canister filter or refugium

gord 23

New member
How much better is one than the other? Both are pushing tank water through some media so I'm thinking there's not a lot of difference as to the water quality.
 
The canister WILL require regular maintenance, is prone to slowing flow, and IF left too long a build up of PO4,
Not woth it IMHO.
 
The do completely different things. One is a natural filter and the other is a mechanical filter. A refugium is there to consume nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates where as a cannister filter captures solids. A refugium grows macro which you prune and that exports the nutrients that the macro consumes. A cannister filter needs to be cleaned regularly otherwise the solids it traps break down and will add to the nutrient issues. Cannister filters are often referred to as
"œNitrate factories" because the solids they trap break down and increase a systems nitrates.
 
RO systems

RO systems

The do completely different things. One is a natural filter and the other is a mechanical filter.
"œNitrate factories" because the solids they trap break down and increase a systems nitrates.

How about the RO units, I only have one 75 gal salt tank with one elegance coral and two large fish. I want the best quality water (so I can have more coral) but it seems to me that a RO system would produce way more water than I can use-for top off and water changes. Thanks for your reply to my canister filter question.
 
How about the RO units, I only have one 75 gal salt tank with one elegance coral and two large fish. I want the best quality water (so I can have more coral) but it seems to me that a RO system would produce way more water than I can use-for top off and water changes. Thanks for your reply to my canister filter question.

I am a firm believer of garbage in, garbage out. If you use poor quality water to make your water, you will more than likely have issues down the line and at the very least, if and when you have issues, your source of water will be the glaring question. I use 0 TDS RODI water only in my system and the moment any of my DI cartridges start reading 1 TDS, they get changed. There are too many unknowns in tap water for me to not take every precaution to insure the health of my corals. If it was a fish only system, then it might be a different story and RO water would be OK or in some cases, conditioned tap water but in a reef tank. No way for me.
 
How about the RO units, I only have one 75 gal salt tank with one elegance coral and two large fish. I want the best quality water (so I can have more coral) but it seems to me that a RO system would produce way more water than I can use-for top off and water changes. Thanks for your reply to my canister filter question.


If you own rather than rent you can use the RO for drinking water also. My wife thinks I bought mine for her to have drinking water and its plumbed into the ice maker also before heading to the DI and my salt mixing station.
 
+3, stay away from canister unless you want to add more work to an already maintenance minded hobby. They work well for various applications but are a bit of a pain to keep cleaning. Oh! and get an RO unit!!! Best first investment for any reef aquarium. You can mix whatever amount of water you need. There is no set water volume and you control the effluent (out flow) with a valve, Just shut it off when you have the amount of water you want for your water change.
 
I've been running canister on my systems for ever, and in fact, my new system has two canisters. They are perfect for my needs, as I keep up with my monthly maintenance.
They only become "nitrate factories" if you have bad husbandry.....just IMHO based on 35+ years of being in the hobby
 
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