Rena Canister

I have a Rena canister xp4 on my 75g do I have to put all the media in if not what can I put in it besides what it comes with

 

what have you got in the tank Jay79

in terms of livestock, rock and flow

if you have more than 20 x tank volume of water movement in your set up
and have approx 1.5 lb of rock per gallon of water - or about 1/3rd of tank volume in rockwork (again both are approximations and not fixed guidelines)
and you have a moderate bio load in terms of fish
then IME - you do not need any additional biological filtration capacity in that Rena
running mechanical such as sponges or filter floss is Ok but a bi monthly clean in fresh water to remove debris is a good idea in order to prevent nitrate build up in there
also carbon could be run in there, and phosphate removal product, could also be run in there (Rowa is good as it does not clump like other GFO media would in that situation)


if your tank is fish only or fish only with live rock but only has a small amount of liive rock, and not much flow
then bio media in the cannister may be required

Steve

 

OK so let me get this straight. If you got a 125 gal tank w/100lbs of rock a rena xp4 with the 20and 30 filter in the bottom area the middle two have a combination the stars that came with it and two boxes of fluval biomax media and the top has the carbon bag and the finer filter. So this could be to much mechanical filtration. And nitrate could build up in there. Please help. And thanks in advance.

 

not exactly to much, but probably more than you need
bacteria can only exist in relation to the nutrients that can support it
having extra media for bacteria to colonise, is not required

if you have enough rock and flow, that will be perfectly adequate for biofiltration purposes , but whateve you run in the cannister will need to be cleaned regularly

the people who experience the most issues with cannisters IMHO
are people that set out with good intentions to do water changes each week and rinse cannister at same time
this becomes a chore and one or both get neglected on a regular basis
and before they know it - very high nitrates and the cannister is a nitrate factory

if you keep them clean= no issues
but IMO with enough rock and water movement, they are surplus to requirements in terms of the need to run the biological media in them

Steve

 

OK well the water changes will be done and I was under the imprecation that you only cleaned the canister once a month and didnt know you should or could clean the stars or the bio max. I guess you are just rinsing them. Man I love this hobby but my head hurts. Thanks to all.

 

Well maybe I will pull one are of mechanical out of the canister add ROWA and add 50lbs of rock to the tank. That would take it to 150lbs and probably help the look.

 

rinsing is good, yes thats what I mean

I always did weekly water changes, removed the trays with media in and then repeatedly dunked them into the bucket of tank water

I then poured a jug full of tank water into empty cannister and flushed that out at same time

where you locate the bacteria or the host of the bacteria is your personal choice, shoebox

you may well have enough with the 100lb of rock you have - get a picture up, as you can often tell from an image ( weight of rock varies according to type)

Steve

 

I have two korailas in my tank one is 1400 and the other is 1050, and prizm protein skimmer, with the rena xp4

 

I have the power heads on a wave maker alternating every 60 secs they are set up to run across my Rock one on the left and one on the right side of my tank