Filteration advice

[james13]

Hello everyone. Going to setup my 240G after about a year and I was wondering what kind of filtration to go with? I had a huge amircle wet-dry, an aquaclear 500 and a Red Sea Berlin protein skimmer on it. There was also a 3" sand bed but I never added any type of live sand.

I am now planning to have a tank of various triggers and a lionfish so I was thinking of switching to some canister filters for increased mechanical filtration. I will also switch to crushed coral from sand so that I can use a gravel vacuum since these fish are pretty messy. What do you guys think is the route to go? Should I consider some HOB filters? Thanks in advance.

James

 

[wastememphis]

Are you going to use live rock? If not then I'd go with a large sump, with bioballs where the water enters it... then have a large skimmer like a AMS G-5 or EuroReef CS8-2 for filtration.

Neil.

 

[james13]

I wasn't really planning on using very much (if any) "live" rock, but I do have a lot of base rock to put into the tank for some nice hiding places. The wet-dry filter I had on it before was ok, but it was a pain to maintain. The doors on the stand are pretty small so it was hard to access.
The main reason to switch to a canister would be for ease of maintenance. I was considering using 3 or 4 of the Fluval 404's so I could easily disconnect and pull them out to clean. Anyone have any experience fluidized bed filters? Looks like a single fluidized bed filter would be enough for bio filtration on a 240G if the claims are correct so I could just use another filter or two for mechanical/chemical filtration.
I do understand that the best way to go is with a DSB and live rock but I think triggers and lionfish would make it difficult to keep clean. If I did go that route I would rather do a full blown reef tank and the wife doesn’t really like that idea ($$$).
Any suggestions/ equipment recommendations would be appreciated.