Filter Question

[aussie pride]

That's plenty of rock and sand. Depending on the dimensions of the tank, you may not need all of the sand.

Not familiar with Marine Pure but from their website, it appears to be a ceramic media for housing nitrifying bacteria. If that is the case, it probably won't provide much benefit over the live rock which does the same thing on a larger scale. What you need is something for phosphate and nitrate control. GFO water changes will help phosphate but nitrates are a different animal.

Nitrate's conversion to nitrogen gas is the last step in the nitrogen cycle and it requires a different type of bacteria than those that convert ammonia to nitrite. Denitifying versus nitrifying. Denitrifying bacteria that convert nitrate to gas grow in anerobic (no oxygen) conditions. If your live rock has deep enough pores, you may get some denitrifying bacteria from that. However, it is tyically not enough to eliminate nitrate altogether. Nitrate control is best handled by one or more of the following. The top 4 are key IMO:

-Avoid overstocking fish
-Avoid overfeeding. Also drain/rinse frozen foods.
-Regular water changes (I would definitely recommend weekly 10 to 20% changes without a skimmer)
-Using a good protein skimmer (won't remove nitrates altogether but will help greatly)
-Macro algaes (not really a viable option without a decent sized sump)
-Using a deep sand bed (minimum 6") (also not really a viable option without a sump)

The sand looks like it should make a bed about 1.5" deep so not too much, not too little. Since speaking to the guy at my favourite LFS (bloody brilliant shop) he has recommended using Marine Pure Ceramic balls, some sponge and Chemi-Pure Elite in the canister with the Hydor Koralia that does 225GPH (900LPH).

Okay, so I'm thinking 15-20% W/C every week and cleaning the sponge in the canister every week with a whole canister clean every 3 weeks. That in combination with the Chemi-Pure Elite should keep nitrates to a minimum.

Stocking wise, I know I want a clown (who doesn't?) and a few turbo snails, maybe a shrimp and maybe something colourful that'll scoot around on the sand and rocks and look funky like a goby or hawkfish or something as well as the soft corals. Opinions on that?

 

[TL1000RSquid]

225 koralia may not be enough whats the dimensions on this tank? It might be barely sufficient on a cube tank but if its the standard 24" rectangle you'll find its to weak.(I was running 2 225's on a 10g) CP Elite is GFO and carbon, you can save money buying both separately I prefer to not mix them since carbon gets used up quicker then the GFO.

 

[greech]

Agreed, 225gph is not enough especially since all that is moving in one direction. Is this a cube tank? If so you'll get a little more random flow from water bouncing off the glass. If this is a rectangle, I would recommend 2 of those PHs and possibly upsize one to the 500gph(ish) model. That may end up being as much $$ as a single WP-10.

Clowns will be ok for a while but will eventually need more room. I assume you are talking about ocellaris and perculas and not saddles, maroons, etc. which are too big for this tank.

2 clowns and a small goby would be the limit fish wise IMO. Shrimps, crabs etc., don't really oush the bioload but they also will not tolerate poor water quality. If you overstock and/or slack on maintaining the tank, that would be a problem.

 

[aussie pride]

Agreed, 225gph is not enough especially since all that is moving in one direction. Is this a cube tank? If so you'll get a little more random flow from water bouncing off the glass. If this is a rectangle, I would recommend 2 of those PHs and possibly upsize one to the 500gph(ish) model. That may end up being as much $$ as a single WP-10.

Clowns will be ok for a while but will eventually need more room. I assume you are talking about ocellaris and perculas and not saddles, maroons, etc. which are too big for this tank.

2 clowns and a small goby would be the limit fish wise IMO. Shrimps, crabs etc., don't really oush the bioload but they also will not tolerate poor water quality. If you overstock and/or slack on maintaining the tank, that would be a problem.

Okay, well I got the filter running yesterday and purchased a Fluval CP1 powerhead. I set the sand, filter, powerhead and heater up in the tank to let everything run in to make sure its all working which it is. Salt is in and SG is around 1.024. I'll probably buy another Fluval CP1 in another couple of weeks (when funds build up again) to increase flow.

I'll continue to keep researching about stocking appropriately then.