filter help

[jay allen]

I have a 72 bow with a emporor 400 bio wheel filter i am gonna do fish and some reef will this be efficient or not if not some suggestions. I have right now running emporer400 boi wheelfilter, 2 402 powerheads, and going to buy a skimmer within a week or 2 what else will i need thnx.....

[Reefland]

Some good quality Liverock, a good quality skimmer and you may ditch the emperor.

Scott Z.

[Leddy]

That will be fine, as long as you keep the media clean. Change carbon if you use it, also clean pre-filters. If you use the bio-wheels, clean them once a month under saltwater from water changes with a soft brush. I used to run a penguin 330 without media and bio-wheels, just for circulation. If you don't keep up with cleaning these, they accumulate waste and cause high nitrates over time. As for a skimmer, get the biggest, best one you can find and afford. The Aqua C Remora's are great hang on applications, also the CPR Bak-paks are good. I run 2 bak-paks on my 80, very pleased. Used to run a seaclone, worked ok, but not as effecient. I'm sure others will let you know. Go for the best the first time, or you may be spending more over time. Good luck.


I second what Scott says:

80lbs LR
Quality skimmer
your 2 powerheads


Leddy

[jay allen]

hey thanks for the info uve been really helpful. I was thing bout just buying another emperor400 filter then i will have 1 on each side is that good enough, instead of buying an expenisve filter and all the pumps and stuff for it....

[Leddy]

I'd get a skimmer instead. The tank would benefit more with a skimmer instead of the emperor 400. If you do decide to buy the emperor, later down the road you'll wish you had gotten the skimmer, in my opinion at least. I think you should save yourself the money and trouble and get the skimmer personally. Two emperor's may lead to excess nutrients in the tank if you don't keep up with keeping them clean. Next time you go to your LFS, see if they carry any type of protein skimmer. Look for Aqua C Remora, CPR Bak-pak, RedSea Prism, Seaclone's, Berlin. Also search around on the site and online stores to get an idea of how effective skimming is, I think that'll give you a good idea as to why they are recommended. Good luck. Leddy

[Reefland]

No,

There is no subsitute for good quality LR and a good quality skimmer. You can add all of the mechanical filters and "bio" filters you want but it will not accomplish the same thing that a skimmer and natural filtration will.

A Protein Skimmer will remove DOC's (dissolved organic compounds) from the tank and no other filter will. Liverock will provide you with a large enough bacteria population to develop into a population that is needed to sustain the ammonia and nitrite levels in your aquarium; no Emperor or Penguin filter can do either of these.

Scott Z.

[Leddy]

Listen to Scott. He know's what he's talkin' about. I made the mistake of buying all these powerfilters and things BEFORE I knew about this site! Figures right? I could've saved a ton of money, but instead I have a closet filled with equipment collecting dust. I learned the expensive way, but I learned none the less.


Leddy

[OCSREEFER]

dido;)

[SteveP]

dido;)

Having done reefs the "old way", I was somewhat sceptical. I now have my 75 running with 80 pounds of LR, probably 80 pounds of sand seeded with some Live Rock Curing Tank Mud, a big skimmer and lots of water movement. I also have a bunch of Macro algae growing in my sump-based refugium.

As of today ( about week 6 ) :

Ammonia : 0
Nitrite : 0
Nitrate : Barely detectable
PH : 8.2

No bio-balls, no wet/dry, no carbon, no floss, no nothing.

Pleasantly surprised

Steve

[Reefland]

You know it really is a hard thing to do considering. I mean if you've been in the hobby before (longer than 5 years ago) people do things very differently and you look at all these products and think "if they say they work then they must" but the bottom line is this; protein skimming, LR and LS if you desire, good circulation, water changes, good lighting and patience is all that is needed to sustain a great reef tank.

Scott Z.

[Mezmo]

You might want to consider people who prefer more open water in their tank than adding all that liverock would allow. You would need to add and maintain alot of rock (about 1.5 -2x per gallon) to sustain the same effect as some of the wet/drys. Others might consider natural reef destruction as a reason not to purchase live rock. Whatever the reason. You can purchase many artificial rock or reef building kits that like fantastic in the water. Personally I purchased an entire reef from hbhnet.com (I think they are re-doing their site). The Reef Builders True Life selection looks incredible in my tank. There are so many caves and ledges and holes and colored coralline all over it. It would take sifting though mega-poundage of live rock to find those perfect pieces.

People forget that purchasing liverock becomes a disease. You embark on the never ending search for that perfect piece of rock. It's almost as bad as choosing fish. Sadly, you can't just go swapping liverock every day when you find something new. That's another benefit to artificial rock/corals. You'll no doubt have more caves and swim-throughs and use less space using fake rock. You hook yourself up with one of them Amiracle wet/dry + builtin skimmer and your set to do whatever you want with the space in your tank. If you want more denitrating power you can jack in an Aquapure Denitrator.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking the fantasic look and functionality of using live rock ( A must if your doing a reef tank) but if your collecting fish (FO) that need space to swim and caves and rock formations you'd be doing yourself a diservice to considering a more appealing and ecologically safe solution.

[SteveP]

....

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking the fantasic look and functionality of using live rock ( A must if your doing a reef tank) but if your collecting fish (FO) that need space to swim and caves and rock formations you'd be doing yourself a diservice to considering a more appealing and ecologically safe solution.

I agree with you wholeheartedly Mezmo, but I would qualify my agreement with the following. The original poster even stated "gonna do fish and some reef ", and I would suspect that a good proportion of those that set out to Saltwater Fish Only, end up being bewitched by the beautiful, colorful "plants" at the Local fish store, and before you know it, they are $500 into Live Rock and Acropora before anyone even mentions the word Skimmer.

After the first set of corals die, and are replaced, and die again, along with the inevitable Anemone/Clown combo, either the hobbyist gives up in frustration (or poverty), or finally gets hooked up with an experienced group that can recommend an approach that works for what the hobbyist is planning.

I think true FO tanks are very pretty, and can certainly be run with Wet/Dry setups relatively simply, I just wonder how many stay as FO for very long ;)

Steve

[RayPollett]

I agree with you wholeheartedly Mezmo, but I would qualify my agreement with the following. The original poster even stated "gonna do fish and some reef ", and I would suspect that a good proportion of those that set out to Saltwater Fish Only, end up being bewitched by the beautiful, colorful "plants" at the Local fish store, and before you know it, they are $500 into Live Rock and Acropora before anyone even mentions the word Skimmer.

After the first set of corals die, and are replaced, and die again, along with the inevitable Anemone/Clown combo, either the hobbyist gives up in frustration (or poverty), or finally gets hooked up with an experienced group that can recommend an approach that works for what the hobbyist is planning.

I think true FO tanks are very pretty, and can certainly be run with Wet/Dry setups relatively simply, I just wonder how many stay as FO for very long ;)

Steve

Hi Steve,

As most know by now I do things different than most. I set up reef tanks ( softies, a few stonies loke Bubble and Whiskers, anemones) useing emperor 400s along with LS and LR. It has worked pretty well.

Ray