Canister filter as reactor

[Pntbll687]

I'm tired of using carbon in bags in my sump. I can't tell how much flow is actually going through it. I had a old canister filter in the garage and decided to turn it into a carbon reactor.

It has three trays and I set it up as follows
Tray 1 (bottom) coarse foam
Tray 2 - filled with carbon
Tray 3 (top) some carbon, another coarse foam on top

Hopefully this will get me some more time between carbon changes, and I can actually measure how many gph are flowing through it.

Anyone ever do this before?

 

[skim]

What Canister and what Carbon? Carbon in a bag does work it is just not as aggressive.

 

[Pntbll687]

I used a aqueon quietflow 200 canister. And some aquatop activated carbon.

We sell both products where I work so I get them for cheap.

 

[skim]

IMO I would loose the Foam and get Floss and use a Bag for Carbon. If you do not what to spend money on the higher quality Carbons I would use the Fluval Carbon as a large container sells pretty cheap or Black Diamond Carbon from Marine Land Products. Fluval is quite good I have used it with very good results. I would take some floss and add it to the second basket and then the bag with Carbon on top and add some more floss, use a large bag so you can spread it around. You could also add some Ceramic noodles for Pre filtering into the first basket it will not act so much as a Bio Filter as the Foam pads. For the amount of Carbon used you should NOT go with large amounts but smaller amounts and change every month or two. The amount to try is 50 g ( 100 ml ) per 200 l ( 50 gal ). If you wish you can also add Phosphate remover in the top basket in the exact same way.