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Switching from HOB to Canister

NorCal

NorCal

Members
Finally decided to upgrade to a canister filter and am curious as to if anyone's had experience doing so... Would moving the media from my HOB filter to a basket in the canister filter have sufficient BB to not go though a mini cycle?


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jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I would just run the two filters together for a couple of weeks. That should be sufficient time for the BB to build up in the canister.
 
chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
jonclark96 said:
I would just run the two filters together for a couple of weeks. That should be sufficient time for the BB to build up in the canister.
Click to expand...

+1 if you're up for it, you might also move half the media into the canister and leave half in the HOB. But running both side by side is the easiest route.
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
Side by side would work, but moving the biomedia works, too. I've done both.

Last week, I added a new (to me) Eheim 2126 to one of my tanks. I just took half of the biomedia from another Eheim and put it in the 2126, and replaced it with new biomedia.

Both tanks are fine, with no cycling.
 
NorCal

NorCal

Members
The room to run both would be very tight if enough. If I can't make that work I'm going to move the media from my HOB to the canister and throw in some of that BB in a bottle from Seachem to be safe.

Today is the day I'll be doing the transition.


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NorCal

NorCal

Members
Just wanted to update for anyone that may come across this thread looking for an answer.

So what I ended up doing was taking the media including the bio wheels from the HOB n stuck them in the bottom tray of the canister and put new media in the other two. I completely removed the HOB soon as I got the media into the Canister filter. A week and 1 WC later all seems good in the hood. No spikes yet.

0 amonia 0 nitrite 10-20 nitrAte


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Localzoo

Localzoo

Board of Directors
Make sure they are always clean and your tank gets enough aeration. Canisters are good but I lost a whole tank when my old fluval 405 had a crack inside top part and lost flow.


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CichlidAddict

CichlidAddict

Members
Localzoo said:
Make sure they are always clean and your tank gets enough aeration. Canisters are good but I lost a whole tank when my old fluval 405 had a crack inside top part and lost flow.


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Click to expand...

Many people don't realize that water passing through a canister doesn't add but consumes oxygen. Being a close system, aeration doesn't occur inside but comes from turbulence of the return flow outside the canister. So if you don't keep it clean, a canister can become an oxygen drain. And be careful in reassembling a canister as any leak can potentially drain the tank if not discovered early. So I would not characterize changing from HOBs to canisters is an upgrade in performance, just in complexity.
 
NorCal

NorCal

Members
I've always used HOBs with no issue but just wanted a cleaner look for the tank seeing as I can stick the canister in the cabinet area vs on top of the tank. I have power heads to keep the surface agitation up for oxygen. The only issue I can see is if the canister gives out... I still have my HOB incase that happens but I'm thinking of getting another canister to serve as extra filtration and as a back up.

So far I can't complain. The noise is close to none and the water is clean. No cleaner then when the HoB was on there but how much cleaner can it get right. I've yet to clean the canister really good. I want to let the BB really settle in the new media before I clean and or replace any of the media. I'm sure I'll be lost for a bit but hey how hard can it be...


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dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
When cleaning the canister, you only really want to thoroughly clean the mechanical media. Leave the bio media be, except for maybe a dunk or two to get the crud out o fit.

I'm not a fan of canisters because they're harder to clean than comparable HOBs (and certainly sumps/dumps). And I'm of the opinion that the mechanical media in them needs regular cleaning - just because there's an accumulation of fish poop, uneaten food and other gunk where the sun don't shine doesn't mean that it doesn't exist!

That said, they're workhorses, work well (when frequently cleaned and sometimes when they're not)!

Matt
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
I clean my canisters every six months, whether they need it or not!

Seriously, I do it about every four months, but occasionally need to do it more frequently if the flow slows. Usually, however, that just means there is some crude caught where the water enters the canister.
 
B

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
I rinse the prefiler (an Aquaclear sponge) every water change. I swap out the filter floss (polyester batting from Michael's) every couple of months. Every third time or so, I also rinse off the bio media.

Blaise
 
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