Canister filters a failure for Marine tanks?

Still wondering over this...Are canister filters a failure for Marine tanks?

Forget the maintenance issues (we marine beings are always busy with maintenance )

Have heard some say that they are haven of nitrates... But then doesnt Bacteria do build up inside the canister filter as well...A simple filterhead sock wont help reduce this??

If they are a success in freshwater then why not in marine...One more advantage I believe is minimal evaporation unlike in sumps

One disadvantage i see is that salt could clog your filtration components inside the canister filter?? Havent faced anything yet but think it would happen maybe sometime in the future.

What are your views on the same?

 

Honestly man...People can say what they want about canister filters as far as marine tanks are concerned. I ran a canister filter on a twenty gallon with over two grand worth of corals in it and fish with no problems what so ever for like two years. Its all about how much you are willing to pay attention to your tank, with your canister you got to be sure to be changing it when you need to. (At least once a month as far as filter media changes and water changes and so on). There is no reason why you cant keep a bad ass tank on a canister. Its all about keeping up on your maintenance. As long as your change your filter media and do a water change when you need to there is no reason why you cant keep any sort of tank on a canister.

 

+1 on saltyfred for me

I have used them and run some very nice looking reef tanks
I still use them to this day, not having a sump, I find them very useful to me for running my chemical media , carbon, Purigen and GFO

I have a low stocking level (fish), plenty of rock and flow etc so my biological filtration needs are taken care of on the rock, sand, everything in the tank that has bacteria living on it

and yes as Saltyfred states, I also need at least on a monthly basis to open it up , rinse it out with water change water, and rinse the media bags at same time or replace with new if required


Steve

 

wow never expected positive replies on having a canister filter...even i am running 2 canisters on my tank (even though i have plenty of rocks). I do the maintenance of these 2 filters alternatively every 15 days. Feel its thr right place to keep my carbon etc

 

+2 on saltyfred. I use to run an eheim canister on my 50 and it did a great job.

 

I have 13 tanks right now and I think three of them have canisters on them.

 

But to be honest.... canisters are nothing special. They are just mechanical filters with some chemical filter pads. So no different than running a filter sock and a media reactor. There is no reason you would hear anything negative about them.

What the problem is is people not maintaining them frequently enough and allowing them to go biological. But that is not special to canisters, that is a problem with any mechanical/chemical filter.

Now the only problem I have with canisters is the proprietary filters. Buying purpose made special stuff is always more expensive than buying bulk. If your goal is mechanical and chemical filtration, then there are much cheaper ways of doing than by using a canister. Of course, without a sump, then your options are pretty limited.