[mbunakid]

I am running a heavily stocked mbuna tank, right now they are only 3" and I change about 40% of the water each week, I only run a emperor 400 with matrix and pads are changed bi weekly. So why would I need a canister filter? is it going to somehow affect my water quality? it is already pretty much clear enough I would drink from it I found a c360 for cheap, so tell me why I should get it?

 

[mambee]

Canister filters are excellent for biological filtration. You are throwing out the good bacteria by changing your pads biweekly. An Emperor 400 isn't enough filtration for a heavily stocked 75 gallon.

Also, canisters are quiet and can run many months between cleanings.

Mike

 

[kornphlake]

Test your water parameters every 6 hours throughout a 48 hour period leading up to your water change. If you can't detect any ammonia or nitrite you have enough biological filtration. I don't buy the more is better argument, more is just more.

Lets say you have to drive 10 miles and your car gets 30mpg, will it really matter if your car has a full tank or if there is only 1 gallon left? More gas in the tank is just more gas in the tank, it you'll still get where you are going even if you only have 1 gallon so why bother stopping to refill? The obvious answer would be to say that you're going to drive the 10 miles then pick up a friend and drive another 40 miles, in this case you should stop and get more gas somewhere along the way.

Additional filtration is like more gas in the tank, you can add more fish to your aquarium (or extend the distance of your trip) without having to worry about filtration (gas) if you've got a surplus. If the tank is already overstocked and you can't add any more fish the filter you have in use obviously has more filtering capacity than you really need as long as ammonia and nitrite never rise above zero.

 

[mambee]

I look at it differently. I like having redundant systems so that you still have the beneficial bacteria in the canister if you whack the bacteria in the Emperor when you do your biweekly filter servicing.

 

[mbunakid]

well I alternate which pads I switch and even if a large bio base is knocked out I still have matrix in the filter, use prime and everything is amazing I kind of wish I had of read some more comments but I feel confident in my decision it was only 125 bucks new for a c360 so if I need it I'll have it because last time I needed a canister the filter jumped 50 bucks in one week.