Questions Bout Canisters

They do need to be cleaned regularly. I have one on mine, I clean every other week. No real nitrate problems. If you ask the majority of the people who say there a nitrate factory if they have ever run one, they say no. So its something they heard and just repeat as fact. Don't get me wrong, they can cause problems if not maintained. But so can anything.

 

I would say you need to be more aggressive/diligent about cleaning the canister if you are using it on a reef system. I think the canister is a great way to use chemical media such as carbon or phosphate removers. They have a large volume to put the media in and you can run a good amount of water through them and over the media. This can make them very efficient at removing what every the media attracts. And you don't have to piece together all the equipment to run a reactor.

 

Also just want to say that a sump and good refugium are your best bet. But if you don't have a sump and have a canister you can use it.

 

One potential downfall of them as media reactors is you generally don't have the ability to tailor the flow to the media you're using. Different media operates best with different amounts of flow.
Also just to add that they aren't necessarily a bad thing, I don't think they are ideal for running chemical filtration but they can be used decently probably. Some people may run theirs just fine but just because someone runs one and has a nitrate problem or doesn't have a nitrate problem doesn't necessarily mean that it's at all related to this one piece of equipment. These are complex systems and you really have to look at the whole picture.

 

ok so i have a 46gal tank w/ around 50lbs of liverock and a octopus hob skimmer...i got a 30 or so lb of substrate (argonite) and a c-360 marineland canister...(never ran a canister but my dad wanted it) so anyways what exactly does the porcelin do and the bio balls...do i need them or should i remove them add custom add stuff? not too much living in the tank just a pair of percs and sum hermits and snails(not very old tank)/

 

The porcelain and bioballs are for biological (nitrogen cycle) filtration.