Canister Filter Troubleshooting

[marimba12]

Hello-

I'm having issues with my canister filter. I'm an experienced keeper of freshwater aquariums, but I can't figure out what's going on here (and this is my first time I've ever used a canister filter).

For ~7 years I've had one or two Penguin 200 biowheel filters on my 36 gallon aquarium. They've always done a great job, but I was ready for something with more media flexibility, something quieter, and something easier to hide. So I bought a Cascade 1000 Canister Filter (good up to 100 gallons). Yes, I know it's a non-fancy off-brand, but it gets great Amazon reviews, so I have a hard time believing that my problems are just because I didn't buy a mainstream filter.

At first it seemed to work just fine, but quickly I noticed that my tank was just DIRTY. All kinds of gunk started collecting on the plants. Basically it just seemed like the mechanical filtration was non-existent. I had some normal filter pads and filter floss in the canister filter, but I was afraid I was maybe restricting the flow too much so I switched things up a bit (more on that in just a second). Then my fish started dying. Turns out I had a faulty heater and while I was on vacation it completely failed and I came home to 92 deg water and almost all my fish dead.

So I started over and super-cleaned the tank. I took out all my driftwood because I thought maybe that was causing too much debris and clogging the filter. Within a few short weeks though, the aquarium was back to it's same disguising state even though I only had 5 fish in there (3 cories and 2 otocinclus). Sure, I wasn't cleaning my filter every week, but with my Penguin filters I could have left it all YEAR and it would have never reached this state of filth. So at this point I don't know if I should just give up on the canister filter. What could I be doing wrong with this thing? Here all the details:

Filter Info
Filter: Cascade 1000 Canister Filter
Top Basket: Marineland Diamond Blend Ammonia Neutralizing Carbon and Purgien (used up in the picture)
Middle Basket: Fluval Biomax Bio Rings
Bottom Basket: Fluval External Power Filter Pre-Filter Media
Return method: Spray bar that spans the length of the aquarium
*See bottom for images. Yes, I know that the filter looks like it could use some cleaning, but that's nothing compared to what the tank looks like (I let it run for about a month after all the fish died). The filter traps some of the debris, but most all of it remains in the aquarium.

Water Info
Tank: 36 gallon, non-planted, gravel substrate
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~30 ppm
pH: High, but that's normal for this area

Any ideas? I wonder if maybe there's something wrong with the impeller and it's not cycling the water enough, but the spray bar return seems pretty forceful. I also wondered if the water wasn't circulating in the tank enough, so I angled the spray bar down, but that didn't seem to help. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!


Filter (Cascade 1000 Canister Filter)


Top Basket (Marineland Diamond Blend Ammonia Neutralizing Carbon and Purgien)


Middle Basket (Fluval Biomax Bio Rings)


Bottom Basket (Fluval External Power Filter Pre-Filter Media)

 

[FishFlow]

Penn Plax are awesome filters.

You do not have any mechanical media. IE, you need a SPONGE. Nothing in your media baskets is preventing debre from being stopped.

Cascade 700 1000 Bio Sponge Filter Foam 10 Pack | eBay

Put one of these in the bottom tray.

then also make a floss. I don't like using these, but it's meant as a final *polish* before the water leaves the filter. This would go on top of any media in the top basket.

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/produc...cade-7001000?gclid=CNqe9v_6g8kCFQQPaQodZM4Aqg

 

[FishFlow]

Oh, I had a 1000 in a 37. Spray bar along the back facing forward. It turned the water over very well.

This was also a dirted tank, which fish dug thru to the dirt. Filter was able to clear the water very well. (Filter was unbelievably dirty... but worked.)

 

[ImACoolguy]

Penn Plax are awesome filters.

You do not have any mechanical media. IE, you need a SPONGE. Nothing in your media baskets is preventing debre from being stopped.

Cascade 700 1000 Bio Sponge Filter Foam 10 Pack | eBay

Put one of these in the bottom tray.

THIS^^

I have one of these filters on my discus tank.

You need to have some form of filter sponge and floss. The actual debris is just passing right though the filter and coming right back out because there is nothing to stop it.


Caleb

 

[BillD]

Good advice, so far, about adding mechanical filtration. As well, I would fill the media baskets with bio media. Most of the top one is a waste of space. Having mechanical filtration before the bio media will help keep it clean and functioning at maximum efficiency. I would lose the carbon and fill that top tray with bio media.

 

[marimba12]

Thanks everyone! I put the biosponge in the bottom basket along with another finer sponge I had laying around. I moved the prefilter media in with the biomax in the middle basket. The top basket now has the carbon, purgin, and filter floss. So hopefully all that will help! What exactly is prefilter media supposed to do? Thanks again for the help!

 

[ImACoolguy]

Thanks everyone! I put the biosponge in the bottom basket along with another finer sponge I had laying around. I moved the prefilter media in with the biomax in the middle basket. The top basket now has the carbon, purgin, and filter floss. So hopefully all that will help! What exactly is prefilter media supposed to do? Thanks again for the help!

Not sure what good it would do prefilter?

Normally biomedia always comes after the sponge pad and filter floss. This is because your media is very porous so water can pass through. If there is no pad to catch physical waste then it fills the holes of the media.

I have mine setup as:

Top tray: loads of biomedia

Middle tray: stuffed full of filter floss

Bottom tray: course filter pads

I then have an HOB for extras like Purigen and extra media.


Caleb

 

[Fresh2o]

The prefilter media and ceramic bio media are quite similar except the former has flat sides and the latter round sides. The prefilter is supposed to trap very large particles and the void spaces allow for waste settle. I can see that occurring in large applications (pond filters, waste treatment); not sure how well it works in a small application.


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