Opinion on Filters for SW?

[jgraeff]

I have an emperor 400 running on my 30g reef tank witch also has a refugium and skimmer. My question is do filters house for nitrates? should i get rid of the filter and run a bigger skimmer with more flow? Or is it ok to have a filter running on a sw tank?

 

[Myteemouse]

I dumped my filter and trats went down 20+ in two weeks.
The best filter in a SW tank is live rock.
use the canister to run carbon or other media in an emergency
Some say O.K. some say not.
I'm sure others will chime in with other info.
As for the skimmer, the ratings on most or way high.
I don't quite understand the "flow" part of the question.
I would go with a good skimmer and good flow.

 

[jgraeff]

the filter adds flow to the tank so if i got rid of that i would have to increase the flow.

 

[ac7av]

On a reef tank IMO you should try to get away from the filter and go more live rock. The filter is just fine for a fish only tank and I use one on a fish only tank. You can still use it like Myteemouse said to run carbon or other filter pads to eliminate any chemical problem you may encounter in the tank. What you could do is remove all that trays and fill it full of rubble and leave enough room for the last tray to put your carbon or what ever you may want to put in it.

 

[jgraeff]

ok, well all i have in it is carbon and phosphate removing foam, so i am ok with that then right?

 

[loohunter]

ok, well all i have in it is carbon and phosphate removing foam, so i am ok with that then right?

you actually should rinse the media and baskets every few days because they trap alot of detritus and it sort of defeats the purpose of having the media in there

 

[Myteemouse]

exactly loohunter they collect soooo much gunk they are hard to keep clean.
As for flow just pick up a cheap Maxijet 600-1200 for less than 20 bucks and there is your flow.

 

[tri_pod_rod]

just like everyone else said bunch of crushed LR and a little bit of carbon well go a long way and a cheap pump for flow

 

[jgraeff]

ok, i will rinse out the cartridges every couple days, what about the crushed LR? do i put it in the filter and if so do i have to wash that out and if so how should i?