new to hobby filter conversion?
 

I want to convert my freshwater to reef. I'm not drilling my tank or using a sump. I do have a large ehime canister filter. I don't know what to put in the filter. I understand "nitrate trap" Live rock rubble ? I will also be using a turbofloater 1000 Aquamedic skimmer. tank will be 150 g and I plan to eventually get some live rock.

Unless your bio load is quite small then one cannister filter isn't going to cut it. Thats a big tank. You will probably start to see a build up of ammonia and nitrates. That being said, if you keep the bio load low then it should work just fine until you get some rock in there.
Just remember that if you add the rock after the fish it will cycle. This will raise ammonia, raise nitrates and then probably kill the fish.
Most people do the rock thing first, get your tank stabilized, and then start to add the fish.

Just drill it and get a sump before you fill it with water and regret not doing it properly when it was empty

Get one of those overflows where the tank doesnt need to be drilled and run a sump. I used to run a conversion full of live rock,carbon and phosphate media it worked as well if not better than my phosbans but it needs to be cleaned every week. Dont fear the sump a properlly designed system cant possiblly fail,worse case scenario you might burn out a pump.

The canister is about the same size as a 5G bucket I think it's the biggest ehime makes. Eventually I was going to add a gravity fed refugium, with the canister pumping from the tank to the refugium then back to the main. I'm just wondering what would be the best thing too put in the large canister Carbon and nothing?

why do i bother

Sorry Dabandit, I'm not planning on that much maintenance. I thought you you were thinking I had a smaller canister. I've seen O.C.D.'s tank and he has ran this type of set up for 8 years, His tank is crazy. He runs like 500lbs of life rock. But all he said in the canister was nitrate reducing media. I'm just wondering would live rock be better? or something else? I don't know his maintenance schedule. But really isn't the sump a place for equipment and the skimmer does all the work. So with enough live rock would the canister be better empty? Confused

Your only feasible choice for using the Eheim canister on a reef tank would be to fill it with live rock rubble and/or chemical filtration media of some sort like carbon or GFO.

Personally, I think having a big expensive Eheim canister to do these tasks is a big waste. With enough live rock in the tank, any in the filter would add very little filtration capacity. Further, a reef is all about flow and canister filters don't do a very good job of that compared to even inexpensive propellor driven powerheads like Hydor Korallias. Lastly, a $40 Phosban media reactor would get more out of chemical media than having sit in a bag in a canister filter.

I'd sell the Eheim and invest that money some proper reef equipment.

I say sump

Not that much maintainance LMAO if your worried about rinsing a filter once a week then maybe reef keeping isnt your bag,hell I clean and dump my skimmer twice a week.

:lol:

Hi Trigger Happy I got your message. So let me straighten this out The filter works as the pump from the main to the fuge,then gravity fed back to the main with all little critters intact this helps provide food for the main tank.As for what I put in the canister that varies.Still looking for the best media, I did have de nitrate from seachem. you can run it empty.As for cleaning I crack the canister about every 2 or 3 months. If my nitrate starts to raise that is the first thing I clean. and I also clean my skimmer twice a week min. I also do 20% waterchange once a week. My carbon is ran through a reactor same with phosban reactor as well. I'm not saying this is the best method, just work for me.

Nothing wrong with running sumpless. Geez, everyone thinks there is only one way to do a reef tank. For sure, where possible, a sump is the way to go but its not the end all of reef tanks.

I would think some live rock for the tank would be a priority. However not a must for an fish only and depending on which fish. Some form of bio filtration would then be required. A media in the canister would serve that function, the same as fresh water, although that would not be my preferred way. Using live rock & sanbed as a bio filter is better than a media closed up in a canister. It could then be used for carbon and a phoshate removed and water flow.

Be careful about gravity flow, without an overflow. Matching the return rate and downflow is almost impossible and a mess waiting to happen. If going with something like that, then perhaps drilling the tank is better.

Gee is right I feel like the scientist who mentioned Creationism. Thanks Doug,and O.C.D. I was going to probably copy O.C.D's refugium design. It has dual 2" tower returns(maybe bigger guessing). That will be a ways down the road when I build it.

Again..... liverock,carbon and phos media works great about the best youll get from your canister. Its like running 2 phosbans in your case maybe 4 lol it will keep your water perfect may I suggest a spray bar to add aeration your losing not running a sump. I think sumpless works,allways more than one way to reach a goal Goodluck


But seriouslly once a week is nothing if your trying to make do without a sump

Im part of the no sump club. A sump is good because it hides the equipment and adds a volume of water to the system; this means a more stable system due to diffusion. A sump is good, but it isn't a sin not to have one. you should be stocking slowly anyways, but also keep in mind that you have only whatever water volume is held in the display; stock to an appropriate bioload.

I don't see why you couldn't use a canister filter full of LR rubble. rinse it out once every few months though so it doesn't become a detritus trap. Probably doesn't do much for getting rid of nitrates, but I would say it is very effective as a substrate for nitrosomas and nitrobacter bacteria colonization (ammonia to nitrite to nitrate). I could see it being more effective than the display's rock in this manner because the rubble has a much higher exposed surface area than large rocks.

Not sure how a spray bar would add aeration unless it was above water level and the salt spray would be quite a mess. A spray bar in a sump is a different story.

My first tank was sump-less with a canister filter, even after researching for a year I still bought unnecessary equipment, was all part of my own learning curve.
Running GFO passively in a canister filter is not as effective as fluidizing it in a Phosban reactor.
One other advantage of an overflow is surface skimming, removing the film that builds up on the surface of the water. Eheim probably has a surface skimming attachment for your canister.

Pescodor very good point, I did see one of those ehime surface skimmer attachments. Hmm I realize I never had that problem because of the closed lids on the freshy. But I believe I'm not suppose to cover the tank due to overheating. So I better find one of those.
Justinl if I put live rock rubble in the canister do I fill it? And the rubble can you buy it or do you make I with a hammer? I am not putting carbon or phosban in the canister. I was shown how to make an old reverse osmosis into a reactor. Thank again for the advice everyone.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/Carbon...duct_info.html
This is what I'm going to build hope it works.