I currently have a penguin 350 hob and was wondering if there is a better hob filter of should I switch to canister, or does it matter. tank is a 55, has been running for a little over a year. I am having a hard time keeping it clean and getting rid of green algea
Should I change my filter
- Thread starter Ken C
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complicated.
success in mechanical filtration comes with cleaning AND flow. Plus how you pack the hob filter. Just like a sumped tank you need flow to keep stuff blowing around so it gets to the filter. with a canister success id dependant on cleaning.
But at a point nutrients may still build up and you need to find a strategy for "excess nutrient export" this can be done with chem filtration like floss that binds No and Po or with refugiums.
I opted for HOB refugiums + good mechanical filtration, aqua clear w floss sponge and carbon..
a canister done right will give better mechanical filtration.
some hob refugiums so come with a skimmer or a place for them.
success in mechanical filtration comes with cleaning AND flow. Plus how you pack the hob filter. Just like a sumped tank you need flow to keep stuff blowing around so it gets to the filter. with a canister success id dependant on cleaning.
But at a point nutrients may still build up and you need to find a strategy for "excess nutrient export" this can be done with chem filtration like floss that binds No and Po or with refugiums.
I opted for HOB refugiums + good mechanical filtration, aqua clear w floss sponge and carbon..
a canister done right will give better mechanical filtration.
some hob refugiums so come with a skimmer or a place for them.
R_C
Active Member
It does matter depending what you are keeping in the tank. If you are having a hard time getting rid of algae you might have too much phosphate and/or nitrates. What are your parameters? Water change schedule and how much?
R_C
Active Member
6 gallons a week is about 10% and it should be enough but you might be feeding too much and need to make the water change larger. Can you please post a picture of your setup? There are quite a few factors to having high nitrates (bioload, amount of rock, etc).
what kind of light is that you are running. sounds unrelated its not.
Ok. Yea you can change to a canister and run just floss and carbon. I'd rather not reccomend Media in them. That can build up gunk fast. Mine on my 30 gal polsisesc the water fast. I have blue whit floss in all three baskets and an changing it every other week. It's fast easy and cleaner than having Media in it. Run that and scrub the tank you'll be pretty happy.
I only run mine when I deep clean btw. I have too many filter feeders to have the water that clean. Mine is the $60 one from Amazon. There's better ones too.
On bemifit is you can substitute poly pad to help with the no and Po too. Or gfo etc etc.
the hob are a trick to load effectively to knock out junk.
On thing I noticed is your Alge is pretty weir looking to me. Like a water quality issue. I'd check the source. I'm quite surprised you don't have corraline.
One last observation check your flow a bit and make sure it's at turbulent as you can get it even though it's fish food will build up in the sand big time.
You'll like the canister for that. You stir or use a turke Baster and the can will clear it right out. Do little bits at a time and that'll be clean in a few weeks.
I only run mine when I deep clean btw. I have too many filter feeders to have the water that clean. Mine is the $60 one from Amazon. There's better ones too.
On bemifit is you can substitute poly pad to help with the no and Po too. Or gfo etc etc.
the hob are a trick to load effectively to knock out junk.
On thing I noticed is your Alge is pretty weir looking to me. Like a water quality issue. I'd check the source. I'm quite surprised you don't have corraline.
One last observation check your flow a bit and make sure it's at turbulent as you can get it even though it's fish food will build up in the sand big time.
You'll like the canister for that. You stir or use a turke Baster and the can will clear it right out. Do little bits at a time and that'll be clean in a few weeks.
I use rodi water when change and top off, i have been fighting that algea for over 6 months now and i have even moved the tank from one house to another, i do have two power heads running on both sides one aimed across the top and one angled down and towards the middle of the front, i didnt what to go to much with the file and the shrimp so they dont get blown around to much
its har to tell from the pics of course. cant see flow relly just guestimate. yea that and some snails you should be good.
yea no sweat! go slow and do the and in sections. the rocks you can just bust it out, clean the filter and your done.
my canister with the hoses is like 2 gallons. the floss was like $5 and came with enough to do mine twice.
