Bought a brute of a canister filter

[limulus]

I bought an Odyssea CFS4 Canister filter off the bay. This thing is BIG and rated at 1200L/hr. I mainly bought it for the 55g but wanted to try it to polish the water in the 12g NC. First, we just returned last night from a 10-day trip to Alaska and the tank was an absolute mess! The algae is starting to look like a putting green on the glass. I'm losing my patience fighting this stuff. I'm going to try a different salt mixture. I'm currently using Tropic Marin and RO water. I even have PhosGuard running and can't stop it. I'm also going to reduce my light period by 2-hrs.

 

Back to the canister: It polished the water in 20-min. The return is like a fire hose and actually burried some of my rics and shrooms under the sand. On the other hand, it blew all the crud off the rocks with ease. Since it's a canister filter it holds probably 2-gal of water. Most of this can't be pumped back into the tank. After using it, I had to add new water. So, I'll just use it as a way to clean up the tank before water changes on both the 55g and 12g.

[AttackDonut]

FWIW I've heard iffy things about Tropic Marin and high Phosphate content.

 

All the same, have you checked your RO water for PO4 content?

[tangelo_]

I've used Tropic Marin and Distilled water for the last 8 months. I have absolutely zero hair algae and zero readings on phosphate. I attribute most of my reef success to using good salt. I'm curious to know what you use for a full time filter.