Need Som Good Advice

[luv*my*fishies]

I have an 18 gallon tank, and i have been having problems with my filtration. EVERYONE is telling me something different.

As of now.. i have a hob whisper filter... NOT A SKIMMER

Everything is dieing and my nitrates are extremly high. (frequent water changes.. every two to three days)

Cant get them down. One preson is telling me to buy a skimmer... and that this is essential in my tank. (along with a powerhead, which i guess just moves the water around?) Another person is telling me that those are a waiste of money and that my tank simply needs a water change more often.

In the meantime.. nothing is doing to well. I have one clown (who is ok) and 5 hermit crabs 4 snails and one emerald crab.

temp is about 76

about ten lbs of live rock.

Anybody have ne input on this? I just am so confused. Dont wanna lose anything else. (i allready lost a starfish.)

Thanks!

 

[Dragonscales]

Short term I would do a few largish water changes with RO water (and would change to RO if you aren't using it already).

Long term, there are a number of options open to you. A protein skimmer isn't a necessity strictly speaking, although they are definitely going to do more help than harm as well as being a very useful tool in reducing the number of unwanted things floating about the water column which are very likely contributing to the nitrate problem. Another thing to think about would be adding more liverock as well as the amount of flow in the tank (and more specifically the amount of flow passing through the liverock). Try not to overfeed as well as this is only going to make matters worse.

 

[luv*my*fishies]

thanks for the help..... to get the water moving through my liverock.... should i buy a powerhead... is that what those do? also is a filter and skimmer in one a good buy.. or not really. i am looking at the Skilter 400 Power Filter & Protein Skimmer in One Unit?

 

[Dragonscales]

A couple of powerheads will help greatly as they will force water through the liverock which acts as a natural filter for the tank (this is why I suggested getting some more liverock, 1 to 1 1/2 pounds to a gallon is a good rule of thumb). Try to ensure that there are no deadspots in the tank (areas with little to no flow) and aim the jets at the actual liverock itself, the rock will take care of the rest. If you are going to use sponge filter type powerheads then you should probably remove the filters from them and leave just the housing where the sponge, etc would sit. This would also act as an in tank refugium as well that way (in relation to your other thread).

As for the filter/skimmer combo, I can't really comment there as I've never seen or used that particular model before (perhaps someone else can help with that) but on an educated guess I'd say it'd have to be alot better than a hang on back filter.

 

[JJ1234567]

Well! First things first. The whisper filters have the built in sponge with the carbon. Its well documented that in the salt side of things the sponges act as nitrate traps. So...if you want to stick with a HOB filter ditch the whisper and get an Aquaclear. And just put the carbon in or live rock. No need for the sponge. Also, your going to need powerheads to get your tanks overall flow/turnover to at least 360 gph. And add more live rock, try to get up to at LEAST 18 lbs.

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, ditch the sponges and kick up the flowrate in your tank a bit. Live Rock is your filtration and it needs flow to function properly