canister filter or not?

[willray]

there is not much room under my 55 gal stand. Under is a 15-20 gal fuge,fluval canister filter and a quite one pump, wiring,plumbing,switch's, lights and and aqua c ramora pro.
I don't have enough room to empty the cup without dumping it back in the sump.It been an o.k. skimmer but could be a lot better. so I started making a skimmer 4" dia x 36" w/ mazzie injector to sit outside the stand out of sight,.... well it doesn't fit .now I Have a chance to to get a big boy skimmer.But no place to put it! (I'm a big fan of out of sight out of mind.)I would like to put new/used skimmer where the canister is.
Can i do w/o canister? and How many others use canisters?

 

[Jim Tansey]

You don't need the canister, its a good place to run carbon but you can do without it.

Jim

 

[willray]

I knew that just needed a little push.Thanks Jim.Thought i would put the media in my sump/fuge.

 

[JohnK]

I second the no canister suggestion.

They are (in a reef tank) only good for for carbon or other chemical media, and then they are only good in that function if the carbon is replaced constantly.

Otherwise they end up collecting detritis and organics that will add pollution to the system more than remove it. (carbon absorbs gunk, but more gunk can get stuck in the spaces between the carbon granules.) A. all sorts of crap will get trapped in the canister and continue to break down and add pollution, and B. carbon can only absorb so much and then it starts to leach nastyness back into the system.

I would think that a bag of loose carbon in the sump would work better and act as less of a nutrient collector and processor. I would toss the canister even if you don't need the space, It's probablly causing more problems than it's fixing. Do save it though in case you have a problem in the tank,, then It could be very helpful for a rapid carbon cleansing.

A good skimmer is better than 3 canisters on a reef tank. Canisters / carbon collect crap and hold it until you remove it manually by replacing the media. While it sits there, the crap continues to break down and release undesirable nutrients back into the system. Skimmers on the other hand just remove crap and don't let it back in. Canister filters often cause problems (unless they get fully cleaned every day or every other day), skimmers can fix those same problems.

Also if skimmer size is the problem, check out the smaller Euroreef designs. I have one that stands 24 H x 7 L x 12 W. Works great on a well stocked 58g and is very easy to clean. Also check with Jeremy at CRA, he has a ER style store brand skimmer that is really affordable.

JMHO

 

[BigSmokeShowJOE]

ya what he sed!!!

 

[willray]

Yeh! It's Going in the basement.There it will really be outta site.