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IS this canister trashed?

Missnano

O. vulgaris
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Jan 2, 2011
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My mom said i could haver her canister filter for my tank but i think she trashed it? Not sure what the hell she was thinking

Its a marine land but i dont know what series for sure it has i think 4 chambers it goes cotton filter, then porcelin rings, then the balls, then the carbon then a sponge, like i said i think some of the washers are gone, i also took out the balls and put in live rock instead and they may be why it leaked? anyway it is in the laundry room and god knows how it smells in it cause i dont think i cleaned it after i i unhooked it lol.
 
If you want to try it you will need to replace the washers... thats why it leaked most likely. I repaired a XP4 and it leaked also. Replacing the gaskets and washers is what fixed it. Just make sure you clean it really well and dont use soap of any kind. I use white vinegar to clean my aquarium stuff. Rinse it really well before you use it to make sure no vinegar is left in it.
 
I wouldnt expect a LFS to have gaskets and washers unless they carry that type of filter. You will have to figure out what kind of canister filter it is so you can look online for the parts. They are often on some obscure site you have never gone to nor will again :biggrin2:. You can also try ebay for parts though ebay is normally a little bit more expensive... it just depends though.

The live rock shouldnt be hurting anything unless there is to much and its causing other bits of plastic to brake/crack. On this it is a personal preference.
 
If you have to use a canister filter I recommend getting your lid cut perfectly around your canister filters piping. I did this with my return and CPR overflow since my tank is all HOB (hang on back). Also make sure if there are any loose pieces that you glue them together well except to be able to take it apart your self from the out side.... Its gonna be tricky to be honest, because it has to be strong enough so an octopus doesnt pull it off and yet easy enough for you to disconnect so you can clean it. Also you have to make sure there are no holes bigger than the octopuses eye (Thank you Joe-Ceph for the reference)so the octopus cant squeeze through and get in your filter piping.
 
You guys are awesome thanks for the information! I know i have been a pain in the but thru all this, but i just want to make sure i do it right the first time :smile:
 
Here is the Marineland page to review the manual and look at the parts. Once you know the part number, you can search for it on-line and compare pricing.

I run a similar canister (not sure on which one in this series) for a non-ceph tank and the only complaint I have is that it does leak "sometimes". I have it in an odd arrangement and it is way oversized for the tank because I hate changing out canister media (there is no other option for this tank). I run only carbon in all four chambers and do not use it for biological filtration. If your live rock has been sitting in it dry or is smelly, you will want to clean it well with a tooth brush and saltwater and cure it in a container with good water flow for several weeks before you put it into the aquarium. I don't recommend using a canister for biological filtration. They work well for chemical (carbon) filtering if you keep them clean but will become a nitrate problem if not cleaned regularly (which will distroy any biologic benefit).
 
I used a canister filter for a while back in my fresh water days, and I decided they weren't for me. Canister filters (at least the one I had) are designed to push water through media. If the media get clogged, to the point where the pump needs to push really hard to get water through, the high pressure will push water through the point of least resistance. For me that was around the O-ring, and onto the floor. If you don't have the discipline to always clean the media in your canister filter on schedule, you might end up with a wet floor. I sometimes don't get around to doing tank maintenance on time, so I need to use gear that is more forgiving of procrastination.
 

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