Habitat - Indoor :: My Canister Filter Sucks, Or Not/HOW TO KEEP YOUR TANK CLEAN

[meoldchina]

Hi all.

Ok so now I have had my tank finished for around 10 days and it is obvious that filtration is not working as it should, I think.

Just to recap I have a local brand canister filter (could not get the western brands), Boyu EFU-45 1100 litre rated,

http://www.boyuaquarium.com/en_ArticleS ... icleID=272

It is set up with the inlet in the RH corner and outlet in the LH corner to try to drive the carp across the tank to the inlet. I also have the powerhead that came with the tank setup too to push the carp towards the inlet too.

But it just does not seem to be cutting it. Ok I suppose you could say the water is clear but all the crap just seems to settle on the bottom, amongst the rocks (different topic, perhaps). Now not having owned a canister filter before of course I do not know how they should function or how efficient they should be so need your guys input here. Maybe it is correct, maybe it is just a rubbish filter??

But I kind of assumed that particles in motion in the water should all gravitate towards the filter and get sucked up. However my filter just does not seem to suck. Even relatively small and light particles (such as skin fragments) can be within a few inches of the intake and still fall to the bottom of the tank.

Is this how they should be, or does mine just 'suck'?

I would love to hear from those who have the big brand name canisters and let me know how they perform/operate in comparison.

All posts very much appreciated as usual, meoldchina

Oh and PS what about all the crud held on the surface andaround the edges due to surface tension???

[Deon]

i think it is your filter. My first filter was similar to yours (in terms of performance), and it never cleaned anything at all. Now, i have a eheim canister and it is working A LOT better. Shedded skin should be taken in by the intake tube quickly

[octpusgirl8]

No matter how good the filter, there will always be debris that settles to the bottom. A battery operated vaccum cleaner or even a plain old fashioned siphon is all you need to take care of that problem. A long as the water is nice and clear your filter is working just fine. If you can, get some water testing kits and test for ammonia and nitrites.

[meoldchina]

Thanks for the replies. Anybody else?? Come on guys and gals I would really appreciate your experiences here.

Thanks in advance, meoldchina

[untsmurf]

Fish nets and turkey basters also work well for cleaning up the debris.

[mikee]

m-china -- Your filter pump should pump at least 5 times the water volume in you tank. You have to be careful not to listern to the pet shops and their tendency to rate a turtle tank by what they know about fish. Trying to size a filter pump to what a fish needs is not wise. Turtles need a lot more water exchange to get the biological filtration up to par. I am not sure how you convert to gallons but in the US you need to think in GPH for turtles. m.

[meoldchina]

Hi Mikee, I am aware of the fish rating v turtle rating. So the arithmetic goes something like this...

75 US gal tank (approx 285 litres, x 3.785)
1100 ltr per hour 'flow rate' (approx 290 US gals, specs off the side of the box not pet shop hype)
So 290/75 = 3.86*, not quite the 5* but most people on here seem to talk about 2 to 3 times the rating/flow rate that is normally stated for the size of the tank you have, not 5. Also according to the tank calculator http://www.redearslider.com/calculator.html this size tank requires a filter rated at 225 US gal per hour (3*) so mine is well over that recommendation. So maybe I am confused or missing something???

meoldchina

[untsmurf]

Are you sure that you set up the filter right and all the seals are sealed up nicely?

[meoldchina]

Seems simple enough to me. One in, one out, prime and hey presto. There are no leaks so the seals must be good I would think. I have the inlet in the back RH corner and the outlet in the back LH corner.

Just seems underpowered with little 'suck' to me.

[robind]

I have a similar problem with my 100g tank. I think that once you get to 75g it's impractical to get the circulation necessary to keep crap from settling on the bottom of the tank. I use a siphon to vacuum the bottom every time I do a water change (also whenever it's bugging me).

[meoldchina]

what filter do you have robind??

[robind]

I have a filter I made myself. See details here: http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19167

I'm going to build another one for my octopus tank soon, perhaps I'll make a step-by-step guide then.

[steve]

...my octopus tank soon...

Must post pics!

[meoldchina]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Perhaps I was expecting too much? But for now I will stick with the filter I have and have settled on just siphoning out the worst of the crud once a week (two buckets of water). See how it goes but it would have been nice to get some posts from owners with brand name filters to see how they compare.

Thanks again, meoldchina