Bye Bye Skimmer, Hello Canister Filter

[waltercat]

Going against the norm everyone. I just turned off my skimmer and turned on a brand new Eheim Pro II canister filter. I am going to run floss and carbon in it.

I know everyone says it is a nitrate factory. I have 0 nitrates now so I guess I'll see if that becomes the case. Of course I plan to clean the filter every week. That is really the only way this would be effective.

Why did I change? Well I've been running a Remora Pro for about 4-5 years. It did a fine job, about as good as it could do. But I always had some form of algae problem. So a few months ago I started running a tiny fluval in tank filter just to see what it would pull out. I figured I'd stir up the rocks every week or so and run this little guy and let him get out the gunk. I cleaned the floss in it about every 2 weeks and when I did, man was it a mess. It seemed to pull out more gunk than the skimmer and my algae problem has slowly been going away. So I figured I would make it more effective with a canister. Already I love it because I don't hear my skimmer.

Hopefully it will go well.

 

[rbtwo4]

been thinking of doing the same lmk how it goes

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

I will be following your thread. Pls try to keep a log on how diligent you are to the schedule, so that readers can tell if that's a lot of work or not.

 

[DHaut]

Was your skimmer pulling out skimmate? I suppose you didn't have room to run both?

 

[georgelc86]

This should turn out to be a real interesting thread. I have been actually thinking about going sump less and running a can also.

 

[gimincorp]

Watch out for power outages. The canister can't be left w/o power for long time as stuff starts to die off rapidly within it. Then when the power resumes all the dead stuff spews back into your tank and kills off everything in it by raising ammonia beyond detectable levels (my test was BLUE, not even dark green!).
For the record: I was running 10 gallon with Fluval 304.
P.S. I do like to have a sponge to filter our some gunk in the back of my 14 g biocube.

 

[waltercat]

Wow I am honestly surprised by the interest and support. I was prepared to read this and see a bunch of people say the the canister was going to be the demise of my system.

Good advice gimincorp, I'll keep that in mind.

Dhaut, yes the skimmer was pulling out alot of skimmate. I can run both but I am moving soon and my new setup will have the tank visible on 3 sides. My remora won't fit with that configuration.

If all goes well there will be a remora pro for sale on here soon.

 

[georgelc86]

How do you plan on combating the surface scum in the tank. Thats one of the reasons why I having been able to crossover.

 

[Sean]

keep a close eye on oxygen levels. That would be my biggest concern.

but very:smokin:

 

[NYreefNoob]

one of the thing's i would do when changing out pads is dont change out all of them at the same time, the pads will support some of the benificial bacteria, change a pad a week,

 

[CHEMCHEF]

I'm a Fan of this idea and would like to see what happens. Aqau clear makes a surface skimmer attachment for their filters. I'm sure you could mod it to fit a canister filter.
If this works for you. I might go with a big dookie aqau clear HOB filter and ditch my sump.
BYE BYE NOISE
Hell I,m changing 15 gallons a week, on a 72 to keep params in check anyway. Its not like it is going to be more work

 

[waltercat]

How do you plan on combating the surface scum in the tank. Thats one of the reasons why I having been able to crossover.

The Eheim has a spray bar that I put at one end of my tank. It puts out alot of power so the surface stays nicely agitated. The other end has a vortech (nuff said there).

I did have a overflow with my remora so I'll be interested to see if the surface changes at all. Right now with the new spray bar I have more surface agitation than when I just had a skimmer.

 

[DevIouS]

How about before & after pics?

 

[waltercat]

sure can take some when I get home. I also am getting a new aiptek HD camera so I'll defintely be posting some videos.

 

[qy7400]

I'll venture you're running sump less? If not a filter sock would do the same job no? The only issues I see are you will want to make sure to clean it often and the power outage issue, if you can account for those this should work nicely; actually since canister filters are typically a low power draw a small UPS would not only eliminate the power outage concern but keep the water moving should the power go out so it's an added bonus.

 

[waltercat]

Yeah I was going to get a small UPS. was thinking about getting the one for my vortech, but now that you mention it, probably better for the canister.

 

[georgelc86]

http://www.staples.com/office/suppl...een-UPS_221476_Business_Supplies_10051_SEARCH

Tried this model out recently, it kept my computer and flatpanel monitor online for about an hour and a half.

 

[ReeferMadness99]

I had a Solana that was running both canister and skimmer. I think the sump and skimmer idea creates much more of a natural approach rather than a mechanical. If algae was your reasoning for doin this, why not introduce an organic compound and vodka dose your tank? I've been vodka dosing my tank for about 3 months now and I don't have a speck of algae anywhere. No diatom, no hair, nothing. My algae blenny snails and crabs started to starve away. Phosphates are are at virtual 0 and I run my HQI for 12 hours a day. I think with the canister, your not pulling the organic debris from the water column so even if you clean it out once a week, you will always have organic decay virtually constant in the water column and you will notice a rise in your nitrates.

 

[tosiek]

Wow I am honestly surprised by the interest and support. I was prepared to read this and see a bunch of people say the the canister was going to be the demise of my system.

There's a few darwin award winners in the hobby and the majority of people are semi lazy. I know only a handful of people that are extremely consistant with their tank maintenance and thats the only way a canister would work on a reef tank without side effects. I don't think people are wrong in saying "OMG! your tanks gonna blow up with a canister filter!!" or other no's to things. The hobby has a pretty flawless set of beginner basic rules and if you follow them anyone can have a successful tank. The people that do run alternate filtration and tank setups are the people who took the time to research and understand very well what they are doing when deviating from the basic rules of reefkeeping.

Canister filters do work with proper cleaning and setup. How well is another story. The main concern is oxygen and trates/P04. Po4 and trates are gonna be higher once you get the filter running. And if your trying to keep your SPS super colorful i wouldn't be running one unless your cleaning it out every 2 days and doing water changes every 4-6 days. Even with the increase in bio filtration from the filter floss its going to pick up ALOT of waste thats gonna sit there for 7 days till you clean it and begin to decay and shove stuff back into the tank. Either way i would say you would need to clean it out alot sooner than every 7 days and shoot for half that.

As far as you making the descision because of a loud skimmer, there are other ways to deal with the noise. Im guessing your sumpless otherwise i would have said just put a filter sock and carbon/po4 reactor and you would have the same effect without having to deal with taking apart a canister filter. Your going to have to unplug the plumbing, carry the canister to the sink, open it, clean the floss, retop it off, close it, carry it back to the tank, replumb it and hope the suction works the first time in the pump. I have a cichlid tank running on an eheim and it's a pain. I'll take a loud skimmer i can just take the top off of and empty it in the toilet over that any day =0)

Also, how are you dealing with salt water loss when your cleaning the floss? And can you post up some detailed info on your tank and inhabitants?

Oh and it will be the demise of your tank if you don't take care of it.

 

[waltercat]

There's a few darwin award winners in the hobby and the majority of people are semi lazy. I know only a handful of people that are extremely consistant with their tank maintenance and thats the only way a canister would work on a reef tank without side effects. I don't think people are wrong in saying "OMG! your tanks gonna blow up with a canister filter!!" or other no's to things. The hobby has a pretty flawless set of beginner basic rules and if you follow them anyone can have a successful tank. The people that do run alternate filtration and tank setups are the people who took the time to research and understand very well what they are doing when deviating from the basic rules of reefkeeping.

Canister filters do work with proper cleaning and setup. How well is another story. The main concern is oxygen and trates/P04. Po4 and trates are gonna be higher once you get the filter running. And if your trying to keep your SPS super colorful i wouldn't be running one unless your cleaning it out every 2 days and doing water changes every 4-6 days. Even with the increase in bio filtration from the filter floss its going to pick up ALOT of waste thats gonna sit there for 7 days till you clean it and begin to decay and shove stuff back into the tank. Either way i would say you would need to clean it out alot sooner than every 7 days and shoot for half that.

As far as you making the descision because of a loud skimmer, there are other ways to deal with the noise. Im guessing your sumpless otherwise i would have said just put a filter sock and carbon/po4 reactor and you would have the same effect without having to deal with taking apart a canister filter. Your going to have to unplug the plumbing, carry the canister to the sink, open it, clean the floss, retop it off, close it, carry it back to the tank, replumb it and hope the suction works the first time in the pump. I have a cichlid tank running on an eheim and it's a pain. I'll take a loud skimmer i can just take the top off of and empty it in the toilet over that any day =0)

Also, how are you dealing with salt water loss when your cleaning the floss? And can you post up some detailed info on your tank and inhabitants?

Oh and it will be the demise of your tank if you don't take care of it.

See now this is the type of post I was looking for.

My tank is a 55G. Has a mix of SPS, softies and LPS. I have 2 clowns, a bangaii cardinal, a pink spotted goby and 2 sharknose gobies. I have a vortech 20 and a JBJ chiller. Aquatinics T5s. I tested my water last night before I got rid of the skimmer and Phosphates were 0, Nitrates were close to 0 and Calcium levels were 440-450. Temp is kept at 78 and salinity is 1.026. I dose ESV 2 part and just starte Mg yesterday. I honestly haven't tested the water in a while so I can't provide numbers to back that my tank has improved since adding the fluval in tank. At least I have a good benchmark for where my parameters are before the change.

I don't think having a canister is the sole reason it will be more beneficial. I think having a canister and agitating the rocks to stir up detritus so the canister can filter it out will be what works. I'm not a skimmer expert but I don't think that stirring up the detritus into your water column while running a skimmer actually pulls alot of that detritus out. Yes the skimmer will pull out more because of the agitation, but as far as I know skimmers don't really work that way. However with a canister filter it will at least catch and contain it. By doing that and then cleaning it I am more effectively pulling out the detritus. I spent 3-4 months trying this out with my in tank fluval and i noticed that I pulled out alot more gunk.

Detritus is detritus and if it resides in my canister or in my rocks it doesn't matter. But if I can contain it in my canister, at least I can remove it more easily. My informal test was to stir it up and pull it out. Do it on a weekly basis and there won't be any effective dead spots. It's been working so far.

As for the noise, it is just an added benefit, that wasn't a factor for me removing my skimmer.

I'll try to be vigilant with my water tests on a weekly basis. I tend not to do tests unless something is amiss.