Am I OK on filtration; REALLY? (90 Gallon)

A

azaghalsei

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Jan 8, 2007
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I think I am.. and before you blast me about a sump let me say one thing: two young children.

I have ordered 2 Emperor 400 power filters (400 gph each) and I can of course remove cartridges, add phosphate remover or carbon, etc.

Also two Maxi-Jet Powerheads/Pumps Model 900 (230 gph)..

Also Corallife Super Skimmer Needle Wheel Protein Skimmer 125 gallon rated..

I plan to have around 120-130 pounds of live rock and about 100 pounds of live sand.

Thoughts on my 90 gallon setup as far as flow and filtration? The tank will not be setup for another week so I have time to buy more hardware. :)

Thank you in advance,

azaghalsei
 
A sump is not a neccesity, its just an added bonus if you have the means, the space and the situation to have one...

Well...First thing i would say is that you do not need any power filters due to the ammount of live rock you proposed to puchase. The Live rock will provide all the mechanical filtration you need..Unless your purely buying them just for extra water circulation which would seem an expensive way to do it though..

Would propose changing the maxijet 900's to 1200's..A few dollers more, but the extra circulation will be better in the long run...

Skimmer sounds fine to me...

Niko
 
atnixon said:
Well...First thing i would say is that you do not need any power filters due to the ammount of live rock you proposed to puchase. The Live rock will provide all the mechanical filtration you need..Unless your purely buying them just for extra water circulation which would seem an expensive way to do it though..

Would propose changing the maxijet 900's to 1200's..A few dollers more, but the extra circulation will be better in the long run...

Niko
Click to expand...

Thanks for the prompt reply! I got the power filters mainly for the biological, aeration, and flow. I also thought that if I do wind up with more detritus, etc. than my cleanup crew can handle it will be nice to have the option to add the filters in or bags of carbon/phosphate remover.

I had a guy at the LFS try to sell me a Fluval 405 like my life depended on it and began to second guess my choices.

As far as the powerheads are concerned I should get 460gph out of the 900's whereas the 1200's would give me 590gph.

Do you think I will miss that 130gph a lot? Should I upgrade to the 1200's or perhaps add a third powerhead of a lower rating and perhaps switch over to a control system in time to create more random flow?

I plan to cure rock very very patiently in this system so I have plenty of time to change my mind about the powerheads and filters.

Again, I appreciate your time; it's great to have a resource like this forum and I hope to dispense knowledge some day rather than absorb it!

Az
 
How much flow you have in the tank will depend on what you want to have in there..If its just fish and some inverts, then you want to be looking at about 10 times water turn over per hour..If you want to be keeping corals, then you may need to be looking more toward 20 - 30 times water turn over per hour...With your powerheads and filters, your looking at 1230 gph turnover, which is about 13 times per hour..probably a little less depending on any losses on the pipe work of the filters etc etc

If you are after more power then i would suggest something like nano streams. If you keep adding powerheads to acheive water flow, your going to end up with powerheads dotted about the tank which will detract the viewing of it...

Niko

Niko
 
i personaly dont include the skimmer when i am working out turnover rates...I work purley on water movement devices..So, excluding the skimmer, with the 3 maxijets and pumps..Your getting 18 times turn over...

Another option would be to go for 2 of these....

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=TA3715

Niko
 
Wow! Now that's some serious flow. I am going to talk to the mrs. and see about those. I again appreciate your advice and time and will probably post when we reach a decision.

Thank you!

Oh, one thing to consider is that we went with an 8 x 54w bulb T-5 fixture and only plan on having soft corals, inverts, fish.

Az
 
Booze won't be necessary, haha; it's not the money! She just likes to be involved in such joint ventures.. ;)

Thanks again, I will update the thread.
 
atnixon has led u well but personally dont like hob filters and the emporors are the best of them in my opinion but still running my one tank on just the emperor verses the filtration on my reef iv really learned not to like them. i will pic canister filters over anything else other then fuges. and working in a store ive been able to test out all the leading brands. corals and fish as well dont like bulk flow that most filters and powerheads make so its up to the aquarist to make counter currents and downflows as well and full circulation behind the rocks. my tank is over filtered to most opinions but its no considering my bioload and the amount of bends in my hosing all these factors must be taken into consideration as well. if you want lots of animals in your tank chemical filtration will be needed.but even if not some will be recommended just to make things easier plus ther are lots of resins and mixes ot there to help allow u keep things that normally couldnt be kept.
 
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