Cheap upgrade for canister filters

E

EKen

Super Moderator
If you happen to have an old cheap canister that you want to upgrade to a more powerful one, do not throw that old weak one away. Here is what I did, I used a "cheap" brand canister as a pre-filter and connected it to my better, more powerful, Eheim ProII. The cheap is filled with pre-filter ceramic rings (from Fluval) and the Eheim is filled with more expensive Eheim substrat.

So basically, that way you have 2 more liters of space for your better filter, and in my case 6 liters of mechanical filtration for your cheap canister. It also balance for the weaker flow of your cheaper canister.
 

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Very cool idea,
never thought of doing that before, i am curious too, does it strain the impellar motors or slow down the flow?
 
I was a bit afraid of slowing the flow too at first. But actually, it does not. I guess if you used a simple bucket, or container, it would. But since you have the motor of the "cheap" canister in the first stage, plus the better motor from the second stage to steady the flow, the flow stays about the same, if not a little better.

It is also pratical for saving pipe space in the tank. And I also intend to only tender the first canister, as water coming in the second one should be pretty clean by the time it reaches it.
 
Very interesting.

I wouldn't mind running a similar setup in my one tank but hook up 2 Rena XP's together. Would clean up the hardware hanging in the back
 
How did you hook them up together? I cant really see in the pic's.

Are both running at the same time and what do you need to do this?

Also does it not work just like having both running on their own? I dont see the benefits here but if you can explain n more detail that would be great.

I want to try it:) LOL

Thanks
 
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Well you have to couple them. The inlet of the A canister comes from the tank. The outlet of A goes to the inlet of the B canister. And the outlet of B goes back to the tank. You can use only one motor (the stongest one) to run the two canister, hence using the A canister only as a container. Or use both motor, which gives a stonger flow.

The benefit would the additional media volume available, and less tubings in the tank. But my main reason would be that you only need to wash the media of the A canister since it is where most of the dirt gets trapped, and the water coming into the B canister should be already pretty clean.

I guess it is pretty much like the sump principle where you have different stages of filtration...
 
First, welcome to the forum bro.

I still have the same connection, and both filters are still running at a good flow. So I guess it wasn't such a bad idea...
 
I read some thread on MFK about this topic alot of them suggested against it? =S I'll try and dig it up if you like :)
 
I run the same sort of system on my eheim pro3 2080s and have for over 2yrs it works great

what i have done the 2080 is better for this kind of set up as it has 2 intake pipes :rolleyes:

right so you have 2 intake pipes on the 2080 you take one to the 2080 as normal this intake will let some dirty water get to the 2080 allowing the good bacteria to grow in the 2080

you take the 2nd intake pipe to a massive pond bucket you need to get the pressurized type without the UV they are cheap and have a massive amount of media bigger than any canister filter

the pond bucket has a in and out pipe much like a canister filter you take the hose from the tank to the pond bucket then out of the pond bucket to the 2nd intake of the 2080 the head of the pond bucket needs to be a little higher than the head of the 2080 this will let the water free flow to the pond bucket to the 2080 as normal

i have 2 x pond buckets on my tank 1 on each of my 2080s both pond buckets are meant to be good enough for a 5000 gal pond :D
 
Well no luck on finding that thread, but I think I remember alot of the members talking about how it makes the one filter work twice as hard trying to get the water through both canisters but I know nothing about this so I have no opinion :p I should be getting an FX5 soon though, think I should hook it up with my other canister right now?
 
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