Fluval 105 Canister Filter?

[craigybaby37]

been thinking of buying one of the fluval 105 canister filters now as the fluval 2 in the tank firstly cant handle the waste load as after about 5 days there is very very little flow going through it and secondly its a bit unsightly and will give me a little more room in the tank if removed.

only problem is are they very noisy as the tank is in my bedroom and i would still like to be able to sleep peacefully at nights and how often does the media inside the canister have to be cleaned out and changed??

And also if i install 1 to the tank will it add to my water movement enough for me to remove one of my powerheads which will prob be the hydor korallia 1.

thanks people

 

[k.o.d]

How big is your tank?
Is it a reef system with live rock of fish only?
Do you skim or have chemical media ?

Steve

 

[craigybaby37]

the tank is a uk 20 gallon reef set up. i dont skim i do 10% weekly water changes. and inside the fluval 2 i only use filter wool.

read that the fluval 105 is for a maximum tank size of 100 litres so fort this would be prefect for the job.

 

[k.o.d]

The problem is that a filter of any kind running floss or any media produces extra nitrates, ideally you should use the live rock as your denitration media, keep the 2 korallias as they provide circulation for the denitrification
instead of using floss in the internal filter use polyfilter as that adsorbs protein based waste so will clean up your bioload.
Eheim external filters are almost silent, so you could do the same with that and not be disturbed by noise ( though to be honest, the fluvals I have heard have been almost silent too )
You have the extra space in an external to fit phosphate removers too

 

[andywg]

The problem is that a filter of any kind running floss or any media produces extra nitrates, ideally you should use the live rock as your denitration media, keep the 2 korallias as they provide circulation for the denitrification
instead of using floss in the internal filter use polyfilter as that adsorbs protein based waste so will clean up your bioload.
Eheim external filters are almost silent, so you could do the same with that and not be disturbed by noise ( though to be honest, the fluvals I have heard have been almost silent too )
You have the extra space in an external to fit phosphate removers too

Media can only "produce" nitrates if you do not clean the media, but even then the same amount of waste is being broken down, so if the tank has enough LR to cope, then the media will not cause problems. If taking the media out stops you having nitrates show up, and you do not increase the amount of denitrification, then there must be a slow down in the ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate part of the cycle. In simpler terms, the ammonia or ntirite will not be being processed fast enough.

I know which I prefer in my tank out of nitrate, nitrite and ammonia

 

[k.o.d]

You are right, I was assuming amounts of live rock sufficient to process the ammonia and nitrate.

Though not 100% in agreement with the only producing nitrates only if you dont clean the media, if you have floss, the nitrifying bacteria will colonise and thus produce nitrates, the food source does not have to be limited to dirty media but will be exascerbated by it definitely. The bacteria on the floss will not differentiate between ammonia sources from dirty media or left-over rotting food anywhere in the tank.

The idea of the Berlin type system is that the aquarium is in balance, so the live rock/sand denitrifies the ammonia wastes naturally, if you need extra filtration to do this then your stocking levels are suspect. Or at least that is my take on it.

 

[andywg]

You are right, I was assuming amounts of live rock sufficient to process the ammonia and nitrate.

Though not 100% in agreement with the only producing nitrates only if you dont clean the media, if you have floss, the nitrifying bacteria will colonise and thus produce nitrates, the food source does not have to be limited to dirty media but will be exascerbated by it definitely. The bacteria on the floss will not differentiate between ammonia sources from dirty media or left-over rotting food anywhere in the tank.

The idea of the Berlin type system is that the aquarium is in balance, so the live rock/sand denitrifies the ammonia wastes naturally, if you need extra filtration to do this then your stocking levels are suspect. Or at least that is my take on it.

But the bacteria on the floss are just competing with the aerobic bacteria on Live Rock. This will not cause nitrates. Nitrates will be caused by too high an ammonia input for the anaerobic bacteria to process the resulting nitrates quickly enough. If this is the case and you remove the media, the chances are you will then experience ammonia or nitrites as the aerobic media was helping convert that faster than the LR could deal with it.

You are right on the stocking levels, but too many people ignore this and look straight to the aerobic media, thus causing the "Cannisters are nitrate filters" comment seen all too often on this forum. They only cause nitrates when you need their extra filtration because you are overstocked.