Older Canister Filter

brandi_k1985

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I have a marineland magnum 220 canister filter. It came with a 55 us gal tank my parents got about 14yrs ago. The tank has not been set up for over 8 yrs. I recently moved and took the tank with me. I would like to use the canister filter but never used one before and I dont remember how this one worked. I have had smaller tanks that used the filters that hang over the side. I guess my question is should I try to get this to work or continue useing the over the side filters? I have 2 that are made to clean up to 40us gals. I know I need new hoses and a filter for the canister one, is there any thing else i need to do besides plug it in and hope it works??
 
I have a marineland magnum 220 canister filter. It came with a 55 us gal tank my parents got about 14yrs ago. The tank has not been set up for over 8 yrs. I recently moved and took the tank with me. I would like to use the canister filter but never used one before and I dont remember how this one worked. I have had smaller tanks that used the filters that hang over the side. I guess my question is should I try to get this to work or continue useing the over the side filters? I have 2 that are made to clean up to 40us gals. I know I need new hoses and a filter for the canister one, is there any thing else i need to do besides plug it in and hope it works??
Canister filters are usually very reliable and do a good job, if you could spare some money for some house id say go for it, you might need new media also.
 
New media? I know it uses the round filter, does it need carbon stone? I kind of remember something about. Ok I just looked at the inside for the first time. It has the carbon rocks on the inside with a foam/sponge flter on the outside. The filter I saw at petsmart has the filter with the folds all around it, but didnt look large enough. It said it fits all magnum canister filters... Ill look online. Also he media was filled to the top, is it suppose to be that way?
 
I have a marineland magnum 220 canister filter. It came with a 55 us gal tank my parents got about 14yrs ago. The tank has not been set up for over 8 yrs. I recently moved and took the tank with me. I would like to use the canister filter but never used one before and I dont remember how this one worked. I have had smaller tanks that used the filters that hang over the side. I guess my question is should I try to get this to work or continue useing the over the side filters? I have 2 that are made to clean up to 40us gals. I know I need new hoses and a filter for the canister one, is there any thing else i need to do besides plug it in and hope it works??

instructions this may help you. looks an expensive beast to run though. review
 
The links BBB has provided really give you lots of information and take any needed discussion a lot farther along. This filter is quite a different beast than most of us use.

The major problem is that it says straight out in the instructions that its not designed to do biological filtration and that is reinforced in the review where it becomes clear also that its design virtually requires frequent and probably expensive media replacement for its mechanical (and optional chemical) functions. It just seems more suited for the kind of specialist functioning described in the review, perhaps some scientist with lots of tanks and special cleaning needs.

Personally I would consider setting this filter aside to safe as a future helper if you were to get a number of tanks. I would consider getting a much more currently traditional external cannister filter such as those made by Tetratec, Rena, Eheim and Fluval. All of these can work well if you learn about them and maintain them well. The pros and cons of different brands have been discussed exhaustively in the hardware section. One needs to calculate capacity first and decide if 5x turnover or greater will suit your goals. Ease of maintenance is about the same between externals and HOBs but externals can be much quieter, so where you intend to place the tank is a factor.

~~waterdrop~~
 
as somebody has said it. I totally agree with waterdrop. this filter is from an (fishkeeping) age now gone. not to say it will not work, though. judging by the replacement schedule, it may well cost as much as a cannister is to buy, to run, over a period.
 
Yes, quite happy to be in agreement with boboboy as I value his advice. This particular line of filters stands out in my mind as in the early days of helping out here in the beginners section we had a case where the person seemed to be doing everything right and yet the cycle wasn't happening and we all scratched our heads for a long time but eventually someone thought to ask about the actual filter and it turned out to be one of these and I remember being quite surprised at what a strange thing it was, having not had the help of anything like the two links BBB has provided there. Its so clear from those that the thing is intended more for "power cleanouts" and would probably be at its best moved from tank to tank in a fish room for an overnight cleanout or something. It just doesn't sound to have the same maintenance rhythm as what we like to establish as most helpful for normal community beginner tanks.

~~waterdrop~~
 
Thank you for your help. I did find that manual also, and kinda of read throught it. Maybe I will stick with the hang over the back filters i have for now. Ive had one running for the last week. We have iron in the water so i wanted to get the iron out first. The water is really clear now. I just need to add gravel and fish. Thanks again.
 
I dont have any mature media. I was thinking about putting a few of the small gold fish from our our pond in there so get some bacteria going. I thought I read that before. Or I have a 10 us gal that has a small filter on that, would that work if I just put that filter on the 55 gal for a few days? I was thinking about picking up a few fish sunday, but i may have to wait.
 
No, all of these time frames you are thinking in are way too short. A good "biofilter" (the thing that defines a well-cycled tank) has to have two large colonies of two specific species of bacteria growing within biofilms that the colonies have created on the filter media surface. Both species are "autotrophic" bacteria and are very slow growers. Unless one starts somehow with colonies that have already grown, it always takes at least a month or so (no matter what the method) to get them up to the size needed for a tank to be ready to handle tropical fish in a healthy way.

A lot of what our beginners section has a good reputation for is helping beginners to have a hands-on experience learning about this whole "biofilter" thing so that their knowledge is flexible and helps them to practice good fishkeeping later on in the hobby when they meet unusual circumstances.

If you have a pond from which you could remove a smaller (or perhaps more than one) goldfish with the idea of putting it back in the pond later then yes, that would be a way to provide the bacteria with ammonia. The challange would be to get the ammonia concentration right. It can take quite a bit of experience to do fish-in cycling correctly, without harming the fish. If you take away the special case of the very experienced people who know how to do this, for most beginners fish-in cycling is just old school, replaced 3 decades ago by fishless cycling because it takes away the chance of permanently damaging the gills with ammonia or the fish nervous system with nitrite poisoning.

The trick with using goldfish would be to keep the ammonia and nitite(NO2) always below 0.25ppm. A small goldfish (or two, I just don't know) in a 55G might be just about right so that you wouldn't have to do large daily water changes to keep it below the 0.25ppm. But goldfish eat a large quantity of plant matter and are quite messy so its really hard for me to judge. Maybe another member will happen along with more feel for it.

If you have recently re-homed (in the last few days) all the fish in the 10g and no longer have any fish but still have the cycled filter, then the mature media from that filter could be put inside the new 55g filter to give it a jump-start on a fishless cycle that would be done using simple household ammonia. Putting the 10g on the 55g, even for a month, would probably only be getting it barely started and you would need an ammonia source.

The members here are great though, so keep discussing it and you'll no doubt come up with a good plan that suits you, does not harm your fish and also gets you ready for a great tank!

~~waterdrop~~ :)
 
Thanks waterdrop. Im going to petsmart tomorrow to pick up some gravel and I will get a test kit also. I will also read some articles on fishless cycling tonight. With the goldfish I did plan on putting them pack in the pond. I know they are very dirty fish. Im going to go do some reading. Thanks again
 
A good approach for you might be to get a new filter, the others are right about that old beast, then use some of the media in your pond filter to give the new filter a jump start. A well established pond filter will be rich with just the right kind of bacteria to get your new tank filter cycled quickly.
 
A good approach for you might be to get a new filter, the others are right about that old beast, then use some of the media in your pond filter to give the new filter a jump start. A well established pond filter will be rich with just the right kind of bacteria to get your new tank filter cycled quickly.
Agree!
 

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