Does canister position really matter?

Placing it below the tank is for easy priming and all that.
It should work.

while I agree priming would be the major disadvantage,
you might also get more gas pockets accumulating in
the canister, since the equal pressure between tank
and canister may interfere with the gas discharge.
accumulated gas can cause all kinds of problems
by interfering with the biological filtration of the
canister, interfere with the impeller, and cause
intermittent noise. again, this is only speculation.

I had my Eheim sitting level with tank for a few weeks while redoing my basement. It started air locking every few days and had to primed over again. Put it back on the floor and its been fine ever since.

Most canister filters have a push pump and rely on gravity to supply water to the cylinder.

Thanks to all. The best that I can do with position is to have the top of the filter esentially on the same plane as the bottom of the tank. Hopefully this will be a big enough drop.

I am running my fluval 305 with the top of the filter even with the bottom of the tank and it functions very well without vapor locking/gas pockets or any other sort of problem... my tank sits on top of the fireplace and I put a small shelf on the side to hold the filter.

i am currentl running a toms mini cannister which from what i can see is one of the cheapest cannisters on the market. currently i have the bottom even with the bottom of the tank (there sitting on the same thing) and am also injecting co2 onto the intake and have had no issues with air lock or even any extra noise for that matter. hope that helps.

bsmith782 said:

i am currentl running a toms mini cannister which from what i can see is one of the cheapest cannisters on the market. currently i have the bottom even with the bottom of the tank (there sitting on the same thing) and am also injecting co2 onto the intake and have had no issues with air lock or even any extra noise for that matter. hope that helps.

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If I'm not mistaken, that's the lowest position recommended for the Tom's.

im not sure, i will check out the owners manual tomorrow at work. i wouldnt doubt it though it really is not a very powerful filter as far as gph.

i will say that it has been very reliable, quiet and does a great job on mu mini m and i would recommend it ti anyone usong it on a 8g or less tank.