Question regarding canister filters

[mattc]

Hi everyone,

I'm not too familiar with using canister filters but I am interested in getting one to improve the water conditions of one of my terrariums. But here is the problem I have. The tank only has about 4 inches of water on the bottom and it is a 24" tall tank. So what I'm wondering is does a canister filter have the suction power to lift the water up that high through it's intake hose? I can't drill the tank as it is completely made of tempered glass and the little underwater filters dont seem to cut it.

Anyone try anything like this before?

Cheers,

Matt

[thegrandpoohbah]

Welcome to the forum Matt. To answer your question, yes a canister filter does have enough power to do what you need. The problem will be in getting the filter primed and maintaining that suction. Depending on the model, the intake tube may have multiple extension pieces. Each of the joints needs to be airtight otherwise the filter will be sucking air rather than water. You can seal the pieces with either aquarium safe silicone or krazy glue.To prime the filter I've had good luck in dropping a powerhead into the tank and using that to force water into the filter intake until the canister is full. The only other problem I can forsee is that a canister filter moves a lot of water, possibly too much for such a small volume. Good luck and keep us posted.

[mattc]

Welcome to the forum Matt. To answer your question, yes a canister filter does have enough power to do what you need. The problem will be in getting the filter primed and maintaining that suction. Depending on the model, the intake tube may have multiple extension pieces. Each of the joints needs to be airtight otherwise the filter will be sucking air rather than water. You can seal the pieces with either aquarium safe silicone or krazy glue.To prime the filter I've had good luck in dropping a powerhead into the tank and using that to force water into the filter intake until the canister is full. The only other problem I can forsee is that a canister filter moves a lot of water, possibly too much for such a small volume. Good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of going with something like a Fluval 105 since it is not a big volume of water (it is a 55 gallon tank so 4 inches makes about 10 gallons). I would imagine I could customize the intake pipe using something like ABS pipes and then bring the intake on a 90 degree elbow so it is lying parallel to the floor of the tank. Just a thought.

Matt

[CACAdmin]

A ittle :offtopic: but I'm wondering what you're planning on housing in the 4 inches of water. (Sorry can't help myself, I just the curious type.)

[mattc]

A ittle :offtopic: but I'm wondering what you're planning on housing in the 4 inches of water. (Sorry can't help myself, I just the curious type.)

As it will be a terrarium I am looking at getting myself another group of firebellied toads (bombina orientalis). I used to have a breeding group of 4 a few years ago and they produced so many babies I had to get rid of the eggs. There was one point I was raising over 200 froglets and that is a lot of mouths to feed.

Matt

[CACAdmin]

Cool. I hope you'll share some pics when you get it all set up. I see the population explosion of the past hasn't detered you from delving in again though... there's something about this hobby that keeps us all coming back. :wink:

[thegrandpoohbah]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of going with something like a Fluval 105 since it is not a big volume of water (it is a 55 gallon tank so 4 inches makes about 10 gallons). I would imagine I could customize the intake pipe using something like ABS pipes and then bring the intake on a 90 degree elbow so it is lying parallel to the floor of the tank. Just a thought.

Matt
Have a look at the Rena XP series. An XP 1 might just be what you are looking for. IMO, they are a superior design to the Fluval x05 series and come with more options for configuring the intake and output.