-100, 2x MP-10w ES, 1X MP-40w, Tunze Osmolator, 60lbs Caribsea oolite, 85lbs live rock, 4x54w T5 with LED moonlights

03/14/2013, 04:54 AM	#2
johnike Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bureau County Illinois Posts: 5,406	Sounds like a great time to do a small water change, and make a bit extra to fill the filter.

03/14/2013, 05:09 AM	#3
Emmanuel.dam Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 435	Oh ok so I can just fill with more salt water? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

03/14/2013, 01:58 PM	#7
Emmanuel.dam Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 435	Ahh ok thank you guys :-) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

03/14/2013, 03:38 PM	#8
nynick Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 1,029	When people in the other thread advised you to lower your bio load or incease your filtration they didn't mean to add a canister filter. The amount of fish you have in such a small tank is not going to work no matter what you do. You need to either upgrade to a bigger tank/skimmer or take some of your livestock back to the store. You can put the biggest and best cannister filter in the world on your tank but a 13 gallon aquarium can still not support a Foxface and several other fish. Since you live close to the ocean you can probably keep stuff alive for a while by doing a TON of water changes. In the end, and this is purely theoretical since he will not live that long, the Foxface fish will barely be able to turn around in your tank. If you don't want your tank to turn into a little swamp you need to start doing some reading up on the basics of keeping a reef tank (between water changes!). When you have ammo and nitrite readings on a tank that is several months old things definately not going well.

03/14/2013, 05:01 PM	#9
Emmanuel.dam Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 435	What if I put a bigger skimmer and canister whilst setting up a bigger tank? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

03/14/2013, 08:03 PM	#12
Emmanuel.dam Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 435	In the canister filter ill only have matrix as a filter media and that's it, it's just more bio filtration :-) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

03/14/2013, 08:43 PM	#13
nynick Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 1,029	I give up....

03/14/2013, 11:18 PM	#14
Emmanuel.dam Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 435	Ok ok so how often should I do water changes? And scratch the idea of the canister? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

05/20/2013, 04:01 PM	#16
SpilledSalt Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Jonesboro Arkansas Posts: 49	I have had my 55 gallon tank about 3 years now I guess, I have no sump, a hob protien skimmer which collects a pretty good amount of junk, and a cannister filter filled with carbon and floss and a biosponge, my skimmer and filter are rated for 100 gallon tank. I change my filter media every 3 months, my nitrates stay at zero, i do a 20% water change one a month. I have had pretty good luck with my cannister filter so far.