How high can I go with a canister?

[keegoib]

I want to mount my canister filter around 5.5-6 feet below the high water in my 120 G tank. The fluval 404 instructions tell you not to mount it more than 4.5 feet below the highest water. None of the other brands even mention this factor. Does anybody have experience with this type of setup?

Please help.

Thanks,
Garrick

 

[Terry]

Hi Garrick

What fluvel are telling you is that if you take your canister filter more than there instructions of 4.5 feet it can slow down the flow rate. The way the filter works is that it is drawing the water from your tank which is going down hill into your canister, but to get the water back into your tank it has to go up hill which means it is being pumped. By increaseing the pipe to 5.5-6 feet it has to pump that little bit more. which might slow down your flow, but until you try you wont know. I would say with an increase of 1.5 feet i don't think you will have a problem.