Safe To Get Rid Of Can Filter?

[roggy23]

i have a 60 gal FOWLR + LS setup running for over 6 months now. I have a aqua c remora protein skimmer also and its does a great job.
MY question is at this point Do i really need my can filter running anymore?
i have 2 powerheads so i have enough water flow.
will it be ok since i have LR + LS in regards to biological filtration?

 

[tony detroit]

You can do it if you want to , but I always like running a filter pad to trap big stuff. The only people that really worry about ditching filter pads and bioballs are people keeping SPS/LPS corals that are really worried about nutrient buildups.

 

[dandt40]

wow, i was about to have the exact same question.... thanks!

 

[badkharma]

roggy, I have almost the exact same setup as you. Here's what I did and it's working great. I have a Filstar XP3 canister filter on my 60 gal. show in the living room, also with about 60 lbs of LR and a 2.5 inch LS base. I was starting to show some high nitrates, so I took out the biomedia in the canister filter. I still keep the filter running on the tank though - mainly because I still think it's important to have some sort of mechanical filtration, which in the Filstar consists of two types of foam padding. I also run some carbon in one of the other containers (there are 3 in the model I have). The other one is just empty. I do clean the foam pads every month to keep them clean and so they don't clog up. It's also good to keep it running to add some more circulation in your tank. I would do what I did - keep the filter for mechanical filtration (and some carbon if you want), but take out all the biomedia. After I did that, the nitrates went back down below 10.