New super simple build

[djray77]

I don't know why Canisters are so "taboo" in the reefing community. This is my first time with one and I think it's great.

 

[Pntbll687]

I don't know why Canisters are so "taboo" in the reefing community. This is my first time with one and I think it's great.

People overstock a tank and the biological filter can't keep up, then nitrates build up, then the canister gets neglected and it compounds. And after all if that "the canister is a nitrate factory" is born.

That and poorly setting the filter up, and not having enough media in it.

 

[djray77]

My first ever attempt at fragging a zoa, seems to be doing ok.

 

[djray77]

Is my phosphates and nitrate a little too low? I've been reading you want some in the tank for coral health.
Phosphate = 0.015

 

[djray77]

Just some updated coral pics

 

[djray77]

Some updates of the coral frags

 

[djray77]

I did my first ever ICP test and thought I would share the results. I'm pretty happy with them, they are telling me to add phosphate and calcium. I tested everything the day I sent out the water and the only thing that was off was the Calcium. My red sea test kit said 445Cal and they have 380. I was surprised to see that big of a difference. Other than that everything seems to be pretty good. I can't believe they want me to dose phosphate never had that happen before. My nitrate is super low also. I also wanted to share as canisters get such a bad reputation, mine seems to be working out great.

 

[djray77]

Just an updated pic of the setup. Grow corals grow!! lol

 

[Nathan Milender]

From everything I have watched on youtube (pondguru really knows his stuff when it comes to canisters), as long as you clean them regularly they are great. It seems people leave them for weeks without cleaning and of course that will be a nitrate factory lol.
Many dont like the equipment in the tank and pipes going over the back of the tank, but with everything being black it's not as noticeable to me.
It will be interesting to see how it turns out, I have a 40g breeder with a sump/protein skimmer next to it. So its kind of like my own experiment to see the differences.

The canister is in essence just a small refugium with a lid and less customizable options. If you do not want to see the hoses there is no reason you could not drill holes in the top and put in a traditional overflow box and plumb it in. In the 90s I did salt water and had success with just an undergravel filter. Granted, there were no corals. As far as the lighting I do not know what to say, I use the T5 hybrid fixture to take some of the guessing out of it.

Par aside, I have been screwing with my 'underpowered' LEDs following a dino outbreak. I upped the nutirents to deal with it, which worked, but now there is a large algae breakout. The LEDs I have should be insufficient, but turning off my T5's had no effect on algae growth. Also (more likely due to nutrients), the coral growth has exploded in spite of less light. Most of the increased growth is in the sps. Again, I do not know why. I do not have a par meter or I would tell you the par I am running. You could always place some corals and see how they do before modifying your lighting since lighting is easy to change on a running system.