scuba_steve
Aquarium Advice Addict
hello all !! new to this forum but like what i see and read !! for starters ive had a sw fish only system for over 7 years was not really all that serious with it but due to lvl 5 fish all was good !!! lol have made drastic changes the past few months to make their lives better and the fish cupid got me again!! heheh planning a trip to the keys in may and was planning on bring back some goodies for my first reef tank !! ive read so many books about diff set ups and some use bio filters on there reef and others dont ¿? why¿? i read that the LR will do my bio-filtering but isnt more better¿? i understand that mechanical filtering isnt ideal cause most critters are filter feeders right ¿? but most skimmers or at least mine has a sponge on it which would be doing this!!! also wondering why backpac skimmers are so popular?¿? mabe size but with all my reading that would be the last skimmer to buy¿?¿ due to most say the taller the better ?!¿! 2nd am curious if anyone uses miracle mud filtering in stead of wet/dry ?!?!? was doing some reading about the miracle mud filter and they stated that no skimmer would be needed ¿!¿ true / false ?¿? i like the eco system seams a better way to go cause it more natural?!?!?and would this work for a reef?? sound more like a refuim to me ?? also what is the ideal flow rate for a reef set up in a 55 gallon when my fish were in there one being a 12" spotted puffer i had close to 1348 gallons (2500 rio/2 550 powerheads 150 each / skimmer 150 guessing / wet dry filter 150 guessing)an hour pumping thru it heheheh but kept it very very cleen !!! now all fish are in a 70 gallon and doing good i built my own wet dry which leads to whats the best flow rate there(over the balls) ?? i set it up that my magnum 350 sucks water out the tank and into a trash can full of balls and the rio pump pumping water back to the tank !! NO BULK HEAD the mag pumps more water than the rio but if ya switch the intake and the exhaust lines the intake to the magnum will only be an inch or two below the surface!! so when the water starts to get low in the tank it starts a whirlpool and sucks a little bit of air which slows the flow till the rio catches up !!! been working great for 2 months now !!! worst thing i see happening is i burn up a impeller/pump right¿?¿ my sump is marked and the water stays at the line i want !! makes a bit of a slurping sound every now and then but so be it !! not an issue for me !!! read about people making theres and what now but for me this is working great if anyone sees any issues with this let me know please !!! sorry so long just reading and confused somewhat