From hob to canister

[shamrock13]

Hey, I'm tired of having my 2 HOB, I think it ruins the presentation of the tank and is going to get in the way of how I want to set up my live rock.
First question: Is switching from a HOB to a canister going to mess with my biological system since the HOB is already established??

Second question: I would like to go with a good canister. I don't want a cheap one that's going to give me bad filtration but I also don't want my pockets to hurt.
OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS

[Mr. Limpet]

Without knowing anything about your tank, size, fish, etc I can't really suggest a particular model. I can say I really like my fluval 05 series canister. As for the media and losing/causing a cycle, take the media from the HOB's and put them in the can. You can make it permanent, or let it seed the new bio media and then remove it.

[shamrock13]

65 gallon, 10 fish, 3 shrimp, 6 snails, 20 or so hermits, 1 sea urchin, 1 bta. Mostly live rock.. Just started getting into coral. Polyp frag and finger leather. My two HOB are biowheels, so I'm assuming you mean I should out those into the canister?

[Mr. Limpet]

Originally Posted by shamrock13

65 gallon, 10 fish, 3 shrimp, 6 snails, 20 or so hermits, 1 sea urchin, 1 bta. Mostly live rock.. Just started getting into coral. Polyp frag and finger leather. My two HOB are biowheels, so I'm assuming you mean I should out those into the canister?

SW is beyond me but if you think a canister is what you want, I'd suggest you look at the Fluval 405 or FX5. Yes take the HOB media, even if you have to pull part of a cartridge apart (remove frame, etc), then put the fiber/biomedia in the canister because that's where most bacteria live.

[Hubert90]

Be careful though some canister filter are only made for freshwater. Not sure why.

[carey]

I've never seen a FW only canister. I had my fluval on my 55g cichlid tank and its now on my 55g SW tank. Just gotta stay on the maintenance if you use a canister for sw. It tends to build up nitrates. I do pwcs weekly and a monthly filter check adn I'm at 0 nitrates so it can be done.

When I moved the canister over I took out all my media from my HOB and put it into the trays of the canister. I had no spikes or mini cycle either.

[Hubert90]

O there is one! Haha the eheim thermo series! Haha but I think those are the only ones!