Canister Filter (yay!) and a heater question

[Ellen4God]

Okay, my canister filter will be arriving in the mail in a few days. I was wondering about the intake on them. Will I need to cover it with pantyhose again for my shrimp? And if the intake does need to be covered, what's another way I can cover it other than pantyhose, as it seems to be hindering the intake a lot.

I'm sure it will come with directions, but I also wanted some tips for setting it up - where to point the things that put the water back in the tank and such. I've read about how people have had their's, but I've never paid special attention to it because I don't have one.

And one more question - in pictures, I see people tilting their heaters diagonally. Is this how you're supposed to do it so that the heat is distributed evenly? I just have mine standing vertically in the tank. Should I tilt it sideways some for better results? I moved it more to the center of the tank so that the filter water would help circulate it more, so I think that's helped. But, anything I can do better for my fish, I'm willing to do.

Lots of questions, I know. Any suggestions? Thanks!!

[cocoa_pleco]

tilting the heater sideways is just so that you cant notice it too much. and yep, i would cover the canister intake

[Ellen4God]

tilting the heater sideways is just so that you cant notice it too much. and yep, i would cover the canister intake

Thanks! Is there something I could cover it with other than pantyhose?


I should be keeping these cut up pantyhose instead of using new ones each time. I'm running out. lol

[Drumachine09]

Actually, tilting the heater allows for better heat dispersion. Heat rises. If you have it straight up and down, it rises in about a 2" area. If you tilt it, it easily triples or quadruples the area of water you are heating.

[cocoa_pleco]

you could cut up a sponge and tie it on with fishing line

if you can, place the heater by the filter intake

[Drumachine09]

Thanks! Is there something I could cover it with other than pantyhose?


I should be keeping these cut up pantyhose instead of using new ones each time. I'm running out. lol


Pantyhose would be your best bet. Cheap, easy to setup, and effective.




You can borrow a pair of mine!

[Ellen4God]

Very interesting, Drum!! I'll tilt my heater when I put my canister filter into the tank. I'll see if I can find some pantyhose that aren't as thick, I reckon. These just aren't allowing for much suction to be created for some reason.

And with the filter - they have little tube things that you use to direct the current, right? Where should I point those? Just one straight across the back and the other straight to the front?

[cocoa_pleco]

yep, it comes with a spraybar, put it at a 45 degree angle

you get lots of good media with the filter, mine came with ceramic rings, carbon, and sponges

[Ellen4God]

Okay. And just put it in how it says to in the box or whatever, right? I've heard mixed things about carbon. I don't think I'm going to use it. Should I get something to put in its place?

[MandyL]

you could cut up a sponge and tie it on with fishing line

if you can, place the heater by the filter intake


Shouldn't the heater be by the output, not the intake? I thought that having the heater by the intake would cause the warm water to circulate through the filter first, and that would cool it down.

[cocoa_pleco]

you can do it either way, intake it would get dispersed more

the instructions say how to put the media in, theres a specific way so i dont think you can put something in place of the carbon. however, if the filters going on your planted tank, definitely dont use carbon, carbon will take away good nutrients the plants can use

[Ellen4God]

Shouldn't the heater be by the output, not the intake? I thought that having the heater by the intake would cause the warm water to circulate through the filter first, and that would cool it down.

Well, with the filter I have right now, the intake is right by the output anyways. I don't know how my canister will be...

But, I've seen recent discussion about this in another thread - mainly it was about putting the thermometer probe inside the filter instead of inside the tank - and I think the conclusion was that the water isn't in the filter long enough to really "cool down". It's pumped into the filter, and then right back out. It doesn't stay in there long at all.

Good thought though! Thanks :)

[Ellen4God]

you can do it either way, intake it would get dispersed more

the instructions say how to put the media in, theres a specific way so i dont think you can put something in place of the carbon. however, if the filters going on your planted tank, definitely dont use carbon, carbon will take away good nutrients the plants can use

Okay, then I won't use the carbon. Instead of adding another media, I just leave that out completely?

I still have the gravel in pantyhose that I got when I was cycling my tank. It's still in my filter (this is from like January lol). Could I put that in the filter?

[cocoa_pleco]

actually, thats a good idea. cut a small hole in the carbon bag that comes with the filter, drain the carbon, and replace it with the gravel

[Ellen4God]

actually, thats a good idea. cut a small hole in the carbon bag that comes with the filter, drain the carbon, and replace it with the gravel

Oooh, nice! Thanks for that idea. I would've tried to cram it in somewhere. lol

[jbeining75]

Good luck with the new filter Ellen... Hope it works out great for you!!!!! Cocoa has some good ideas here. I'd load that thing up with some biomax if I were you also...

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Very very good idea cocoa.

On the heater thing. I keep all of my heaters horizontal with the exception of one but that is immediatly next to my filter intake so the heated water get's spread around quite nicely.

[Ellen4God]

Good luck with the new filter Ellen... Hope it works out great for you!!!!! Cocoa has some good ideas here. I'd load that thing up with some biomax if I were you also...

Biomax? Are those the little ball things?



I have so much to learn...



Oh wait, I just looked it up on Petsmart, and I think it may come with that already. At least it shows it in the picture..

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

It most likely does come with media. Most filters do include media packs with them.

[jbeining75]

Yeah it is basically just small scrub ceramic rings with very porous surfaces for the bacteria to attach to. They work very great for bacteria storage media to add to your biological filtration.

[smaug]

Okay, my canister filter will be arriving in the mail in a few days. I was wondering about the intake on them. Will I need to cover it with pantyhose again for my shrimp? And if the intake does need to be covered, what's another way I can cover it other than pantyhose, as it seems to be hindering the intake a lot.

I'm sure it will come with directions, but I also wanted some tips for setting it up - where to point the things that put the water back in the tank and such. I've read about how people have had their's, but I've never paid special attention to it because I don't have one.

And one more question - in pictures, I see people tilting their heaters diagonally. Is this how you're supposed to do it so that the heat is distributed evenly? I just have mine standing vertically in the tank. Should I tilt it sideways some for better results? I moved it more to the center of the tank so that the filter water would help circulate it more, so I think that's helped. But, anything I can do better for my fish, I'm willing to do.

Lots of questions, I know. Any suggestions? Thanks!!
I have on the intake of my canister filter a coarce prefilter sponge from a pond filter,the are an open cell plastic sponge like material that serves three fold.
1 it works as a bio filter
2 it keeps the little guys out of the tube
3 it serves as a prefilter for big chunks you also dont want in your filter

you can get these anywhere that sells pond pumps.

[Halelorf]

I gave the carbon pouch that came with my canister filters away immediatly. All of my filters have sponges on the bottom and loaded with ceramic rings everywhere else except for a small very fine sponge at the top of the filter. The rocks in the pouch is a good idea, and after you let the filter run with that for awhile you could take the pouch and put it over the filter intake! My brother has shrimp in his tank with a canister and he had to get the sponge of a pot scrubber to keep his from being sucked up the intake. Although he did have a good colony of red cherries living in his filter bottom till he did that :hmm3grin2orange:.

[LilysDad]

Fluval comes with a coarse screen over the intake. However, I had a Cory fry go through and live in the filter. How about a pre filter on the intake? Use a film canister with some floss in it. Change as needed.

[Ellen4God]

Fluval comes with a coarse screen over the intake. However, I had a Cory fry go through and live in the filter. How about a pre filter on the intake? Use a film canister with some floss in it. Change as needed.

What is a film canister? I honestly don't know anything about this stuff. lol Do you have a link/picture?

[smaug]

A film canister is what 35 mm camera film comes in.I wouldnt recomend that option simply because its so small and floss would clog rather quickly.Open cell foam like is used in prefilters for pond pumps would be much less mantenance.