I'm considering using my canister pump as a tiny bio filter.

[cvcdrk]

Started a 29g yesterday and bought a small nano reef canister filter with 3 stages. It pumps a whopping 79gph. It has a physical filter a bag of activated charcoal and little ceramic things for the bacteria to grow on.

What I planned to do after that filter media died out was to take it out and put live rock in there.

I've been reading some things on this site:
Saltwater Aquarium Hobby

He is very knowledgable as I'm sure most of you have found. Anyway, he talks about Purigen which is tiny artificial beads hat suck up all the bad things in the tank and he talks about the benefits and disadvantages to activated carbon.

I do plan to get a small protein skimmer eventually but I think my long-term plan is now to buy "the bag" and fill it with hald purigen and half chemi-pure for that nice polish to the water.

This will only fill about a quarter of the space I have in the filter and I will either just leave the rest empty or I will throw some live rubble in there.

My rationale is that it will lower my phosphates, copper (there shouldn't be any, though), nitrates, etc. with no real downsides.

It probably won't do a whole lot because the filter is intentionally underpowered for the tank but it will just be a little extra clenliness to preserve water quality. What do the reef experts think?

 

[Bifferwine]

It's not a bad idea. I've never used Purigen, but I used ChemiPure quite frequently. Be sure to change it out as often as the instructions say to.

 

[sen5241b]

The problem with canister filters is that they can trap detritus and then it breaks down into lots of nitrates. IF you use a canister, clean it every few days or pre-filter with enough floss that detritus can't get in to begin with. BUt yeah filtering with carbon and and other media is a good idea IMHO.

 

[RockStacker]

The problem with canister filters is that they can trap detritus and then it breaks down into lots of nitrates. IF you use a canister, clean it every few days or pre-filter with enough floss that detritus can't get in to begin with. BUt yeah filtering with carbon and and other media is a good idea IMHO.

^^ What he said :)
Some folks get into the mindset that if the detritus leaves the main tank, it is no longer a problem.
It can actually be a bigger problem because the cleanup crew cannot get to detritus if it is in the canister filter.

 

[cvcdrk]

I've read about the problems and plan to clean the canister filter once a week and then to monitor readings as I go. Purigen removes nitrates, though, so I should be ok doing that. The physical screener that is on the filter now will be on it when I make this change, as well.

I don't mind doing weekly maitenance on the tank or filter as long as it means I have pristine water conditions.

 

[sen5241b]

Once a week may not be enough.