canister filter or not

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

will8

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 30, 2008
Messages
115
Location
Cleethorpes
hello all, i have been reading the pros and cons of canister filters, some say there are nirate factorys, i have a Rena Filstar xp 3 canister filter with 4 foam pads, ceramic rings, Bio- chem zorb and a mircofiltration pad. My question is do i need every thing in the filter in my FOWLR. i have about 95lbs of LR. some snails and crabs and shrimps. i feed the fish once aday and dont over do it, well i dont think so. lol. i should say i have 6 fish in my 90g tank. the trouble and the point of this thread is my nirate is never below 15ppm. I have a prism skimmer not very i know. upgraded soon. do 10% PWC every week. is the canister making my nirates high. i want to go reef soon so i need my levels down below 5ppm. any help please from a newbie
 
Most filter options are nitrate factories. Cannisters, live rock, wet/dry, all of them are designed to convert ammonia/nitrite to nitrate. That is their whole point in life. Water changes, plant filtering, deep sand beds and skimmers are the only filtration options that actually export nitrogen from the aquarium. The other end to tackle a nitrate problem at is the input. Make sure you are not overfeeding the critters.
 
LR will convert some nitrate to nitrogen, but not enouhg to lower your current readings. You need to rinse those filter pads weekly and get some macro alage that will consume the nitrates. Increasing the pwc to 20% weekly will also help some. Depending on your fish you may also want to cut back the feedings to every other day or every 3rd day. Most fish will actualy live longer on a restricted diet.
 
thanks for the replys, its says rinse the filter pads every 4 weeks in the manual, which is what i do. if it will make a different i will do if weekly. i was thinking of doing 1 20% PWC once a month. just thinking about the salt its not cheap. beening tight. as for the macro alage my PBT would eat it. have not got a sump and cant fit one.
 
I would say rinsing out the pads will drop it down even further.Any where between where it is now and lower would be a good thing.
 
thanks alot i will rinse out the pads and hopefully it will drop it down. aiming for 5-10ppm before i will consider getting any sps.
 
Back
Top Bottom