Looking for advice about my filtration

J

journey0820

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Jan 31, 2008
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Hi there,
I have a protein skimmer that I clean out about every other week. I have a hang on the back filter that I clean once a month or so...usually alternating the parts I clean. It contains a sponge like substance like floss, these little ceramic things, and carbon.

My protein skimmer has a bookmark size divider that has small pouches of carbon I have yet to do anything with since the start up of my tank in March.

I see lots of people running tanks with little or no mechanical or chemical filtration.

I have a 25 gallon tall tank with 2.5 inch mixed texture sandbed and 50 pounds of live rock. It has not been cured (straight from ocean, never exposed to air for longer than 2 minutes).

What's the best way to filter my tank at this point? Should I remove carbon? Should I change my HOB filter into a fuge?
 
well, I'm not a SW tank guy, but I replace my carbon every time I do a water change.
 
I'm doing water changes once a week...about 4-5 gallons for a 25 gallon tank...I'd be doing lots of carbon changing!
 
Do water changes whenever possible when cycling a tank. I am not sure where the "myth" of it hindering the process came from, but it is pretty much unfounded in saltwater aquaria with live rock, IME.

As far as filtration goes, there is zero good reason to remove or not use carbon. Many notions about it are also unfounded. It makes much better sense to remove as many noxious organic compounds and colorants that are leached from the rock during the cycling/curing process. Water changes coupled with carbon can theoretically save more life on the rock than just leaving it alone.
 
Amphiprion said:
Do water changes whenever possible when cycling a tank. I am not sure where the "myth" of it hindering the process came from, but it is pretty much unfounded in saltwater aquaria with live rock, IME.

As far as filtration goes, there is zero good reason to remove or not use carbon. Many notions about it are also unfounded. It makes much better sense to remove as many noxious organic compounds and colorants that are leached from the rock during the cycling/curing process. Water changes coupled with carbon can theoretically save more life on the rock than just leaving it alone.
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I was told to run no filtration when I was cycling my tank, but I did not have die off from the rock to contend with....would the die off cause the living bacteria to thrive?
Robbie
 
Amphiprion said:
Do water changes whenever possible when cycling a tank. I am not sure where the "myth" of it hindering the process came from, but it is pretty much unfounded in saltwater aquaria with live rock, IME.

As far as filtration goes, there is zero good reason to remove or not use carbon. Many notions about it are also unfounded. It makes much better sense to remove as many noxious organic compounds and colorants that are leached from the rock during the cycling/curing process. Water changes coupled with carbon can theoretically save more life on the rock than just leaving it alone.
Click to expand...

Hi, the tank is cycled already...I got it in March. I'm just curious if now that we are past that stage and getting settled in, if I still need to continue in the same way with all my filtration. I water changed my butt off during cycling by the way - I'm with you!
 
Yup - I see where the confusion is now. I said the rock wasn't "cured" so everyone though I was cycling. Sorry about that. I thought maybe there would be a filtration difference between my rock (with little die off) and a rock that had been cured outside or something. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Would one option be ditching the filter media in your HOB and relying on the LR for filtration?
Robbie
 
you dont need it per say but it dosent hurt at all,carbon i believe is not much use after 3 months, those stars are junk you can toss them you have plenty of LR for bio filtration, the best thing about filters is the mechanical filtration, i use my filter to get all the large particules out of the water, keep in mind however to keep on top of changeing/rinsing the media to prevent a nitrite/ ammonia spike.:)
 
Dump the HOB filter, it's a nitrate factory. The skimmer & LR is all you need. Have you tested the parameters lately? Any inhabitants in there yet?
 
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