HOB vs CANISTER FILTER

This is a spinoff of one of Cory's topics, however this topic is something I'm struggling with at the moment. It's a spinoff of one of Cory's topics.  So a little background first.

When I returned to the hobby almost 3 years ago after 30+ year hiatus, I discovered two new filter types that had become really popular in the hobby: the HOB with the internal motor and powered siphon tube, and the canister filter. I have been using both of these for the last 3 years now.  My preferred HOB is the Aquaclear series, and I don't have a preferred canister. I've had Fluvals, Cascades, Eheims, Renas and the Zoomed 501. On my 3 larger tanks I've been using the canister varieties, but currently I am changing over to HOB or HOB/canister pairings on each tank.


Both types of filters provide bacteria beds and mechanical filtration, and when I use the right sizes for the tank, will keep the water clear. I usually use at least 2 filters on each large tank.

I find that the ease of cleaning and lack of noise of the Aquaclears is much more suitable to me than the with the canisters.  With the canisters I have to reach under and into the tank cabinet, disconnect the tubes, lift a heavy canister, clean the media, refill it, carry it back to and situate it back under the tank in the cabinet, reconnect the tubes, and work like crazy to restart the siphon. All of this is taxing on my back and joints. ( no snarky remarks from any of you about my age here..!  If you're lucky enough you'll get there too!)

So what does anyone know from experience and education about the efficient functioning of either type of filter? Is one better than the other in that capacity?  Can you share that here?

Thanks in advance,
Ron

Not able to go into much detail at this time, but for the same reason you speak of Ron, regarding the canister filters, is the reason I changed all filters to wet/dry or refugium style filters. Ease of cleaning and effectiveness IMO, I see a huge difference over the canisters and HOB.

When you get a moment, Madness, would you give me a link you think is a good one to show me where to learn how to set one up?

wet/dry, something like this?

One plus for canister is you can run UV filtration and heaters in line.

After starting out my first canister setup a few months aqo I'm loving it. I'm slowly switching all my tanks to canisters. A few factors are driving this change:
- size to performance ratio: In a space of 7x7" I can setup a canister rated for 75 gallons to filter a 25 gallon tank. The equivalent HOB would look terrible on the rimless tank.
- noise level: setting up the filter return underwater gives me 100% silent operation without worrying about water level. HOBs are quietest for while the water is at the highest level, but give it a few days of evaporation and it is noisy again.
- maintenance: By making it easier to overfilter, I'm only having to maintain the filters every 5 or 6 weeks... and then all I find are a few pieces of plant debris in the first layers  of foam filtration.

They do have some downsides though. Like you said, working the hoses and the siphons is a pain. Both of the bigger canisters I am using have a stop valve on the hose and a relatively easy disconnect gig. With those two features, maintaining the canister is extremely easy, so I wondered why people struggle with them. My smallest and most recent canister doesn't have this feature and now I understand. So make sure your canister has a stop valve. That way you will siphon once and never again!

I think HOBs have a place, but after seeing the finnex HOB canister filter.... I can't imagine that place lasting for long.

I may someday join the wet/dry world, but none of my tanks merit the space they require yet. I went vertical, which means the space the wet/dry filter takes up could well be dedicated to another tank and more fish instead :)When my new 125 is up, I may go that route on it.

See, I'm a lazy fish keeper. HOB beat the ever living snot out of canisters when it comes to ease of maintenance. To me the benefits of being able to set the imputs/outputs where you want and quietness are blown away by spending a minute with my penguins/emperors over the soul draining amount of time it takes to play with those bloody canisters.

Though, like Madness, I do prefer sumps over anything else. It combines the ease of HOB's with all the benefits of canisters, plus the two Cory mentioned as well.

Installing UV lights in line on a canister filter is not a good idea. The flow of water from a canister filter is far to great to even add any type of benefit the UV light provides. I run my UV lights in my sumps off of a 150 GPH power head. Slow the flow down to allow the light to be beneficial.

Madness wrote:Installing UV lights in line on a canister filter is not a good idea.  The flow of water from a canister filter is far to great to even add any type of benefit the UV light provides.  I run my UV lights in my sumps off of a 150 GPH power head.  Slow the flow down to allow the light to be beneficial.  

I'd say that is a pretty broad statement. See the link for gph on Eheim classics for example. It all depends on dwell time and how many watts the uv is. For instance wholesalers use 4 ft long UV sterilizers with 1000+gph going through them.

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Many of them have slower flower than your powerhead you're running your uv with.

fishloverRon wrote:
So what does anyone know from experience and education about the efficient functioning of either type of filter? Is one better than the other in that capacity?  Can you share that here?

Thanks in advance,
Ron

The simple answer to your question for me Ron is that they both serve a purpose in filtration but design will make certain HOB's or canisters better one over the other for certain types of filtration.  I use both canisters and HOB's (and most of my tanks have both other than my smaller tanks which only have an HOB or two) and I believe each has its place in a properly setup tank environment.  Filtration has two parts...mechanical and biological.  Mechanical removes the big debris and stuff that floats and makes our water look yucky and properly working biomedia processes and converts the wastes in our tanks so they are not as harmful to our fish.

I use my HOB's for primarily mechanical filtration (and almost all Aquaclears like Ron's).  I have found the Aquaclear HOB's to have the best media capacity along with good flow which makes sure my tank water is passing through that media on a regular basis.

My HOB's serve the purpose of "polishing" my water, keeping it clear of fine debris and particulate.  I load the HOB's up with sponge and filter floss.  In addition I will also usually have a small bag of biomedia (Seachem Matrix is my biomedia of choice) tucked into the layers of foam that I use in the HOB's.  This little bag is my secret weapon for new tank setups.  I just pull it and a small piece of sponge and place them into the HOB on the newly setup tank and viola...cycled tank for small or juvenile group.  I do run a small sponge filter in one of my bigger tanks that is used for fry tank setup or hospital tank.  A good cleaning schedule for my mechanical filtration is about every 2-3 weeks although sometimes I don't get it done in that time.  I can tell by looking at my tanks when I have exceeded the maintenance schedule for my polishing media as my tanks will start to have particulate in them.

If you don't or can't do wet/dry or sump (which I am sure beat the snot out of the canisters), then you should do a canister on your tanks.  They are the backbone of biological filtration and handle the bioload of your tank.  To some of us that is very important.  Cichlid keepers that heavily stock their tanks need the maximum bioload capacities they can get in order to support overstocking of their tanks.  Here's an example of the difference you can find in media capacity in canister filters:


Cascade 1200   150G     GPH 315           media 7.6L
Eheim 2078       180G     GPH 277-490    media 8.6L
Fluval G6           180G     GPH 265          media 8.7L
Hydor 600         150G     GPH 290           medai 12.2L
Marineland 530 150G      GPH 530           media 9.3L
Rena XP3          175G     GPH 350           media 9.1L

Now all of the above capacity figures for each canister include sponge space in the canisters which actually reduces your true biomedia capacity.  For my canister filters I want very little sponge (mechanical) (only enough to trap big particles so they don't clog my biomedia) and big baskets that I can fill up with lots of Matrix.  I have found the best canister that gives me those parameters to be the Eheim canisters. 2nd in line are the Rena canisters. I have also used Fluval canisters (FX5, 405, 306). Hydor is new ... I would be interested to hear some reviews on it. Cascade and Marineland have been around a while but I have never used them.

Depending on your feeding schedule and bioload on your tank you will still need to clean your canister filters regularly.  You will have to find the maintenance schedule that works best for you...mine is about every 4-6 weeks depending on the load of the tank.

I would have to say in my years experience sump systems have been the most diverse, easy to maintain, clean, hassle free filtration system I've owned. In my opinion nothing compares. A sump may not be the perfect system for something small but with my hassles with canisters I am quickly considering mini/ micro sumps for my smaller aquariums.

I shoot down all those comments saying you can not go inline with heaters and UV stabilizers. Its possible! Also, with most designs these can go inside sumps which to me is better. I can easily install or uninstall any equipment addition in a sump. Quickly & easily add or subtract different media, buffers to adjust PH or any other parameter altering buffers. Water agitation happens within the sump making it possible not to need to do so inside the tank with air stones.

I have only used the cheapest HOB filters and simple sponge filters, and although I am new to the hobby and only have small tanks, I don't see any real "downside" to HOB filters, other than the ugliness factor- to me that matters very little, honestly. I have a sponge on the intake now, which has helped make maintenance even easier (the sponge traps a lot of big stuff that normally would get inside the filter), and I love the fact that I don't have to worry about seals, tubing and gaskets leaking all over the place.

For the simplest filters like the aqueons that I run, it's almost impossible for an overflow to happen (which is something I have heard happens on AC HOB's) because it's never a closed/pressurized flow, and there is a clear overflow path for the water to take if the filter floss itself gets clogged. I find peace of mind in this, especially since I don't own the place I am staying, and don't want to be responsible for paying for repairs to the floor.

HOB's also make good surface agitation, so if oxygen is a concern, they should work well for this too? I haven't ever needed more O2 in my small tanks, but I imagine HOB's would do a pretty good job of keeping surface exchange going if you don't want an air stone.

They may not have as much water-polishing ability or surface area as the high-tech options, but for me, the simplicity and worry-free nature make them an ideal choice for small aquariums. I think if I ever get anything bigger than 40 gallons I will try a canister, but so far, simple HOB/sponge is the way I prefer. Keep in mind that this is the only way I have tried so far, so I guess my preference isn't really based on anything except the worry-free factor.

Personally, I'm done with HOBs. I find them to be higher maintenance and just messier than canisters.

You have to yank either filter to clean them - with HOBs that means pulling the thing up off of the back of the tank, fishing the cord out with it, and trying not to dribble water everywhere in the process. With a canister, all you do is flip the ball valves at the canister, unhook the hoses (a rag is handy to catch the little bit of extra water that may come out), and then you just pull it out. There's no cord routing nightmares - the cord is right there with the thing under the tank. There's no issue with dribbling water, you just carry it to the sink.

And then when it's time to put it all back together, you just put it back in place, hook the hoses up and open the valves. You don't have to fill it back up with water or anything to prime it - it just works. Now, I do admit that my rena xps1 needs to be burped every time I clean it, but my cascade doesn't have this issue.

Plus, you can fit a whole bunch more stuff in a canister and you can adjust the surface agitation to be whatever you like - big splashes or barely any.

HOBs also build up tons of gunk that just doesn't come off when cleaning. Lack of air exposure in a canister prevents this. And you need more room behind the tank for a HOB, unless you stick it on the side (ugly, arguably).

Of course I prefer sponge filters most of all..

As I say in the shop to my customers. The BEST filter is the one that you will service. Services a filter regularly will out perform any other filtration type that is neglected.

Aquarium Co-Op wrote:As I say in the shop to my customers. The BEST filter is the one that you will service. Services a filter regularly will out perform any other filtration type that is neglected.

Exactly Cory, If it works the easiest for you, and you are able to maintain it and service it, than it is the one for you. Because in the end, it is whatever works for you to keep your tank clean. Good call Cory.

Cory and Madness have really hit it on the head of the nail in the last 2 posts.

The feedback was great and I hope a lot of readers picked up good information here. 

Thank you, all for the input here.  It has confirmed my thoughts.

I have 3 different types of filters currently in use at home:

• Aquaclear HOB's (110 & 30)
  
• Cascade 1500 Canister
  
• ZooMed 510 'nano' Canister
  

I really enjoy the ease of use and setup with the AC's. But ultimately, I really enjoy the canisters. The ability to direct flow however I'd like, along with being able to clean up the appearance of the tank. That, combined with the longer maintenance intervals equals a win for me.

But, HOB's are a much more economical solution for many of us. I mean the AC110 is like 50% cheaper than an equivalent canister from a reputable manufacturer.

I'm interested to see how the rise of these new nano-canisters will affect the industry in the future though.