Filtration Options

[ANIM4L]

Ok right now in my 60 gallon tank i have about 80 lbs of live rock, 80 lbs of live sand, a 150 gallon marineland seaclone protein skimmer, rena xp3 cannister filter with live rock in it (up to 175 gallon tank), and about 28 x turnover with all my powerheads. I was abotu to add a marineland H.O.T filter with the micron cartridge, to filter out debris in the water, is it worth using this item to filter out, or would i be better letting the debris float aorund for the animals? i also didnt know if the micron cartridge would take out any good minerals. should i use it or not? i would clean it every week, so it wont build up nitrate probems. i just want my water to be as perfect as possible... what are your opinions on this? experiences if u have them

 

[SkiFletch]

since I see that you're using a sump-refrigium filtration, I'd leave the stuff in the tank and allow your macro algae, skimmer and cleanup crew take care of it. dont have much experience to back that up, but thats what all my research is leading me towards

 

[ANIM4L]

i dont have a sump, unlesss you want to call my xp3 that i set up for pure flow an dbiological a sump, i want to build one but dont know if i can with my room availability

 

[JJ1234567]

If I were you I would do an over head sump, something with a low flow rate, that if fed by a powerhead from the main tank. Then I would put an overflow on it to just drain back into the main tank. You can set it up so that it looks like two seperate but beautiful tanks.

 

[SkiFletch]

I agree. Would take some crafting skills but definitely a cool idea

 

[ANIM4L]

that sounds awesome! How can i do that? anyone have drafting plans for that??? if so then i would be freaking happy cuz i am debating on if i am goign to even do a reef tank since i have no room for a sump or refugium, but i hecka want to, would it be hard or expensive??? please help if u know

 

[JJ1234567]

Ummm, if you search there are some drawups of this but its really pretty simple, the one Im doing on my 70 gallon is a little more complicated than this, but I always seem to make things more complicated. anyways, make a shelf or something that sits OVER your tank and lighting unit. Run a pipe up and over the edge with a small powerhead, somethign relativly low flow. Then drill the other edge of the tank put in a small weir, and run a direct flow return right into the top of your main tank. pretty simple.