filtering question

[mountaindew]

If I decide not to go with a sump and refugium what is a good type of filtration for a 110 gal with LRFO.I have 100lbs of LR which is fiji and it will be live rock with fish only tank.

 

[NaH2O]

You can certainly get away with a skimmer. What kinds of fish will you be keeping in it? With really messy eaters, you may want to consider something besides a skimmer, like ozone. I would encourage you to read up on ozone, if that is something you want to try. Are you going to have a substrate of any kind on the bottom of the tank?

Hope this helps!

 

[returnofsid]

Your live rock and skimmer are your best bed. You could also put a couple large HOB power filters or a decent Canister filter. If you go with either the HOB or Canister, make sure you clean your filter media very regularly or it'll turn into a nitrate factory. If you have decent flow, your live rock is going to be doing the largest part of your filtration though and that alone with a skimmer is adequate in most cases.

 

[Krish]

I agree on the live rock...It will/should handle all of your biological filtration needs as well as denitrification. A hang on skimmer would also be a great addition IMO. Other than that, just keep up with water changes using ro/di water and things should go well. Good luck!

 

[NaH2O]

I agree with the above in reference to reef tanks, however, it is important to look at the species of fish in this fish only tank when deciding on filtration. Fish only tanks do not require as high of water quality as reef tanks do, and the fish can deal with a bit of nitrates, so denitrification isn't as important. Also, depending on what kind of load the tank will have, then biological filtration via liverock may not meet the tanks demands. Mechanical filtration and manual removal of waste material will be your best bet. Do you have any desire to move into corals with this tank later? Let us know what species you will be keeping.

Here is a quote from a thread about a fish only tank, that included a ray. The information Mike posted is really good. Up grading help

lyfsux a Skimmer is a very important piece of equipment. You have to look at the system as a whole and how you are going to deal with detritus and waste. Being that it is a pred tank with no corals it means that levels of nitrate are more acceptable as the fish can handle them. The two main fish you have are very messy and eat quite a bit. So your main focus is going to be on dealing with their waste. The ray like to bury itself in the sand, it also likes to jump on top of prey on the sand, so you need sand or cc and with him going in their your going to need to clean it, thus the syphoning. With a pred tank WC's are a big thing also to deal with the larger amount of waste. So with water changes, syphoning and a wet/dry style sump you should have things covered. Now you can get a skimmer I just think it wont have the impact because your going to have to do the above. You would be better off in this case to get a decent UV and use Ozone. That make sense or am I explaining it wrong??

A sump doesn't do any filtration, it just adds water volume and gives you a place to put equipment. So for that no problem but I would still go with a wet/dry concept in the sump. this would convert your ammonia to nitrate which the fish can deal with and then your syphoning and wc's will keep those levels down.
On the LR, most folks use it as a filtration source, In a FO pred tank it will have no chance to keep up with the bioload you will be throwing at it, So I would say put in as much as you want but do it for decorative purposes and not for filtration.
Heres the concept. FO pred tanks are high waste producers, So biological filtration will be way overwhelmed and should not be relied on in this case. So not a big emphasis on LR or LS. Also because the preds eat larger and more prey they are messy and pigs, In the case of a ray he is normally a violent eater, messing up the substraight. You can get a skimmer but It will not deal with the amount of waste and detritus that pred tanks produce unless its a very big and effective unit (I am assuming you will be getting more preds and fish once in the new tank) so I would steer you down the ozone and UV route instead for your filtration, couple this with a wet/dry, Wc's and a good syphoning routeen and you should have a great tank.

Just my thoughts


Mike

 

[mountaindew]

the fish I will have will be a tang,clown and a snowflake eel.the bottom has about 2inches of argonite sand and a inch of live sand

 

[burning2nd]

aqua c my friend

 

[mountaindew]

the skimmer I have now is a super vortex 1002 protein skimmer.is that ok or should I be using a different kind

 

[burning2nd]

well if it's not broke dont fix it...

but if you looking to get a new one.. Im sure aqua c got something that can rock your world

 

[mountaindew]

not broke just not sure if it is working correctly.new at this setup and no instructions with it just going by what I get from everyone on here

 

[Krish]

Fish only tanks do not require as high of water quality as reef tanks do, and the fish can deal with a bit of nitrates, so denitrification isn't as important.

I agree totally...But just keep in mind that not very many people want a FOWLRAA tank (fish only with live rock and algae ) which is why you'd want to keep your nitrates as low as possible through water changes etc even if your fish can handle a pretty reasonable amount of it. Algae caused from excess nutrients (nitrates/phosphates etc) usually always stresses a person out...Atleast it did for me when keeping a FOWLR The rock, I agree won't keep up with a heavy bio-load, but will still serve some purpose. How much, all depends on the bioload and quality/quantity of live rock being used. Just a thought...

 

[NaH2O]

IMO, you don't need too much emphasis on keeping no nitrates in a FOWLR, but need to keep up with tank maintenance (see mojo's quote above). You are right in saying it depends on bioload and quantity of live rock, which needs to be addressed. That is why I asked what species were being kept. Not everyone will be able to get away with only live rock as a filter. Some fish only tanks have very high maintenance demands, which additional equipment can help with. My 2¢

 

[Scooterman]

I used an aquamedic hang on, TB1000 on my 100g tank, worked well for a skimmer of this size. I agree with Nikki, your bio-load will determine what you need to do in order to keep it clean & healthy.