Random thought on canister filters....

[akunochi]

SO I have been browsing through several of the "new to reefkeeping" forums around here and there. Many people come into the hobby confused by sumps and the such and always ask about canister filters.

Now the typical response is "Good as a media reactor or nitrate factory." I was curious could one make a canister filter into a cryptic fuge? Why not? It is dark...you could add a ball valve to control flow speed and load it up with cryptic type things....

THoughts?

 

[Maxx]

You could do that and I dont see a reason why it wouldnt work at least for a little while. However:

1...its cheaper to do the same thing in the sump w/o a cannister filter.
2...you're going to need to adjust the flow once it gets working as the sponges that define a cryptic zone filter are going to grow and will begin to restrict flow eventually, requiring you to clean the filter, thereby killing the sponges.

But I do like the fact that you're thinking unconventionally regarding the "rules" of this hobby and trying to find another use for a piece of equipment that is regularly denounced.

Nick

 

[alki]

Ive run it as this, but without random flow in the canister detrious will accumulate. There is no way around that except cleaning it out every so often.

 

[Krish]

Here's a nice debate on it. Don (DonW), Eric and I got into it pretty good here. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/canister-filter-57370/

 

[akunochi]

I'll give that a read. I was just thinking outside the box last night a little.

 

[the6goat6man6]

IMO, Media reactor(carbon).

I would think a canister would be just too small for any kind of fuge. Also, wouldn't it be kind of a pain having to open the top to see whats going on? Or as stated above, having to kill sponges to keep the flow going. And canisters tends to accumulate air, this is a hazard to sponges, espesially when the pump chops them into micro bubbles.

 

[Krish]

I'll give that a read. I was just thinking outside the box last night a little.

It's good to think outside of the box sometimes. The thing I love about this hobby is there are so many approaches you can take with things and still have success.