Is my canister filter really needed?

[lbannie]

I have a 30 gal tank, 30 pounds live rock, about 40 pounds sand. I'm running a marineland 350 magnum canister filter. I'm wondering....since the rocks and sand act as a filter, do I really need the canister? I also have two powerheads running. I was looking at the filter in the canister and it still appears so clean after about 2 months! Maybe I'm way off track, just wanted some input.....thanks guys (I love this place!)

 

[Krypt]

If you have a clean up crew of snails/crabs they'll pick most of the junk out of the tank for you making the canister filter really nothing more then a bacteria colony. You could remove it, but I would do it slowly. If there is bacteria growing in there and you yank it out, you could throw the tanks bio filter out of whack and it would have to grow new bacteria.

If it has 2 filter pads, try removing one and check your parameters after a couple days. If it's reading 0 amm. and 0 nitrite, then pull the second one. Then check the parameters again in a few days, then if it's still reading fine, go ahead and remove the filter all together. If during those steps you see the parameters shift, wait a week until you yank out the next filter pad to give your colony a chance to regrow somewhere else.

I wouldn't throw it away though, its good to have in storage in case you need to run carbon or some other media in the future.

edit: I also see your a fellow upstate NYer, score another for us!

 

[melosu58]

IMO a canister is not needed. Maybe if you were using it for chemical filtration with GAC or purigen if you are having water quality problems. IMO I think adequate amount of LR and a skimmer is quite enough. A refugium would be an added plus.

 

[lbannie]

Thanks guys! Krypt, I only have a filter sleeve that surrounds the carbon container....just remove the sleeve then? Also I'm in Ulster County...are you anywhere close? I have to drive an hour to the SW fish store....how about you?

 

[Krypt]

If its just the sleeve go ahead and try removing it as long as the carbon wont go flying out into the aquarium. If it works out and levels are good, shut er down and store it away. I personally only have LR and LS w/ my skimmer and my water takes care of itself for the most part.

I'm in Monroe county and I'm fortunate enough to have 3 marine stores within 30 min, closest is Marine Oasis which is about 10 mins. away.

 

[thincat]

Lbannie, I don't see you saying that you have a skimmer. A skimmer is a good addition, but not really needed in a system as small as a 30g, weekly PWCs will do the job. Also note that carbon really only has a useful life of ~1week to 10 days at which time it is only a nitrate factory and will leach back all the elements you were trying to remove.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Is the cannister needed for biological filtration? No. But as mentioned, it IS a good place to run chemical filtration. If you keep it in for that reason, I'd keep the filter sleeve on it though. I run a Marineland HOT 250 (smaller cousin to the 350) and have spare filter sleeves. Each week, the old filter sleeve is removed and a new one put on. That way, all the gunk that it traps doesn't sit there and rot away, boosting my nitrates. And if I didn't use the filter sleeve, all that gunk would now be trapped in my carbon/purigen/gfo... rotting away, and fouling my water.

 

[lbannie]

Thincat, I don't have a skimmer because of the size. Eventually I am going to get a much bigger tank with a real filtration system (sump, ref, skimmer) but for now the 30 gal is what fits in the living room!
Thanks for all the input guys!

 

[thincat]

Great, Keep up with the weekly water changes and test your parameters and you should be good to go.
Have fun...