Canister v. HOB Filter

[kp294]

Hello everyone! So I went to my lfs today and they recommended I take my canister filter off of my tank and use an HOB, because the canister allows for no aeration and it traps the nitrates and can create hydrogen sulfide.

They recommended I use an aqua clear 50 hob filter for my 30g.

I'm just going to be keeping my mantis shrimp and maybe eventually some fish, no corals. Is it safe to use my canister? I would be cleaning it monthly anyways when I do my water changes, so I do not believe the problems explained would be present. Also, I was thinking about turning that hob into a mini refugium with some macro algae?? Opinions please and thank you!

PS I have my live sand, rock, and protein skimmer to further add to the filtration.

[Kharn]

Hello everyone! So I went to my lfs today and they recommended I take my canister filter off of my tank and use an HOB, because the canister allows for no aeration and it traps the nitrates and can create hydrogen sulfide.

They recommended I use an aqua clear 50 hob filter for my 30g.

I'm just going to be keeping my mantis shrimp and maybe eventually some fish, no corals. Is it safe to use my canister? I would be cleaning it monthly anyways when I do my water changes, so I do not believe the problems explained would be present. Also, I was thinking about turning that hob into a mini refugium with some macro algae?? Opinions please and thank you!

PS I have my live sand, rock, and protein skimmer to further add to the filtration.

Wouldn't heed it too much.

I started off with FX5s on each of my mantis stands and only went sump when I got into corals (that is when everything suddenly got expensive).

Use to have a Aquaclear 110 that I modified into a HOB Refugium for a nano tank seemed to work quite well and very easy to modify with.

[EI Gringo]

They're spouting bull, people have used canister filters on marine for years with no ill affects myself included. The only time id go HOB on marine is if it can house a skimmer and a fuge.

[Martini5788]

The only reason I stopped using canister filters on my sw tanks is because mine are a pain the butt to clean and I will put it off and put it off for long periods. If you
Don't do that and actually keep up with maintenance then I wouldn't worry about it. Turning the small aq into a fuge sounds like a great idea though:)

[nmotz]

With mantis shrimp you can get away with whatever type of filtration you want, HOB, canister, or protein skimmer. In my opinion, protein skimmers work the best in terms of overall water quality. There isn't a need to add more filtration than that, but if you want it's not going to hurt anything provided that you clean out the filter pads in the HOB or canister filter. In my experience, Peacocks tend to be more reclusive when nitrates are high (above 20ppm). An HOB converted into a refugium is a good idea that I've seen work for many people too.

[kp294]

Cool, thanks guys!

I did more research and I found that the Hydrogen Sulfide only appears in areas where there is no aeration, and even so it would cause a lot to do damage to a tank. I'll stick with what I have!