Quick Response Needed! Cascade 1500

HardCory

Long story short I must've tightend my intake valve on a Cascade 1500 canister filter and now it's sucking in air and then spitting it back out into the tank. It's a decent ammount of micro bubbles. While I have it unhooked I was wondering if I should just leave it off. That would mean that the only heavy filtration would be floss filter pad in my wet/dry. Good? Bad? Ugly? I need a quick response asap. If it's a bad idea I have to run to the hardware store and get plumbers tape to stop the air intak (hopefully). What should I do????

cnmarland

If this is a reef setup then you don't need the canister filter anyway, assuming you have a good amount of live rock, a live sand bed of between 4 and 6" and a good protein filter. I had a canister with no end of problems reducing nitrates. Removed the filter media to just use it as additional water volume and gph turnover and I've had 0ppm amm, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate ever since. There are plenty of thread on this. I posted one entitled Canisters - why not?. Have a search. The details are excellent and 100% true.

HardCory

Sounds like a plan but the issue is that I have Pretty much a FOWLR with an anemone in it. Can/should I still pull out the media?

wake49

Yeah, ditch the canister filter. Just add flow in the tank to make up for losing the output of the canister. How much live rock and live sand do you have? Protein Skimmer? These make up the core of your filtration in a marine tank. Live sand & rock have anaerobic bacteria seeded deep in the rock that turns nitrite and ammonia into nitrogen gas (via the nitrogen cycle), which will leave the system naturally. A protein skimmer, through foam fractionation, will remove a large amount of organic compounds.

It was a hard concept to accept coming off doing freshwater setups all my life that mechanical filtration was obselete on a marine tank. All the cleaning of filter floss and canister filters quickly swayed my thinking and after I got rid of my canister, my nitrates almost disappeared!

Take a read through some of the posts in this sub-forum: satwater tanks: filters, and you will see that the more experienced hobbyists here have no canisters or bioballs or filter media at all.

HardCory

OK. Sounds like a plan. I've just gotta run to the store as soon as I get a chance. I have a mediocre skimmer, about 50 lbs of LR and only around 2" of a sand bed in a 92G corner. All the info on it is under My Aquariums. Still a good idea?

wake49

The toughest part will be increasing the sand bed. If I were to do this with Livestock in it, I would add a cup at a time over the next month.

Can the Livestock be put anywhere in the meantime? It will only take a day for the cloudiness to calm down. Make sure you get aragonite sand, and if you buy base sand (not Live) it will be cheaper. I get it at PetSmart for $19.99 for 30 lbs.

Get a Really good skimmer, maybe a little overrated if possible.

HardCory

All these things sound fantastic and are things that i plan on doing. Problem: I'm unemployed. I might be able to swing the sand but the skimmer will have to wait. I've only got an 8 and 14 G Biocube to put them in. I could flip the into the 14 but the 8 is my QT for right now and my Cinnamon clown is too big for either.

Pasfur

Until you can purchase a skimmer, I recommend continuing to use the canister filter and packing it heavy with a high quality activated carbon, which you REPLACE EVERY MONTH. This should be a short term fix until you can save for a skimmer.

Is this a sump system? If so, here are a couple nice skimmer options for you, at a decent price:
Marine Series Advanced Protein Skimmers | Venturi Models | Protein Skimmers | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com
In-Sump Protein Skimmer - G-1X - 150 Gallon - 22 1/2 in. high | Venturi Models | Protein Skimmers | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com (my personal choice)

wake49

I got a seaclone 100 I am not using. Want it? It's not the best of skimmers, but it'll get the job done.

HardCory

How would I get it? lol. Normally I wouldn't have a problem diring to CT but again...gas money is a little...Not there? I man if there's a way and you don't mind then I would GREATLY appretiate it.