Opinions on Canister vs other types of filtration

[lnsaneM]

In both of my established tanks I rinse the cotton off in sink water (if they're so dirty I just toss them). I also rinse my all my media in sink water as well. Never had any problems there.

 

[AmyKieran]

Just to make life a bit easier...this is now known not to be true. The chlorine and chloramine in tap water, assuming it is not excessive (which would be harmful to humans if it were that high) might kill some of the bacteria, depending upon the level and exposure time. But in scientific studies, it was found that more than half of the mitrifying bacteria survived with no harm. This makes sense, when one remembers that the nitrifying bacteria we encourage when "cycling" come from the chlorinated tap water to begin with, so if they were all killed we would never be able to cycle a tank (unless seeding it from some other source).

Another aspect is that once the aquarium is established (a few months), there are more nitrifiers in the substrate than in the filter, not to mention live plants and wood.

It is true about hot water. The three situations that do kill nitrifying bacteria are boiling, freezing and drying out. Lukewarm tap water is not going to kill these bacteria.

Although all of this may be true, I still don’t believe it should ever be advised to use tap water to rinse filter media

 

[AmyKieran]

In all 3 of my well-established tanks, I still prefer to rinse my filter media in a bowl of old tank water, rather than the tap...why carry the media all the way to my sink(s), when I can rinse and replace into my filters a few feet away?*

*Besides the fact that I DO believe most of the BB in a well-established tank are colonized elsewhere in the tank...and, old habits die hard

I literally don’t even allow any tap water to touch anything while I’m cleaning lol

 

[lnsaneM]

Although all of this may be true, I still don’t believe it should ever be advised to use tap water to rinse filter media

You're probably right, but just have a need to thoroughly clean them. And I just added a booster filter to my main canister filter so I won't ever have to clean the media again. And in my sump, the filtration is so good in the drip filtration process the media can stay in there forever.

 

[Slaphppy7]

You're probably right, but just have a need to thoroughly clean them. And I just added a booster filter to my main canister filter so I won't ever have to clean the media again. And in my sump, the filtration is so good in the drip filtration process the media can stay in there forever.

"Booster filter"?

Dirty filters/media = high nitrAtes

 

[Slaphppy7]

I literally don’t even allow any tap water to touch anything while I’m cleaning lol

I clean my filter housings in hot tap water, media in old tap water

 

[lnsaneM]

"Booster filter"?

Dirty filters/media = high nitrAtes

What I mean by booster filter is running another canister filter parallel to my existing canister filter, so all the water goes through filter 1, then filter 2, then back into the tank. I have only mechanical filtration in the first filter, so the second filter is freed up to put in biological media only;

 

[Slaphppy7]

What I mean by booster filter is running another canister filter parallel to my existing canister filter, so all the water goes through filter 1, then filter 2, then back into the tank. I have only mechanical filtration in the first filter, so the second filter is freed up to put in biological media only;

Understood...but mechanical filtration acts as biological filtration, as well

 

[lnsaneM]

Understood...but mechanical filtration acts as biological filtration, as well

For me it's more of an easier cleaning process, I can just easily rinse out or replace entirely what's in the first filter and leave the second filter alone for a long time.

 

[Byron]

For me it's more of an easier cleaning process, I can just easily rinse out or replace entirely what's in the first filter and leave the second filter alone for a long time.

This is actually detrimental. First thing to recognize is that no filter cleans the water. Mechanical filtration keeps it clear, and the biological filtration deals with nitrification (not needed with sufficient live plants by the way). But any filter, no matter how big or how many, simply trap the pollutants and there they remain. The only way to remove them is with water changes and filter cleanings, and the more often the better.

There is so much misinformation in this hobby, primarily instigated by manufacturers wanting us to buy more and larger filters, when the truth is they are simply throwing money down the drain. One of our members @AbbeysDad has excellent articles about this on his blog, and my article on water changes references it.

Aquarium Filters – MJV Aquatics

mjvaquatics.com

Contact Support

Regular Partial Water Changes

Byron Hosking November, 2010 (rev April 2021) Nothing is more important when it comes to aquarium maintenance than regular partial water changes. The adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” certainly applies here. One frequently reads of products that will reduce the need for...

www.fishforums.net

 

[AbbeysDad]

As @Byron mentioned, I have volumes written on Filtration and Water Quality on my website/blog...

Now I used to think that because filters trap organic waste that will decompose and pollute the water that we were best severed by keeping it as clean as possible. But this notion is pretty much wrong unless you were to clean the filter every day...or more.

What I've come to realize is that the filter can be an even more valuable piece of equipment if it is left untouched until water output flow is noticeably reduced. This allows for an even finer filtration media as well as a much better evolved beneficial biology colony.

My filters are filled with coarse sponge material (Often with a coarse sponge inlet tube filter....and they are serviced only when there's a fair reduction in flow...and then cleaned modestly to restore proper flow.
I realize that on the surface this may seem counter intuitive but it really, really works well. This is not unlike my philosophy about mulm as once organics decompose they no longer produce pollutants....and that's why we do routine periodic partial water changes!

 

[lnsaneM]

As @Byron mentioned, I have volumes written on Filtration and Water Quality on my website/blog...

Now I used to think that because filters trap organic waste that will decompose and pollute the water that we were best severed by keeping it as clean as possible. But this notion is pretty much wrong unless you were to clean the filter every day...or more.

What I've come to realize is that the filter can be an even more valuable piece of equipment if it is left untouched until water output flow is noticeably reduced. This allows for an even finer filtration media as well as a much better evolved beneficial biology colony.

My filters are filled with coarse sponge material (Often with a coarse sponge inlet tube filter....and they are serviced only when there's a fair reduction in flow...and then cleaned modestly to restore proper flow.
I realize that on the surface this may seem counter intuitive but it really, really works well. This is not unlike my philosophy about mulm as once organics decompose they no longer produce pollutants....and that's why we do routine periodic partial water changes!

I agree with you 100% on this

 

[lnsaneM]

This is actually detrimental. First thing to recognize is that no filter cleans the water. Mechanical filtration keeps it clear, and the biological filtration deals with nitrification (not needed with sufficient live plants by the way). But any filter, no matter how big or how many, simply trap the pollutants and there they remain. The only way to remove them is with water changes and filter cleanings, and the more often the better.

There is so much misinformation in this hobby, primarily instigated by manufacturers wanting us to buy more and larger filters, when the truth is they are simply throwing money down the drain. One of our members @AbbeysDad has excellent articles about this on his blog, and my article on water changes references it.

Aquarium Filters – MJV Aquatics

mjvaquatics.com

Contact Support

Regular Partial Water Changes

Byron Hosking November, 2010 (rev April 2021) Nothing is more important when it comes to aquarium maintenance than regular partial water changes. The adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” certainly applies here. One frequently reads of products that will reduce the need for...

www.fishforums.net

I just read through some of his article and there are some really great and helpful info in there, thanks

 

[Lynnzer]

In both of my established tanks I rinse the cotton off in sink water (if they're so dirty I just toss them). I also rinse my all my media in sink water as well. Never had any problems there.

I rinse out in rainwater