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Cannister Filters


edas

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Hi All

I would be interested to know whether anyone had ever linked cannisters together so that each one performed a different function before passing water onto the next one. Eg the first cannister would be primarily for pre-filtering, second for biological. Not sure if possible but have seen pictures in books.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Cheers

Edas

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Just run two seperate canisters. Much easier smile.gif

I think theres more info in the FAQ section

Josh

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If anything, the most important thing would be to have matching water flow from one to the other.

You don't want to have a weak flow in one, and a stronger flow in the other. Depending on which way you orientate them, you'll either overflow one or starve the other one.

pipsqeek

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No you wont, because it is an entirely closed system, it would run as hard as the weakest unit would allow, and burn the stronger unit out because of the back pressure.

Very much not worth it.

Just run 2 seperate filters.

This is definately something that has been discussed here several times before but a quick search drew a blank, so it was probably too old to be found.

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I actually think it can be done but I would not link two standard Canisters, like 2 or more 2217's, for the very reasons that Ducky has stated.

What I would do, if I was desperate to do it, is use a pressure sealed unit like some of the pond canisters available and link them as individual units with an exterior pump to drive the lot.

Food for thought anyway.

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id get a cannister like maz said and that would work but it would be like a technical pain in the but bio or reef system, so give it a go but dont use cannisters with built in pumps

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If you want to do such a thing, you will need to link them together, as you can’t have a biological section as first point of contact with the tank water.

The problem people are referring to is the disparity between each pump on each canister. As mentioned, it will only work as strong as the weakest pump. If you used the same powered pump, the mechanical section would get clogged first and slow the whole thing down. And actually, I don’t see this as a great problem, as if they are all the same pump, if the mechanical filtered pump section slows down, you will be cleaning the section out, as you would any filter, and the pump is able to handle this sort of extra pressure,. So if the same pump is used on other canisters in line, they may also experience working harder due to the mechanical section slowing down, but no harder than the first pump on the mechanical section. If you follow what I mean?

I can see this easily overcome by using only one pump. Myself, I wouldn’t even buy a canister filter. I would buy 150mm PVC plumbing fittings, glue a bottom on each one, a threaded top and lid to the top, plumb each one via a small bulk head fitting.

Inside, I would put a piece of egg crate kept a couple of centimetres from the bottom and another one a couple of centimetres from the top, to allow free access into and out of each canister. Put one pump on where the water goes back to the tank, and Bob’s your uncle! It would have to lay down as they have to be plumbed from the bottom to the top.

This is sort of how LifeGuard do their stuff isn't it?

Craig

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Again, thanks for the info. On reflection the picture I saw did have a separate pump powering the 3 or 4 cannisters (which did not have built in pumps). The theory of making your own does sound like it's worth thinking about. Thanks Craig!

The reason I was wanting to explore this idea is to have a large mechanical pre-filter outside the aquarium which can be cleaned regularly to ensure smooth running of the system. The other cannisters can be solely used for bio. It would probably be simpler to run a trickle but as I am renting I don't all that water pumped outside of a closed system.

Something to think about anyway, I have a nice big pump lying around!

Edas

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