dual canistar setup questions

[mrairportjunke]

Hey how should I setup a dual canister setup on a 110 gallon.  SHould I put the intakes on opposite sides?  
What about the spray bars,  should i put one each side and at different levels or what??  whats yalls idea??

[eklikewhoa]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

I just throw mine in the tank and then see if most of the tank gets circulation if not I adjust to it.

[Ramius]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

Put both intakes on one side, and both spray bars at the opposite pointing at them, it'll be like a river!

[mrairportjunke]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

should i put one high and one low??  and what do yall do about flake food getting sucked into the filter before they can eat it.  it seems my food gets blown straight into the filter to fast...

[eklikewhoa]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

You could put one intake higher than the other, with the flake food thing I feed just enough so that there isn't much getting blown around or feed in an area that doesn't get flow.

You could have one of the outputs lower than the other so that there is a spot where you could feed.


Honestly though I feed mostly pellets so it isn't much of a problem.

[mrairportjunke]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

im tryin to get mine to nothing but pellets.  but not all are takin to it so well.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

In line electrical switches are cheap and available at most hardware stores.    As are timers etc.   so have the timer turn them off when its feeding time and back on 15 minutes later.....

[mrairportjunke]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

thats a good idea

[Anonapersona]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

I keep dual filters on all my tanks. I have one deep intake in the far right corner, that one exhausts in a spray bar across the far left end, pointed sharply downward.

I have another not quite so deep intake near the center and that one exhausts without a spray bar, straight flow from back to front near the surface of the tank, about 4-5 inches from the spraybar.

The spraybar is on the bigger filter and it gives me a sweeping flow that moves debris on the floor toward the right side of the tank. The smaller filter just adds to the circulation in the upper parts of the tank.

Both of these are below the water surface, as these are planted tanks and I don't want to lose CO2, but were they fish only tanks, I'd allow a bit more surface agitation from the second filter and keep the spraybar set to sweep debris to one side.

[wvgdiscus]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

On my 125 with dual canisters. I have both spray bars about 1 inch below the surface. One spray bar is set to to skim the water while the other is pointed towards the opposite bottom corner. The returns are set in the same back corner as the spray bars.
I have tried a lot of different ways & found this way to work best for me as it gets the most circulation in the tank.

[neuendri]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

I just bought a used 160 and it came with a Rena Xp3 and an Eheim 2217.  I had heard so many good thing about the Rena that I bought another for th 160 and put the Eheim on a 35 gallon corner tank I also just setup...  Worked out good since I basically have cycled media (and gravel) for both tanks.  

In the 160, I have one of the spraybars in the back left pointing basically straight toward the front of the tank.  The other is on the right side pointing across the tank toward the left side.  This one is pointed upward and ripples the surface.  

My question is about aeration.  Is having a spraybar 2-3 inches below the surface and pointing upward enough to provide aeration?  It has appeared to be sufficient for my 160, but when I put the Eheim on my 35 corner and pointed it toward the surface, all the fish started gasping after a while and I had to put an air pump on the tank to relieve them.  I don't have either of them agitating the surface violently, just a ripple.  I started to get worried about all the fish in my 160, so I put a powerhead in it to help out, but I'm not crazy about the bubbles floating around in the water.

Another thing I notice is the Rena has a about half an inch of air at the top of the canister and the Eheim appears to be completely pressurized.  Does it sound like I have the canisters setup correctly?  Any other suggestions?  

Thanks,
Richard

[High-PH]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

Isn't the Eheim 2217 supposed to be good for up to 160 gallons? At least this is what it said in it's description. I installed one on my 150 tank on the 4th of the month, and seem to have started a big disaster.   Looking back, I've tried to figure out what all I could have done wrong, but I'm still surprised at how bad things have been. I've had the tank set up for a couple of years now and have been running an E.Ecco which was to be okay for 75 gals. and an Aquaclear HOB filter with the big sponge that was to be okay for 75.  I thought I'd make things better and save myself trying to reach the HOB filter by replacing them both with the 2217.  I put some of the conditioned media from the Ecco into the  2217 and left the Aquaclear in service, so that the bacteria could build back up to full strengh. Thought I was doing pretty good. I also did a fairly large water change that day...about 40%.  About 4-5 days later I started losing fish and still am, though it's slowed down a lot. I've done smaller water changes and tried adding bacteria boosters and a big airstone to try and make up for whatever I did. I was too panicky to check for nitrates that first day...I just did a change, but since then, I have not detected that much in the way of nitrates and no ammonia. I'm still losing a fish now and then and worry that my clown loaches are less active than normal. I know that the physical damage may already have been done to them, but I have my fingers crossed, because I was really surprised when the angelfish died a few days ago. All I've been able to figure out is that I changed too much water out at the same time as changing one of the aged filters, or that I was too slow with my changing and the aged medium I used wasn't as alive as I thought when I restarted the new Eheim.  I really was not at all prepared for the one filter change to make so much difference. Anyone have any ideas what else I could have done? Am I wrong in expecting more from the 2217 than I was getting from the Ecco? Maybe I should have posted this in the Disaster section. sigh. Something like this makes me feel like I've never learned anything at all.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: dual canistar setup questions

You want Nitrates to show up cause that is the end product of the nitrogen cycle...Ammonic->NitrItes -> NitrAtes.

You really need to cycle your tank before you put fish in or you will stress them out badly to the point of death...


IMO a single canister is insufficient for a large tank regardless of what the "advertise". Also Drsfostersmith.com has the Rena XP3 for $89.99.