Mechanical Filtration

[Burrower]

In another thread, it was suggested that I not even bother with using filter bags in a whisper power filter unless I was willing to clean them out every day, and it was also recommended to use a turkey baster to blow off detritus and to let the skimmer handle the job. So far I've been doing both with good results, but it certainly has me thinking. I have a sumpless system, my LR is my biological filtration, and my protein skimmer does, well..what a protein skimmer is apt to do! But while designing my system, it seemed to me that I was missing an integral component to assist with mechanical filtration of large particulate matter...particulate matter that I assumed would be too large to be effectively skimmed, so I went out and purchased a cheap HOB power filter to serve as a mechanical filter..I'm really not worried about it's bacterial capabilities.

What are your opinions? Is the whisper power filter doing more harm than good? Will the skimmer be sufficient? I have a phosban reacotr on the way soon, and part of me wants to pull the whisper and hang the reactor in its place (I'm starting to run out of room back there, you know!)

Thanks in advance.

 

[coil1002]

how long has the hob filter been there? Has your nitrates raised since you installed it ? I have always heard they will raise nitrates. So I have never ran one

 

[Burrower]

It's been on about a week, so not very long I'm afraid. In that time, I've noticed a drop in my nitrates, but I'm also having lots of algal growth too It's a newly cycled tank so nitrate readings are still in a bit of a flux.

 

[coil1002]

Hrrm back in the day on my 55 I only used a skimmer live rock and water changes never had any probs. I would use the space for the p reactor. Of course I would also wait on that till the tank settled down at least 6 months but thats me. I dont even like protien skimming till the tanks 4 months old.

 

[Curtswearing]

I made a quick reply originally when I should have been more detailed.

When fish food, fish waste, and bacterial mulm sit on mechanical media with a constant source of water running through it, it rots quicker. You won't likely even get a Ammonia reading with a test kit from the rot because bacteria will immediately attack, change the Ammonia to Nitrite and then change the Nitrite to Nitrates. Because the Oxygen level on the mechanical filter media won't allow bacteria to grow that convert Nitrates, the nitrates will go right into the tank.

Depending on what you want to keep in the tank, this might not be a big deal. Fish do fine with nitrates. Some soft corals and clams even like nitrates. Unfortunately, algaes like nitrates too. If you run the Whisper non-stop and don't clean it often, you will have more phosphates and nitrates in your tank. It's not the end of the world...you will just to need to do water changes more often. (I HATE water changes which should explain my original comment).

It's not doing more harm than good. In fact, after you turkey baste your rock it will serve a very useful purpose. It will, along with the skimmer, pick up the pieces of detritus floating around. I would run it 24/7 without the media except once per week when you turkey baste and then run it for two days. OR I would run it 24/7 and rinse the media daily to remove as much detritus as possible.


PS, with longer tubing, you can even put the phosban reactor on the floor to save on hang-on space.

 

[Krish]

IMO, a power filter can't hurt if you take care of it properly. What this means is if you are going to allow the filter pad or sponge to sit for a week before changing/cleaning it, it will cause water quality issues which will cause more harm than good. It is usually recommended to clean/change them daily, but I'd say atleast every two days at most. I got the the point where I don't use sponges, pads, socks etc anywhere in my system at all. My pumps don't even use any of the pre-filter sponges! All I do is my weekly water changes of 10%, run a skimmer, a phosban reactor and call it a day. I haven't seen any traces of nitrates in months! As for turkey basting, it is a good idea if your flow isn't doing the job. I use to do it to my rocks, but then I went all crazy with flow and now my rocks laugh at a turkey baster I have about 4,000 gph of flow on a 38gal (about 100x turnover) and works great for me! Also, you don't need a sump to have a nice looking, nitrate free clean tank. Sherman doesn't run a sump and has one of the best tanks here! Also, don't forget...If you have corals in your tank, with the flow keeping the detritus in suspension, they will do some of the work for you as that is what some corals feed on. Best of luck

 

[Burrower]

Thanks for the responses all. Curtswearing, I assumed that's what you had meant, but I've learned not to assume too much any more!

 

[Burrower]

Krish...Sheeesh that's amazing flow! Does it sound like an ocean breaking on the rocks in there?

 

[Krish]

ROFL! Nope! You can't really hear anything to be honest! Here's a few photo's of my flow. (2) external pumps at 1506 gph each and a mag950 (950 gph) for return

I have the 6 nozzles coming out of the back of the tank for the closed loop (you can only see 4 up top in the second attachment, but there are2 down low) and the return is the one you see on the top in attachment 4