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New Canister Filter

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
I finally broke down and bought an Amazon.com special canister filter that is more than large enough for my 75 gallon tank. It looks and works great, but I’m needing some advice.

How long should I wait for that filter to establish before I remove both of my HOBs?

There isn’t much surface area for beneficial bacteria in the two HOBs which is why I’m finally getting a canister filter. Once it was set up and running, I took my HOBs and squeezed out the foam pads right next to the intake of the canister filter so that the mulm was sucked up into the canister. I figured This would seed the filter and speed up my process. Thoughts? Further questions?
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I usually run filters together for a couple of weeks to ensure the BB colony is established in the new filter.
 

Becca

Members
I've never had issues doing a same-day-switch on a tank that's established and hasn't had a recent (within 24-48 hours) water change. The tank water will carry the bacteria to the filter and seed it.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
I'd go with two weeks, unless you can move some of the biomedia from the HOBs to the canister.
 

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
Is one or two 1” x 6” x 5” filter pads enough to move over? I also have a 5” poret cube filter that’s been running in the tank for over a year in the tank that’s still set up.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
I'd think the two filter pads and the cube filter are probably enough, unless the tank is heavily stocked.
 

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
Well it's been a week now and everyone seems fine. I'm going to test the water tonight, remove the second HOB, and then test again in the morning. If the ammonia level stays at 0, I'll consider it a done deal. I test ammonia, pH, and nitrates on the regular, so I'll also test at the end of the week unless I see something strange going on.
 
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