I've added a canister...

[texhorns98]

I know, I know...nitrate factories, blah blah blah...

I'm put a Fluval 205 on my daughter's little 37g. I tried running it with only LR and PH's, but I could not curb the algae and needed some help. Everytime I'd blow off the stuff, it had nowhere to go. The local big box petstore (booo...) had them on sale 50% off!

Right now I'm just running the sponges (cleaning every other day), carbon, and some sort of phosphate remover. Thoughts? If I can get this tank under control, I'll eventually remove the canister and use it to run carbon, etc. on the big tank.

 

[jef4y]

I've used an eheim canister filter for 3 years. I use the eheim media, and ran a bag of GFO and a bag of Carbon in it.

2 things.

1. CLEAN IT REGULARLY!!! I clean mine at LEAST once a month. Pulling the media trays out and rinsing the crud out of them.

2. Running bags of GFO/Carbon in a canister filter is NOT effective IMHO. I just recently went to a dual BRS reactor for carbon & GFO and it has made a MASSIVE difference in the amount of algae in my system. I used to throw away a soccer ball sized wad of chaeto each month because it grew so much. Right now I can't keep a softball sized piece, it's all dying off. This is within 6 weeks of putting the dual reactor on.

I still love the filter for manual filtration and some added flow, but honestly it's probably more of a PITA than it's worth. Above all though, I'm 100% convinced that running bags of GFO/GAC in a canister filter is a waste of money.

 

[jaydm93teg]

I am currently running 2 fluval 303 canisters on my 140 gallon I clean them every other week (I am cleaning one a week but I alternate which one so the physical canisters are getting cleaned every 2 weeks). I am running rubble rock and filter pads in them.

 

[sharkbait]

As said before just make sure you clean it on a regular basis. Other then that canisters are not a problem. Most people just get lazy then contribute the canister as the reason their tank wasn't doing well.

 

[texhorns98]

Thanks guys! I really hope this is a temporary fix for my little tank. I just really needed some mechanical filtration this time!