Canister Filter for Reef Aquarium

[Dehirom]

Hello,

I am setting up a new 100 gallon reef tank and would like to know if anyone has been successful in using a canister filter instead of a sump filtration for their system.

If yes, what is your opinion about Marineland Magniflow canister filter rated for 90-150 gal aquariums?

Thanks in advance!

 

[M. Tournesol]

I have but my tank is young (a little more than a year) and my canister is used as a cryptic zone (only rock inside).

Here is a video of somebody speaking about their use of canister and their success:

 

[brandon429]

Here's the way canisters work in reefing

 

they provide motion, but no reef tank needs the extra surface area we tend to pack inside them and it does not provide a safety buffer. Meaning, if you have a fish disease set in that wipes out your fish or some of them, having extra media vs live rock alone isn't going to protect your other fish from a cascade loss. If the heater malfunctions while on vacation, you'll still come home to lost fish and system, there isn't a time where packing extra media inside a canister filter protects from losses in a reef that would have occurred without the filter in place, reefs don't benefit from extra surface area regardless of where it exists in the flow line.

 

the current/movement from the output of the filter is the benefit, same as a bubble wand or a powerhead output. The habit comes from freshwater systems that really can benefit from extra surface area since the insides of the display are rounded/polished and smooth compared to a reef where jagged rocks are the surface area that does the workhorse mode for the system, and are never in short supply. Canister filters become actually dangerous for reefs when packed with this extra media during power outages, millions of oxygen-requiring bacteria packed inside die and then are sent back into the display if power resumes while you're gone (and if it was out long enough to cause the loss of the bacteria inside)

 

using canister filters isn't going to harm your system either, outside that power outage scenario. They present extra cleaning requirements that a simple powerhead wouldn't/canisters collect detritus and need to be cleaned routinely to avoid waste pumping. Using special media in them for phosphate or nitrate or cryptic zone experiments as mentioned is a different way of using them if those means are desired, but the classic canister filter setup doesn't benefit a reef its a liability and competes for systemic oxygen against the fish and other animals in the tank. reef systems are never, never short on filtration bacteria this is how folks get away with the negative aquascaping approach where only a few pounds of live rock runs the entire reef full of fish, no extra surface area provided or needed. The reason we can find myriad videos on canister filters working great on reefs is because the power outage scenario didn't happen. if they disconnect the canister, and install a powerhead for motion, the same reef quality persists. 

 

 

[brandon429]

If a canister filter was all I had to provide motion in a reef tank, I'd run it bone empty and use it just for motion. 

[TheKleinReef]

if you keep the thing clean, sure it'll work. It can provide some extra flow, room for some bio media (rubble, matrix, etc), and also provide a good place to place media like carbon and gfo.

 

Imagine if you had a sump and never cleaned it. accumulating detritus in a sump is the same as a canister, maybe even worse.

I had a nano running with a canister, just some carbon and seachem matrix it did just fine. i ran some filter pads in there every once in a while, when you do that you have to be more mindful of cleaning/swapping those out.

 

I wouldn't rely on it for 100% of the display flow rate though.

[Tamberav]

I would opt for a HOB filter for ease of maintenance or no filter at all (live rock + flow = biological filter) but yes, canisters can be used but not the same way you would for freshwater. 

[Dinizer]

I used this Polar Aurora Free Media canister filter in the 75's on my fish only tank. That was back in the undergravel filter age, before sump with trickle filter and air-driven skimmer which IMO is an order of magnitude better. I sure don't miss cleaning the filter.