What is the best way to setup two canisters? Should I have both intakes on one side and both spray bars on the other end or is it better to have an intake and spray bar on each side? Just wondering if its best to have all the current in the water going one direction towards both intakes.

i always recommend suction at one end and discharge at the other end. creating
current inside the tank leave no dead spot in it. moreover, it will drive all
crap in the suction, thus, no mess left behind.

i would say that would entirely depend on the setup of your aquarium, if its just a glass box, you could set it up however you feel like, if its drilled your kinda fixed on the inlet/outlet altho you can pick which is which, or if you have overflows and bulkheads, you may have outlets on each end and have your spray bars in the middle. or if you just have one overflow thats going to be your return, and you would put the outlet on the far end of the tank.

Yeah its just the basic rectangular glass tank...

Paul- that does make sense to basically blow the debri towards the intakes if i'm understanding you correctly. Should both spray bars be towards the top to create surface agitation or should one be at the top and one farther down?

spray bar on the top will do.... suction will still create current down under

Ok...thanks for the help. so can you run both outputs in a single spray bar to eliminate clutter in the tank or would that restrict flow too much?

i wouldnt do that... it would be my luck that since we clean the dual canister setup in cycles, ie one per cleaning, that the cleanest one would flow more and overpower the other one a bit.. i know its not sealed plumbing work here, and it does vent out thru the holes, but back pressure is back pressure, i would think you could get a higher flow rate with just the ends open or two separate tubes, that also would give you a way to check redundancy in your system to ensure both filters are working. i have mine actually angled up a hair above level, just enough to swell the surface of the water, both for the extra oxygen it introduces to the water, and for the immediate visual conformation that the system is infact working. im kinda new to the canister market here but my GOD these things are absolutly silent in my 8 footer... i cannot hear a dang thing coming from the tank.

ikkie78 wrote:

i won't do a single or common spray bar. it one has more power, for one reason
or anther, the other one will be useless. the strong pressure will render the weaker
one useless as Win had said.

Thanks Win...thats what I was kind of thinking with the extra backpressure through one outlet...just wanted to make sure so I set things up correctly.

Yeah my brother had a canister running on his tank and it was extremely quiet! I was impressed.