best fiteration

[RevClyburn]

Hey everyone

and yes I'm back to start some trouble, lol. No, I just want to know opinions on what you think is the best fiteration. I am stetting my tank up, Old skool way, jaubert plenum, skimmer, actually 2, screens, water flow and lots of calcium. What do you think is the best filteration? I love my old skool set up. But for you, your opinion, what is the best?


Please just opinion, some of you are pushy

edwin

 

[DaveK]

If I were doing my system from scratch, and could redo everything, I would use as large a berlin sump as possible, with an external skimmer rated for at least twice the size of the tank that I had. Top quality external pumps for the return and skimmer supply.

I would use an additional tank, with about 1/3 to 1/2 the bottom area of the main tank, as a refugium, with at least a 4" DSB, and lighting to grow macro algae. I would not use a jaubert plenum, since I feel it's of questionable value. (Remember you wanted opinions.)

The tank would contain live rock at 1 to 1/2 lbs per gal.

I would avoid the use of UV and ozone. Again, I feel the value is questionable.

I would add a kalk reactor only if I couldn't maintain calcium levels by using water changes. Ditto for a calcium reactor.

Keep in mind that there could be many modification to this system, depending upon what you want to keep in the tank, and how the state of the art progresses. Old school sounds nice, but often better systems are available. The hobby changes fast. There is seldom one correct answer to anything in this hobby.

 

[RevClyburn]

Your set up sound great,

I'll look into that. Anyone else have any ideas? This would definitely be a great set up. What would you add, take away?

edwin

 

[Carlo]

I think DaveK just about nailed a great setup.

I'm not sure however if the rock weight was supposed to say 1 pound to 1/2 pound or 1 pound to 1.5 pounds per gallon.

I myself would go with about 1.5 pounds per gallon and then watch the nitrates to see if maybe more rock is needed or not.

I'd add a couple of reactors to run carbon or synthetic material and GFO or similar. I agree on the Kalk and Ca/Alk reactors. Add them when needed.

Carlo

 

[DaveK]

My fault. I should have said 1 to 1 1/2 lbs of live rock per gallon. It's tough to give an exact amount because LR from different areas varies in density.

Adding a couple of reactors for other media is a good idea, and very handy, but not strictly necessary.

Of course, you can always add a lot more high tech equipment on top of the base system. For example, a chiller, an auto top off system, a controller, and so on. Just make sure you really need them.

To paraphrase another, "[Reef] systems are like roads, very expensive to build, so make sure you know exactly where you want to end up."

 

[ken6217]

My setup is as Dave detailed. I have a 90 gallon reef tank with about 130 lbs of live rock, sump, a good skimmer, and calcium reactor. I do small water changes once a month and both phosphate and nitrate are zero using Salifert test kits.

On a side note, I decided to to small water changes over each of the last 4 days. I see some of my corals look better after doing this. I would assume that is not what I am taking out, but what I am putting back in....... trace elements. My SPS however look the same either way.
Ken

 

[ken6217]

I also want to add plenty of water movement in the tank.
Ken

 

[DaveK]

Water movement is a different issue. It's more dependent upon what fish and corals you want to keep in the tank.

There are a number of ways to go about it. However, if we are talking "best" I think it would be tough to beat 2 or more Tunze stream pumps on a Tunze multicontroller. Yes, they are out of sight expensive, but they generate fantastic random flow patterns. Expect to spend about $850 for this arrangement.

There are several other products on the market, including some kits that upgrade a powerhead to work similar to a stream pump. Maybe not as good, but a lot less expensive.

 

[ken6217]

Water movement is a different issue. It's more dependent upon what fish and corals you want to keep in the tank.

There are a number of ways to go about it. However, if we are talking "best" I think it would be tough to beat 2 or more Tunze stream pumps on a Tunze multicontroller. Yes, they are out of sight expensive, but they generate fantastic random flow patterns. Expect to spend about $850 for this arrangement.

There are several other products on the market, including some kits that upgrade a powerhead to work similar to a stream pump. Maybe not as good, but a lot less expensive.

I disagree. Proper water movement is a must. It is not just for bringing food and removing wastes from the corals. It will prevent dead spots in the tank and allow the water to move around the rocks and then out to the skimmer/sump. It also removes uneaten food and detritus from accumulating on the rocks and tank bottom. I was going to include using a turkey baster on a weekly basic but I thought that would be stretching it.
Ken

 

[mladencovic]

Water movement is a different issue. It's more dependent upon what fish and corals you want to keep in the tank.

There are a number of ways to go about it. However, if we are talking "best" I think it would be tough to beat 2 or more Tunze stream pumps on a Tunze multicontroller. Yes, they are out of sight expensive, but they generate fantastic random flow patterns. Expect to spend about $850 for this arrangement.

There are several other products on the market, including some kits that upgrade a powerhead to work similar to a stream pump. Maybe not as good, but a lot less expensive.

I disagree. Proper water movement is a must. It is not just for bringing food and removing wastes from the corals. It will prevent dead spots in the tank and allow the water to move around the rocks and then out to the skimmer/sump. It also removes uneaten food and detritus from accumulating on the rocks and tank bottom. I was going to include using a turkey baster on a weekly basic but I thought that would be stretching it.
Ken

No need to disagree since both of your statements are true ;D

Dave is absolutely right when he says that water movement is dependent on what specimens of life you keep. Ken your statement that proper water movement is a must is also true, specially when combined with his statement into "proper for each specimen and biotope"

So, dead spots are not necessarily a bad thing (think of DSB for example), but you certainly do not want them around your Acros. Gorgonians like laminar flow, Milleporas turbulent, and Sun corals very little flow. Since life occupies every single niche in oceans around the world, diferent spieces have addapted to different conditions and need proper setup if we intended to keep them in captivity. The best approach is to model certain biotope and be very consistent in it. Unfortunatelly few of us are able or willing to do it that way so we end up with mix of different things from all around the globe.

But, I digress, so lets go back to the topic of which filtration is the best. The best is the one that works for you, isn't it. Each filtration method removes only certain things, with specific efficiency, requires different amount of maintenance and is part of very specific environment. If you can clean sponges and socks every few days - use them, otherwise don't. If you are running a 10 gal nano tank, DSB fuge isn't going to help you much, but will work really well on larger systems. If you have 55 gal tank in the middle of the living room with a wife that thinks that coraline algae are dirty and ugly, and has insisited that the aquarium stand matches the TV stand, you can forget about drilling the plumbing into the basement to utilize huge skimmer tower and a tub size sump with hundreds of pounds of LR. If you are dosing various trace elements, carbon media will mess with them, but if you have fish only tank, it is a must. UV will kill your plankton for your SPS, but will be very nice thing to prevent bacterias if you have only merey eel in the tank. You might want to go completely "natural" and use only LR, DSB and macroalgae, or say forget all that and just do water changes.

So, if your fish and corals are living and growing happily, and you like your setup and what you are doing, your system is the best, whatever you have.

:

 

[JRWOHLER]

Water movement is a different issue. It's more dependent upon what fish and corals you want to keep in the tank.

There are a number of ways to go about it. However, if we are talking "best" I think it would be tough to beat 2 or more Tunze stream pumps on a Tunze multicontroller. Yes, they are out of sight expensive, but they generate fantastic random flow patterns. Expect to spend about $850 for this arrangement.

There are several other products on the market, including some kits that upgrade a powerhead to work similar to a stream pump. Maybe not as good, but a lot less expensive.

I disagree. Proper water movement is a must. It is not just for bringing food and removing wastes from the corals. It will prevent dead spots in the tank and allow the water to move around the rocks and then out to the skimmer/sump. It also removes uneaten food and detritus from accumulating on the rocks and tank bottom. I was going to include using a turkey baster on a weekly basic but I thought that would be stretching it.
Ken

No need to disagree since both of your statements are true ;D

Dave is absolutely right when he says that water movement is dependent on what specimens of life you keep. Ken your statement that proper water movement is a must is also true, specially when combined with his statement into "proper for each specimen and biotope"

So, dead spots are not necessarily a bad thing (think of DSB for example), but you certainly do not want them around your Acros. Gorgonians like laminar flow, Milleporas turbulent, and Sun corals very little flow. Since life occupies every single niche in oceans around the world, diferent spieces have addapted to different conditions and need proper setup if we intended to keep them in captivity. The best approach is to model certain biotope and be very consistent in it. Unfortunatelly few of us are able or willing to do it that way so we end up with mix of different things from all around the globe.

But, I digress, so lets go back to the topic of which filtration is the best. The best is the one that works for you, isn't it. Each filtration method removes only certain things, with specific efficiency, requires different amount of maintenance and is part of very specific environment. If you can clean sponges and socks every few days - use them, otherwise don't. If you are running a 10 gal nano tank, DSB fuge isn't going to help you much, but will work really well on larger systems. If you have 55 gal tank in the middle of the living room with a wife that thinks that coraline algae are dirty and ugly, and has insisited that the aquarium stand matches the TV stand, you can forget about drilling the plumbing into the basement to utilize huge skimmer tower and a tub size sump with hundreds of pounds of LR. If you are dosing various trace elements, carbon media will mess with them, but if you have fish only tank, it is a must. UV will kill your plankton for your SPS, but will be very nice thing to prevent bacterias if you have only merey eel in the tank. You might want to go completely "natural" and use only LR, DSB and macroalgae, or say forget all that and just do water changes.

So, if your fish and corals are living and growing happily, and you like your setup and what you are doing, your system is the best, whatever you have.

:

That is a great set of statements, more books should start out with those paragraphs.
I agree we would need to know what he wants in the tank. But I like this thread in general.
Thanks guys.