Fluval causes detritus build-up?

[Fijikid]

Hello,

I was at one of our LFS and they told me that canister filters could help cause detritus issues and make the phosphate level go up? Therefore they recommended that I empty out my canister filter and only run Rowphas to bring down my phosphate level. Is that true? Should I do anything else to help my phosphate level?

Also they recommended that I remove most of my aragonite except for 1/2" for aesthetics. Is that a good idea?


Thank you all.

 

[jsmkmavity]

IMO nitrates are more of a concern with a canister filter than phosphates. if you are running a skimmer phosphates should not be a problem. if you remove or add substrate of any kind you need to do it slowly so the bacteria dont get out of balance. removing it is not necessary but different methods work better with different substrates-or no substrate.

 

[Krish]

IMO nitrates are more of a concern with a canister filter than phosphates. if you are running a skimmer phosphates should not be a problem. if you remove or add substrate of any kind you need to do it slowly so the bacteria dont get out of balance. removing it is not necessary but different methods work better with different substrates-or no substrate.

I agree. Cannisters, IMO, are "good" if you can stay on top of them with maintenance. Basically you want to clean any sponges in there every day or two just as you would a pre-filter cartridge or filter sock. That's why I don't use any because it is too much of a pain to tear down a cannister filter every day. Once you leave sponges, micron-cartridges etc too long, they can degrade water quality really quick and act as a bio-logical filter that does not perform denitrification.

 

[morgan]

i use a canister filter it was full of rock ceramic filter sponges and bio ball i took everything out except the rock ceramic and then but carbon and phos- zorb my nitrates are zero and phos is low0.05 canister filters are Sh!t imo but its wat i have so i live with it o have thouhgt about placing the spray bar into a sump but not sure it that would work well

 

[Little Luey]

Canister filters are great for polishing the water, run it for 2-3 hours just to clean your water, then take it apart, rinse the filter of all uneaten food/fish poop and put it away until the following week.
A good skimmer and plenty of live rock is all you need for filtration on a saltwater tank. The skimmer takes the nasty stuff out of the water colum, place it on the collection cup. The canister/hang on back filters do not take the nutrients out of the water colum, they just collect them but the water still goes thru the filter media, for it to work you need to clean the media often. How often depends on how much you feed, how many fish you have, how efficient the skimmer is ...
IMO not much help.

 

[cheeks69]

I agree with everyone Canister Filters are fine to polish the water occasionally or can be used to run carbon or PO4 removing media. They can easily become a bio-filter and are incapable of denitrification also they're not made to be opened and cleaned often. I know my old Fluval didn't last and was a pain to prime.