Think I could get rid of a filter?

[Mikey Mane The Flare]

On my 55gallon "reef" tank I have a 350 bio wheel HOB. 350 magnum canister filter. And a newly added reef octopus HOB 2000. I plan on using my extra 29gallon as a sump when I can afford the build. The tank has grown from the 29 to the 55gallon and I only used the filter for the bacteria, now that it's all set up and stable should I leave them or remove one? Witch is a better filter? I was also think maybe remove the filters from the bio wheel 350 and adding some macro algae, thoughts?

 

[mcarroll]

Skimmer + live rock used to be the standard setup. Some of us still do that.

That said, the filters you have are fine as long as you don't mind maintaining them....they're generally more work and cost to maintain than just a protein skimmer though.

I probably would not use any of the filter carridges for the bio-wheel, and I'd probably run the Magnum empty just for flow.

 

[Exodus]

If those filters are there to house beneficial bacteria and you intend to take one off line, just move slowly afterwards, if you go adding to the bioload directly afterwards you could run into issues due to a portion of the tanks bacteria being removed. You should be fine though. As Mcarroll stated canisters are a lot of work and maintenance so personally that would be the one i would remove.

 

[lion king]

If you were to get rid of one, I'd say the canister, it's a pita to maintain. I actually like to utilize hob filters with a sumpless tank. I'm not familiar with the flow in the marineland filter but flow is most important. I would pull everything out and arrange high quality media like chemipure elite and purigen. I also like using an hob for mechanical filtration, so including some sort of filter pad would be a bonus also. I also include biological media like seachem matrix in hob filters as well, if needed and there is additional room. You can customize the chambers of the hob filter with pieces of acrylic and eggcrate to divert flow and use to stack product. A skimmer, live rock, and a creatively designed hob filter is as good as it can get.

 

[Mikey Mane The Flare]

Right now I'm using the correct insert for the filter. I have a lot of carbon/mesh inserts already for the unit. I also add phosphate remover and other things in the HOB

 

[Big G]

I use an old Marineland Emperor 280 HOB on my fish qt. tank. It works great. So easy to change out filter/treatment materials. I bought a big roll of that poly filter material and cut my own filters, way cheaper and easy. I like it. That being said the canister filters make a great powerhead - empty the guts out and just use it as a blower.

 

[Saltybubbles288]

The problem with canisters is they are sealed they don't aerate very well and those seals can be a pain and cause leaks. the HOB aerate will but they are low flow, good for a QT or shallower tank. Also I LOVE Love love, marineland HOBs I have a 12 year old 200 on my FW system that runs like the day I got it. I'd switch to the protein skimmer and live rock in that old tank when you can, I use LR to break the flow of my sump and don't use baffels or anything just a normal 20 tall. But until then I think using your canister as the main filter is the way to go, but keep one of the HOB to aerate, and as you said before running one of them bare is a great place to put reducing pads. I used to service a tank we kept a HOB just for phosphate pads