Off with the canister?

luvnluk

luvnluk

Member
I ordered 20-25# of LR from this site, which should be here tomorrow! This will put me up to about 55-60# total. I tested my water and, to my dismay, I accidently started a mini-cycle in the last couple of days (rearranged rock, added small piece of LR from lfs and changed carbon - I'm guessing this is why). My fish are currently in quarantine. Can I add the new LR to my main tank, finish the cycle and get rid of my canister filter? Do you think I will have enough biological filtration between the rock and DSB?
 
luvnluk

luvnluk

Member
True, I didn't think of it that way:) Thanks. I guess the more filtration the better! I've just heard so many negative things about canisters (elevate nitrates, etc) So you think the added LR will help the cycle? No lighting (I've read the recent debate:p ) or water changes until it's complete? I should also shut my skimmer off, right? Thanks in advance - I don't know what I'd do without this forum!!!!
 
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alti

Guest
do yourself a favor and take the filter media out of the canister when you get the rest of the live rock. the filter media is what will give you nitrate problems, not the canister filter itself. just think of it as one big powerhead only for circulation.
 
luvnluk

luvnluk

Member
I will, thanks - I'm sick of that carbon, anyway! Should I leave it totally empty? What about the micron cartridge?
 
vasilithegreek

vasilithegreek

Member
what do you put in your canister...i have a canister and have been trying to find out what i should put in it right now all i have are 2 carbon pads and mechanical coarse filter that looks like the green stuff you put in easter baskets...
 
luvnluk

luvnluk

Member
What kind of canister do you have? The Easter basket stuff - LOL - sounds like the filter floss, which I believe is for mechanical filtration and bacteria build-up. My canister also contains filter floss and carbon - although, I just have to pour the carbon into a cylinder - I don't have pads. Be careful when you change the media - I've heard (and I still need clarification on this...) that a complete carbon change can cause a mini-cycle - it makes sense to me because there should be a healthy bulid-up of beneficial bacteria in the porous carbon. Can anyone out there explain this to us? Fins up!
 
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alti

Guest
luvnluk,
take everything out of the canister if you have enough live rock to handle the bioload. anything that you put in there is going to collect detrius and food and will just sit there and rot. like i said before, the only thing it needs to do is circulate water.
if your tank is well established and has enough live rock, changing the carbon should not throw you into a mini cycle. if the tank is just getting through the initial cycle you should probably wait a month or more before taking the media out.
 
megadon

megadon

Member
I took everything out of my Fluval and put some extra LR in it hoping that pods and worms will thrive unbothered by tank inhabitants. My Nitrates have dropped a lot, the sponge and carbon bags being gone seems to have worked.
 
vasilithegreek

vasilithegreek

Member

Originally posted by vasilithegreek
what do you put in your canister...i have a canister and have been trying to find out what i should put in it right now all i have are 2 carbon pads and mechanical coarse filter that looks like the green stuff you put in easter baskets...
:confused: Is what i have right now setting up my tank oky..the 2 carbon pads and mechanical coarse filter or should i put somthing else in?
 
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alti

Guest
1 lb per gallon may be enough for your biological filtration. i would take all the media out of the canister. if you don't you'll soon see what a PITA it is to have to open the canister and clean it out every few weeks. i have no media in mine and i only clean it every 3 months. i really dont even clean it, i just check it to make sure no sand is accumulating inside. you said that you have 2 canisters but did not wat to use both of them. why not? the eheim 2215 is probably not enough for a tank that size. i have the eheim 2227 wet dry on my 30 gal which probably less than 20 gal of actual water volume. having 2 of those big green spraybars in the tank is pretty ugly but you could probably just use one and connect one canister to each end of it.
 
vasilithegreek

vasilithegreek

Member
thanks for the info...what is PITA? i dont know what you meant by that and what sucks with the other canister filter is that my tank is a corner tank and when i put the skimmer up i couldnt fit the other spry bar up..i was thinking of hooking the two up but what difference would that make?thanks
 
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alti

Guest
hooking up the two of the would give you much better water circulation. the 2215 only moves about 125 to 150 gal per hour if im not wrong and you really need to circulate anywhere from 6-10 times the water volume of your tank per hour. if you had both of them running you would have about 300 gph of circulation which is 6x you total vater volume. you might want to drill the holes in the spraybar a little bigger to allow more water to pass through.
PITA= pain in the ass
 
vasilithegreek

vasilithegreek

Member
thanks for the info..that does make sense with the two canister hooked up togther....and thanks for the idea of drilling the spray bar holes bigger i never thought about that..:D
 
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alti

Guest
no problem,
i hope it works out. your avatar was starting to scare me. i started to wonder if i would end up wearing cement boots on the bottom of the hudson river if i messed up your tank.
 
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