Canister filter

[LOD]

Do anybody use canister filters on the salt water tanks ? And if you do what would you suggest on a 65 gallon tank?

 

[mr_X]

yes they do, but i would suggest cleaning the filter fairly regularly. the build up of uneaten food and fish poop in the filter will be a source of nitrate in the tank.
many folks have gravitated to the protein skimmer as a source of mechanical filtration over the canister filter.
i can't recommend a filter for you because i don't use them.

 

[rdnelson99]

So would the amount of nitrate be an indication of when it needs to be cleaned? My nitrates stay very stable at below 5. I am just wondering if I would start to see that increasing as the canester starts to need a good cleaning.

 

[mr_X]

if you were thinking reef with inverts, i would probably want to clean it out weekly. i would not want to wait until i saw the nitrates, and use that as a gauge. if it's just a fish tank, i wouldn't worry as much, but still, low nitrate levels aren't ever going to hurt.

 

[rdnelson99]

I hear you. Cleaned mine out about 3 weeks ago. I went two weeks without a PWC and nitrates were right at 5. Did the PWC last Sunday and just ran my tests and Nitrate is at about 2. By the way, I took your advice and ditched the glass top. Hope the paracube lens keeps all my jumpers in.

 

[freppy16]

I know i'm a little late to this, BUT! on my 60 Gallon reef tank i use a fluval xf5, which is rated up to 400 gallons. It does an amazing job on it. I've had it running for about a year now and i have 0 complaints. Amazon has it on sale for like 50 percent off or so, it was definitely a no brainer.