Living rock/external filtration

[Karakeys]

Hi

I have a relatively new set up. My tank is 150us gallons i have about 50 kilos of cured living fiji rock, 2 external Fluval 404 filters and an external protein skimmer. Ive heard conflicting reports that i should take the biological medium out of my external filters as they will fight against the living rock as they try to do their job. Can someone please advise me.

My tank houses 2 clowns, 1 regal tang, 2 wreck fish, 1 coral beauty, 1 elusive crab (came with living rock), 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 blood shrimp and 1 candy shrimp. 3 anenomes and 1 slug/snail like guy who likes algae.

 

[steelhealr]

Hi Karakeys...I'm not a salt expert, but, I have been doing heavy reading over at nano-reef.com prior to setting up my nano cube. There is tremendous differences in opinion, but, I think the majority are against things like sponges, bioballs and ceramic beads. They say they are nitrate traps. Some of the nanocube owners simply fill the back of the tank chambers with 'live rock rubble' to increase the biologic filtration. Some ditch everything except a simple sponge and keep it as clean as possible. I know that the two tank sizes are dramatically different..but...check out that site and search the posts.....nano-reef.com. I hope this doesn't come across as 'overbearing' since I don't keep salt yet. Good luck with your tank. SH

 

[Ed4567]

I was in a similar situation to you (all be it on a much smaller scale) a while ago. What I did was add a bit more cured live rock to my tank and then gradually remove the biological filtration so that the system had time to adjust. I also added a few more detritus eaters (snails, bristlestar etc.) to my tank to cope with the waste.

You could also just ensure that the biological media is kept clean of detritus by rinsing it in used tank water regularly.

Ed