Filtration Advice

G

Gildurath

AC Members
May 12, 2007
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0
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Hello,
I have a 70g, with adequate LR in it. I also have a Fluvial 404 with two shelves of bioballs. I also run a skimmer, I do not know the brand or type.

My questions are these. Will I be fine with just using the LR for bio filtration, and the bioballs in the fluvial 404, which I change out every 2 or 3 months? Should I put live rock rubble in the 404 instead of the bioballs?

I do not have a sump or a refugium.
 
bioballs or live rock rubble, they are basicaly the same thing and will do the same thing with the same pros and cons.
as far as yoru filtration, yes, a good amount of live rock would be fine. what i woudl personaly recomend is a large amount of live rock, lots of flow, and a good protein skimmer. and then some phosban and carbon in some type of filoter. im not really a fan of canister filters, but i know there are people out there who are.
 
Assuming you have in the neighborhood of 70-90 lbs. of pacific live rock in the tank, you don't need either bioballs or live rock in the Fluval. I'd use the canister for chemical filtration (carbon, PHOSaR, etc.).
 
Glad this topic came up. As we're tweaking and upgrading our system we have been thinking how best to use our Marineland C-220 canister. The thing is UBER silent and I love that.

I do plan to get a bit more live rock, I only have about 40#s in my display.
Our berlin sump does have the filter sock and I plan on keeping that. A Tunze DOC is new and in the sump.

So how best to use the cannister? Use it until we get our live rock up to 50+? Use it just for chemi-pure 24/7? Use it only when needed? Don't use it?

Thoughts? Oh and sorry if this was a thread hijack, thought with it being on topic it might be helpful to us both.
 
Grins,

Ditch it. In my experience, canisters (in a reef setup) are detrimental. I use algae for filtration, and everything in my tank is a lot happier than when I used canisters. Plus, it's a helluva lot less work.

Especially considering you have a sump.

Any chance of making an area for a fuge in that sump? Some macro in there would probably do you right!
 
I have a tall 70g tank, and the LR goes to about 7" from the top, it is 24" high. I do not know exactly how much weight cause I inherited the tank. I do not have a sump or fuge, but I do have some macro algae (Calupra) tucked in the back of my tank between the glass and the LR. It is my pod breeding ground. I do want some Cheato, anyone have some forsale? :p My LFS do not have any to spare. I think I have enough LR.

I may increase the flow a bit. I have 2 x Koralia 1(400gph), Fluvial 404 (550gph), 1 Powerhead(300gph), and my skimmer has some holes in the intake pipe that give surface flow. I have no idea if my skimmer is good, but I have one and it pulls lots of junk out, but it has no brand name or any markings on it.
 
Sounds like you have plenty of rock in your tank to do the job,I would only use canister filter for chemical filtration like blockomon suggested.And only when needed.
 
Ditch it. In my experience, canisters (in a reef setup) are detrimental. I use algae for filtration, and everything in my tank is a lot happier than when I used canisters. Plus, it's a helluva lot less work. Especially considering you have a sump.

Not even to use it for the Chemi-Pure? I only have 40#s of live rock right now so before doing anything drastic I want to find a few choice pieces to finish that as well.



Any chance of making an area for a fuge in that sump? Some macro in there would probably do you right!

Not a single chance in H***. It is a very narrow berlin model and with the skimmer and a filter sock in use there isn't any room for a fuge in it. I had thought about it and considered getting some chaeto just to tumble around everything but opted not to. I could possibly fit a small fuge above the sump but the Eheim retuirn pump is so powerful I'm not sure it would do much good to have that blasting through a fuge.
 
What the heck is chemi-pure?

I just looked it up on marinedepot.com and it looks like it's a fresh or salt water..."chemical absorption filter and ion generator and exchange unit"...whatever that means.

Basically, and I guess I could be wrong, but:

If you put good water in your tank, and only dose what can be tested for, and keep the levels where they should be, and don't overfeed...why would you need to introduce chemi-pure? This is the first I've ever actually heard of it.

Of course, I'm by no means an expert...but I do have a chemistry kit. ;)
 
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