Filteration help

[Johno]

Hey there i just subscribed today after seeing this forum, its awsome! anyway i've been researching my stuff on marine aquariums and getting info from nearby big al's fish store, and have got a shopping list planned for a 38 gal aqurarium but after seeing some of these threads i got the impression that not a ton of filteration was needed for marine aquariums. I was going to buy a fluval 304 or 404, one of those prisms skimmers and power heads, is this too much? i just don't want to have to little and have all my critters die off if you know what i mean

John

[frazin78]

Welcome to the board. I am fairly new here as well.

Your are going in the right direction with the powerheads and skimmer. I would avoid using the canister filter, I have an Eheim canister and it works great but you can acheive better results by putting your money for some Live Rock. Adding a Deep sand bed is good as well. I would purchase some argonite base play sand put about an inch of it and then put another inch of Live sand to spark up the entire sand as nice thick filter. This will be more then enough filtration for you. Buy all the correct test kits and it is recommended to do some fishless cycling when you get your new tank. ;)

Not that the prism is a bad skimmer but I did hear and read great reviews on the AquaC Romera Skimmer being the best in it's class. I will be replacing my el'cheapo model very soon with the romera and the surface prefilter box. :)

Jc

[Johno]

thanks for the info on the skimmer i'll have to see if my lfs has it

[frazin78]

Originally posted by Johno
thanks for the info on the skimmer i'll have to see if my lfs has it

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/prskimmers/gr/aaprremorahotsk.htm

Here check one of the reviews I found... plus you can find a list of suppliers. ;)

Jc

[mogurnda]

A lot depends on what you want to keep, and how much. If you want a reef, I would use a good skimmer and powerheads or closed loop to turn the tank over at least 10 time an hour. Mine turns over about 20X per hour.
If you are doing fish only, then it depends on the fish, how messy they are and so on. Any ideas of what you want to do with the tank?

[Johno]

probly just a basic reef setup with live rock a few corals and such, its just that i'm low on buget and not having to buy a canister filter would be conveniant

[mogurnda]

First, put your money into books. There are some good ones out there, and some outdated, not very useful ones. Here are some I like:
Starting out
Fenner's Conscientious Marine Aquarist
Tullock's Natural Reef Aquariums

Focused on corals:
Borneman's Aquarium COrals
Sprung and Delbeek's Reef Aquariums, vol 1 and 2.

If you want a reef, and are just starting out, I think Tullock's is really good. But, so is Fenner.

I would skip the canister and put your money into a good skimmer (AquaC Remora would be a good balance of quality and expense) and high-quality live rock. I am a huge fan of buying rock online. Better selection, lower price.