Pre an post inline canister filtration?

[Nicko19]

Hey guys,

I currently have 2x 1100L/hr canisters on my 4ft (300L) aquarium.

I have recently found people using a product called “all pond solutions EF external filter booster” witch is an in-line type canister that comes standard as a “pre” mechanical canister filter (course, medium, fine sponges) that runs inline on the inlet hose before entering the main canister pump.

Reason for the added booster is it allows for keeping your mechanical filtration separate to your biological making cleaning a lot easier and not having to disturbe your biological media canister.

So essentially I’m thinking of running one of these on the inlet to pre filter my water prior to entering the main 1100 pump canisters where will home only biological media.

What are your thoughts on this?

I was also thinking of adding another additional EF external canister on the return hose but removing the mechanical pads and filling with active carbon when necessary. Doing this gives me pre mechanical filtration, separate biological filtration, and post chemical filtration. All 3 media in separate canisters.

This means my mechanical has a dedicated 1.2L canister my biological has a dedicated 9.5L canister and my chemical also has a dedicated 1.2L canister theoretically making my only maintenance being the mechanical and chemical witch are both separated from the biological canister.

I believe this setup will allow for easier maintenance and a much cleaner environment for my biological media.

What are your thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[Colin_T]

I have never heard of EF external canister.

If you want a prefilter, get a round/ cylindrical sponge form an internal power filter and put it on the intake strainer of the external power filter. The round/ cylindrical sponges have a hole through the centre of them and fit over the intake strainer of most external power filters.

Each week you simply remove the sponge and wash it out, then put it back on the filter.

 

[Nicko19]

Neither have I, I have attached some pictures.
They seem like a great effect way of removing muck from the aquarium in an isolated mechanical media canister.

I think it’s a fantastic idea an addition with the 3 stages of mechanical filtration of course medium an fine sponges

 

[Colin_T]

Looks like a marketing gimmick to me. Buy two of our filters instead of only one. If you are going to buy that filter, you don't need to connect it to another filter because the first filter will hold gunk and filter bacteria.

Save you money and buy a decent filter to begin with. Put a sponge over the intake strainer and clean that once a week. After the filter is established, clean the main filter at least once a month.

 

[seangee]

Don't bother. I did buy one a long time ago. Its additional plumbing as others have said. It also relies on the pump in the main canister so your flow is significantly reduced - especially if the inlet/outlet are smaller than your canister (and they are smaller than my old Fluval 406).

I ended up doing almost exactly what Colin suggested above. I used a simple sponge filter and attached it to the inlet pipe in place of the strainer. An added benefit is if I need to set up a quarantine / hospital tank in a hurry I always have a cycled filter ready to go. I just need to move it and attach an air pump.

 

[Nicko19]

Yeah ok I thought it was a fantastic idea being able to keep your mechanical away from your biological media and separate from your display... as well as chemical away from the biological. Doing so would mean your biological media can remain in the canister with out disturbing it by simply conducting maintenance to the inlet mechanical booster filter and the outlet chemical booster filter separately...
This also give you the opportunity to get maximum biological benefit from your main pump canister by giving you maximum capacity because you have removed mechanical media an chemical media from the canister and with my 1100 canisters I’m able to achieve 9.5L capacity total in each canister, this gives me an achievable 18L of biological media witch should help fight against high levels of nitrates In theory !
Currently I’m only achieving 4L of biological media maybe just enough media on a 300L discus tank to remove ammonia an nitrites leaving high levels of nitrates
Having the right levels of biological media should result in both aerobic and anaerobic stages?

 

[Nicko19]

I’m a fond believe in this guy an his work!
It’s just science there ain’t any myths about it really

 

[Lunar Jetman]

I’m a fond believe in this guy an his work!
It’s just science there ain’t any myths about it really

I've watched this guy's videos before and he's quite informative. The only comment I would make is that the biological filter media he recommends highly is actually sold by the company he runs so whilst it may or may not be great, he has a vested interest in its success so take that into account when choosing filter media.

 

[Nicko19]

I figured as much although doing some extensive research into the biohome ultimate it seems that it may quite possibly be a better media compared to matrix.

It seems matrix is a natural occurring material media as compared to the processed man made biohome ultimate and it also looks as tho the biohome may or may not cover more surface area although it looks as though it’s a hell of a lot more porous and would allow a significantly higher rate of water through it compared to the more dense matrix, so from a practical level of thinking I would say biohome ultimate makes more sense for surface area / porous water flow filtration to be executed.

Like for example if I picture water flowing at a rate of 1000L an hour I can’t imagine much of that water being passed through the center of the dense matrix but I can imagine the water making its way through the biohome simply because of the much more porous complexity of the material witch in turn makes a lot of sense to housing both types of beneficial bacteria, aerobic and the anaerobic that would be found deeper inside the material.

I am almost convinced to buy some biohome and give it a go but as for the pre mechanical filtration prior to my biological media canister I’m sold, I have already ordered the boosters.

I love the fact that it frees up space in my canister giving me more room for biological media and it’s pre filtering the water before entering the biological media allowing me to conduct my maintenance to the filter with out disturbing my biological media, witch means I don’t need to touch my bio filtration leading to less fluctuating parameters from bacteria dieback and ammonia spikes, this is perfect for my sensitive discus!

 

[seangee]

Be careful of marketing hype. You will NOT achieve anaerobic filtration where you are flowing 1000 LPH through the filter. Plenty have tried and failed. You could buy or build a nitrate reactor. You could use an ion exchange filter or you could just do more water changes.