Returning to SW

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dr_drmd

AC Members
Aug 25, 2005
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Hi all...
I'm new to the board. I've got a question for anyone out there. I used to have a 55gal salt with some tangs, angels, etc. This was many years ago and I have been away from the hobbie since then, but I am dying to get back into it. Back then I had a wet/dry, with just some sand on the bottom. My question is, do you recommend doing the wet/dry route again? I know some who are using Aquaclear power filters; is this an option for salt? Also, what about Eheim cannister filters for a salt tank? Anyway, the site is nice and thanks in advance for any responses I get on this one. Thanks!
 
i don't think wet/dry is acceptable anymore for salt water, alot of people use a canister filter but with bio balls for the media, and occasionally they will use carbon for removal of medicines. tanks like this mainly use live rock and live sand as their filtration needs. they depend on power heads, and filters-like i explained for more circulation. aquaclear power filters are great filters to use as a source for water circulation and filtration, we use the term nitrate factory for filters that are used as the correct method b/c all they do is catch debris which than converts into nitrate factories, but they do work though. but you can turn a hang on the back filters into a refugium with modification to it. they use these for adding more natural biological filtration. i am not familiar with these but have done a little bit of research on them.
 
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Depends on what you want to do. If you want to do a fish only tank, the wet-dry fiter will do fine. Just keep the prefilters clean to keep debris from building up.

Personally I like using live rock for biological filtration, it just seems to make life easier. My preferred setup is 1.5 to 2 lbs live rock per gallon, a good protein skimmer and a lot of circulation.

I see you've checked the "starting a SW tank thread." There are several answers to your question. I personally don't use mechanical filtration, and I think I'm in the majority. I skim pretty heavily, siphon off debris during water changes, and have a healthy population of detritivores. There are others who use HOB filters and it works for them.
 
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