How Does A Canister Filter Work?

If you are a lover of sea life and enjoy keeping fish, you are not alone.

Many people across the world enjoy owning an aquarium and keeping aquatic friends.

Fish can be a delight to watch, and it’s been proven that owning fish and watching their day-to-day antics can boost mood and provide a relaxing pastime at the end of a hard day.

But with big fish (or small) come big responsibility. 

There is much more to owning an aquarium than just filling it with water and adding your favourite swimming buddies.

Just like any animal, they have needs, and it’s crucial you take care of them and their homes for their health and wellbeing. 

What are Aquarium Filters?

Aquarium filters are needed to remove sediment, chemicals, dirt as well as various other hazardous material from the water, and also to create a place for biological filtration. 

There are several systems available with different features, so it can be challenging to decide which one is most effective and best for your tank.

Do I Really Require a Filter?

The short answer is a resounding yes!

As already mentioned, the primary function of your aquarium’s filter is to get rid of excess food, floating particles, decomposing organic material as well as harmful chemicals.

In the same way, you wouldn’t allow your pet dog or cat to sleep/reside in their own mess, you also must protect fish from their natural bodily functions. 

Fish are constantly secreting waste as they move, which floats around in the water.

If the toxins that come from their bodies build up in the water without any sort of filtration system to remove it, the fish will get poisoned.

Ammonia poisoning is fatal to fish. In the natural world, fish would be swimming in a much more expansive area of water and waste would be absorbed, but in aquarium water, it’s a much different story.

On top of that, particles floating in the water, as well as decaying food and other organic matter, can make the water cloudy which is also a very unhealthy environment for fish.

How Do They Work?

Mechanical purification additionally called physical or particle filtering is a natural type of filtering and basically pushes water through a straining kind of device.

The device will catch particles that aren’t able to get through media openings.

Media describes parts such as filter floss, sponges, air bubbles, pad, or gravel.

How well the filtration functions depends on factors such as media quality and whether it is coarse or fine. 

Another factor to consider is just how much water goes through the media?

The longer it takes, the dirtier it will get as particles and debris have time to gather at the bottom of the tank.

A mechanical filter will work more effectively if cleaned readily and well. 

One such mechanical filter is called a canister filter.

This is a cylinder filter that is fitted outside the tank.

The outside chamber consists of filter media, that moves water via a combination of a rotor and gravity. 

The water is then filtrated in the media and pours back into the tank with an electrical outlet.

The main part of the filter is round and contains a pump and a filter medium.

It rests beyond the aquarium, however, it’s fixed by 2 tubes that control the intake and return.

They both enter into the fish tank itself.

Power is actually not required for water to move here, as the tubes serve as a siphon.

Nevertheless, in this specific filter, the pump is used to force the water through the filtration device. 

The size of the chamber differs depending on the tank size.

They tend to be located quite close to the aquarium.

It’s true that the canister filter sits outside the aquarium, however, you can still expect it to do an effective job of filtering water.

Siphoning refers to the process of transferring water smoothly and efficiently and effectively without anything interrupting the flow.

The water is able to flow swiftly and easily without the need for an additional pump.

When the water is inside the main tank, the internal pump forces it through the other side via the filtration medium. 

The tool of filtering can be modified too with various materials and filter kinds to match the needs of the fish tank it is servicing.

On the first appearance, it can seem that the canister filter isn’t connected, but the work is being done by siphons, making it appear still. 

What Are the Benefits?

The canister filter is an effective way to filter aquarium water.

One of the biggest benefits is that it saves space due to how it is attached to the side of the tank. 

Another reason that the canister filter is so handy is that upkeep, such as cleaning the tank, can be done without disturbing the fish, causing less distress. 

It is also easy to customize the plumbing parts such as the diffusers and water heaters.

This is a massive difference with other filtration systems that take up substantial space within in tank. 

Nonetheless, when choosing which filters to use beyond the tank, it generally boils down to HOB filters vs cylinder filters. 

The HOB filter works by fixing on the rear of the tank, drawing up water using an impeller that pushes water through its purification tool and afterwards falls back down right into the aquarium.

The downside to this option is that it can be very loud and distressing to the fish and not nice and peaceful like the canister filter. 

HOB filters are also not customizable like the canisters, meaning it may take a while to find the right one for your tank. 

Cylinder filters additionally provide a much larger area of purification compared to a HOB which can work to save a fair few of your nautical swimming friends.

Canister filters do not have to be cleaned as often, as it is less disturbing when it does. 

So, there you have it,  a guide to the benefits of the canister filter. Happy fish keeping!