Just Wondering?

For right now I am not going to have a sump. I just bought a new 125 Gallon tank and was wondering what really makes a canister filter better than having two Bio-wheels putting out 800 GPH. Same type of filtration and cost about half or less. I know I don't need the canister to start or the Bio-wheel for that matter. Just looking for your input. Thanks in advance.

 

What are you planning to have in the tank?

 

Bad news on the bio wheels, they are only good at aerating the water, the canister provides a better nitrogen reduction substrate. You need neither if you have enough live rock. The live rock also performs one step that the other two can't. It helps change nitrate into nitrogen. The canister is handy for chemical filtration. It is a little less effective than reactors and harder to maintain.

 

Between the hob and canister filters. The Canister will do a better job at filtering out physical debris w/o getting clogged. The hob filters tend to clog up easily and will begin overflowing and bypassing the filter media if you really dont stay on top of changing the filters. Also, if you are looking at the marineland hob's, their filters have the carbon build into them and theres really not much room there for any additional filter media you might wanna run. With a canister filter, you can run whatever kind of filter media you like, you'll have more options.