Questions on Filter options

TitansFan

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Well I have decided to take the Salt Water plunge. The tank I am considering is 135 Gallons (US) 72" x 18" x 25" High. As I have read here and learned with my experience with cichlids the bigger the better. I want to have a fish only tank with live rock for filtration and homes for my fish to be. I am just searching for a filter to help out. The tank will be pre-drilled. So I guess a wet/dry with a sump and protein skimmer added? I just don't know what brand/model ect. My next question is what lighting options should I go with.

I have budgeted $300-$400 for my filter and lights to be determined.
Any suggestions/weblinks would be greatly appreciated.

By the Way great forum/posts you have here. I have gotten much valuable reading from them.
 
No filters needed. If you get 125-150 lbs of live rock, and cycle well, you will be all set.

Do not spend a fortune on a wet/dry setup. All you really need for a sump is a large rubbermaid container that will fit in your stand. This will allow you to place your heaters and skimmer in it. Good for starters anyway.

Since you will be running a FOWLR, lighting will not be too bad of an issue. But plan a lighting system you can upgrade because the corals will become too tempting. I think the simplest route would be an Icecap 430 VHO ballast running two six foot bulbs. Then if you decide to get into corals, a pair of halides is an easy addition to them.

GL
 
I agree with GL. With a 25 height tank however, you will really need halides for corals as these light have the punching power to penetrate down to this depth.
 
Sounds like I need to save my money for the lights.

"But plan a lighting system you can upgrade because the corals will become too tempting." --- The corals are beautiful, but the lfs tells me adding corals will severly cut down on the number of and types of fish I can house.

As for the live rock. 100-150 punds sounds like alot. About how much volume in the tank could I expect that to use? Also since this is a new tank setup could I get all the rock at once and cure it inside the tank instead of out? Would it be more of a benefit for me to do it that way?

Back to my high-tech rubbermaid sump tank. What else would be the best benefit to put in it besides the protein skimmer. I have read other posts from Navarre recommending a mud system. I can be a nut about filtration as I am with my freshwater. I don't want to just keep my fish alive but I want them to thrive.
 
I have 200 pounds of LR in my 125. It does not take long to add up.

I would get 100-125lbs of live rock, and 50-75lbs of base rock, and cure it and cycle your tank with it all at once.

Your lfs told you corals take away from the volume of fish able to be kept???
Puzzling, most corals are filter feeders. The more corals I add, the more stable my tank becomes.

You'll have to pick Navarres brain on the miracle mud thing. I have never run one.


GL
 
I think what the LFS meant was the types of fish will be limiting if a reef is kept. FOr example, Butterflies and large angels, triggers etc are not reef safe so this means they are not an option to be keptin the tank.

As for the MM system. Im not sure how to take the comment, my fish dont "survive" they are in great condition, and with some of the Corals i have (mostly Acros) these are quite delicate and need an excellant filtration system.

MM is not a crazy idea, its tried and tested and what is even better its a totaly natural way to filtrate your tank. The mud gives off mineral and trace eliments that will allow macro algea to flourish in your sump. These algeas i n return will doa fantastic job at removing NItrates and phosphates. I have a huge poluation of pods in my sump along with all sorts of other life, brittle stars, bristleworms, cerith snails and stomatella snails etc. This ecsystem is running very smoothly indeed. With the addition of mangroves this will help nutrient extraction even further.
Mechanical filtration is ok and does have its place but my view is that nature has had roughly 200,000,000 years more experience than us and our mecahnical filters are very poor in comparison to liverock and macro algeas.

As my tank is mainly an sps tank with the majority of them being Acros. Its important to run it nutrient poor. They dont like night nitrates or phosphates so if i had doubts that the system would not do its job then i would look for something else.

Edit: The reason i dont run a skimmer is beacuse the manufactureres dont recomend one to be used. A skimmer is another device where man just isnt skilled enough to design smething that can remove harmful toxins and leave the good trace eliments. A skimmer doesnt differ betwen good and bad substance and thus will remove them as well. A real good skimmer will do more harm to a MM than good as it will remove the very tracve eliments that the MM is designed to give to the marco algeas.
I also run skimmerless because i use natural seawater and i think its vital that my corals get the plankton and trace eliments that this water will carry.
 

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