Is there a way of filtering water with out so much live rock
- Thread starter bj5z25
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Fluff
Aquarium Advice Addict
You can use mechanical filtration on your tank with hob filters or canister filters. I couldn't offer an opinion on one or the other since I use neither. Personally I like the idea of natural filtration with live rock but it's an individual choice. Also, you could look at base rock. It is usually half the price of regular live rock and serves the same purpose.
SirLight1337
Aquarium Advice Activist
Get 50- 60 lbs of base and the rest live. Seed the baserock with the liverock and in a few months, you will have all live rock. There are all types of Canister, Hang on back, and internal filters. Usally these would work best on Fish Only tanks. With a reef tank you want the nitrates as low as possible, and typically these types of canister filters just force all of the waste into one spot. It never actually removes it. So now all of your "filtered" water has to run through where all of this waste has collected at one point or another inside of the filter. With regularly weekly maintanence this may work for you. But most people like the idea of a self sustaining mini ecosystem type aquarium 
HTH
HTHwhere to get
might be a silly question...
any reputable place to get standard live rock?
on LR.com they have live base rock, but for the purposes of letting a small amount of live rock seed the non-live baserock, i think i was looking at the wrong thing.
might be a silly question...
any reputable place to get standard live rock?
on LR.com they have live base rock, but for the purposes of letting a small amount of live rock seed the non-live baserock, i think i was looking at the wrong thing.
Fluff
Aquarium Advice Addict
I've heard good things about http://hirocks.com/
Then you could get a bit of liverocks.com baserock and/or liverock.
Your base rock doesn't have to be live, it can be dry rock. The bacteria will colonize it over time.
Then you could get a bit of liverocks.com baserock and/or liverock.
Your base rock doesn't have to be live, it can be dry rock. The bacteria will colonize it over time.
seaham358
Aquarium Advice Addict
To do things right in this hobby you can't be cheap... LR is the best filtration we can get... I would look into base rock like the others suggest.. Or you can Buy a little LR at a time and just cure it in a garbage can then add to the tank if you can't get it all at once.
SALTYDAWGY
Aquarium Advice Activist
I second Sirlight's response
malkore
Aquarium Advice Addict
I'm under hte impression that base rock is always dead rock...like the stuff they have at hirocks.com
Live rock is a general term that covers gulf rock, keyes rock, tonga, fiji...etc...any actual 'live' rock, pulled wet from the ocean/aquaculturing pools, and kept alive during transport. Liverocks.com is great for live rock. I've heard good things about hirocks.com but haven't personally used them.
The only thing about using a small percentage of live rock is that you MUST be extra patient, and stock slowly enough for the dead rock to become live...which is really about the same average time as cycling a new tank: 4 weeks. Coralline algae will take longer to form, so don't use the color of the dead rock as an indicator that it's alive.
Live rock is a general term that covers gulf rock, keyes rock, tonga, fiji...etc...any actual 'live' rock, pulled wet from the ocean/aquaculturing pools, and kept alive during transport. Liverocks.com is great for live rock. I've heard good things about hirocks.com but haven't personally used them.
The only thing about using a small percentage of live rock is that you MUST be extra patient, and stock slowly enough for the dead rock to become live...which is really about the same average time as cycling a new tank: 4 weeks. Coralline algae will take longer to form, so don't use the color of the dead rock as an indicator that it's alive.
haus
Aquarium Advice Freak
I did the base rock thing. I started with 40 lbs of base rock and put 8 lbs of lr in with it. Now it is all lr and I have another piece of base rock curing right now. The base rock is about 50% of the cost of lr at my lfs (plus the owner give me a police discount 
). It is definitely cheaper, but it is slower, and patience is part of the hobby.
). It is definitely cheaper, but it is slower, and patience is part of the hobby.EJS4
Aquarium Advice Freak
Just another option, Make your own rock. It's cheaper than even base rock but it takes even more time. Has to cure at least 6weeks before you add to tank. Check out www.reefs.org/library/talklog/t_miller_052498.html and www.garf.org
pearsont74
Aquarium Advice FINatic
ok...a question no one seems to ask...what kinda set up do you want?
if you want just FO then you can go with something other then LR as your filter
I dont suggest a canister cause you'll be cleaning it alot - you can go with a wet/dry setup and replace the bioballs with LR rubble or mix it some LR rubble and the rest dead rock and that along with a PS you will get good filtering
no offence to these other guys but i disagree with the dont go cheap statement - if you shop wisely then you can get good LR and stuff at cheap prices
i went to ebay and happened to find a local guy sellin LR and dealt with him directly to get great LR for less then LR.com can sell and they are local to me...use the internet and shop....research
if you want just FO then you can go with something other then LR as your filter
I dont suggest a canister cause you'll be cleaning it alot - you can go with a wet/dry setup and replace the bioballs with LR rubble or mix it some LR rubble and the rest dead rock and that along with a PS you will get good filtering
no offence to these other guys but i disagree with the dont go cheap statement - if you shop wisely then you can get good LR and stuff at cheap prices
i went to ebay and happened to find a local guy sellin LR and dealt with him directly to get great LR for less then LR.com can sell and they are local to me...use the internet and shop....research
sdellin
Aquarium Advice Addict
Fluff said:
Question, how do you filter out particles if you don't have mechanical filtration? The idea of natural filtration sounds good, but I don't understand how it works.
seaham358
Aquarium Advice Addict
Particles of what?? I have 2 tanks with a sump set up on both with no filter pads and there are no particles in the water? The only time I have sand particles is when my eel redoes his home once a week and that settles out after a short time. If you have particles in the tank alot you need to figure out where there coming from and adjust that.
Running a filter to help clean the water is fine but there is no better filtration then LR. Natural filtration is more of the break down of nitrites/nitrates/denitrification not the actural "filtering" of water as your thinking.
Running a filter to help clean the water is fine but there is no better filtration then LR. Natural filtration is more of the break down of nitrites/nitrates/denitrification not the actural "filtering" of water as your thinking.
malkore
Aquarium Advice Addict
pearson - since he stated he was using live rock, I assumed FOWLR or Reef. If we asked every question possible, we'd never finish a topic
sdellin - with proper flow, and a skimmer, there won't be particles floating around...they'll be broken down by the DSB and/or removed via skimming.
if you have a particular issue with floating particles, you could add a small HOB filter to teh tank and run it as necessary. I do this with an AC Mini, to remove the layer of scum that sometimes builds up on the surface of my water, 48 hours prior to a water change.
sdellin - with proper flow, and a skimmer, there won't be particles floating around...they'll be broken down by the DSB and/or removed via skimming.
if you have a particular issue with floating particles, you could add a small HOB filter to teh tank and run it as necessary. I do this with an AC Mini, to remove the layer of scum that sometimes builds up on the surface of my water, 48 hours prior to a water change.
sdellin
Aquarium Advice Addict
I think this is still on the topic...
I have live rock in my tank and a canister filter. The live rock is in a loose formation and about 1/2, maybe a little more, of the space in the tank is live rock (read about those two items in the articles). I'm understanding that I don't need the bio-media in the canister filter, but what I meant was, I use filter floss, to filter out particulate matter, and carbon, for whatever it does, in the canister filter as well. I have a protein skimmer and two powerheads for flow (plus the one with the skimmer). Are you all telling me that I can just get rid of my canister filter if I want? I don't really see particulate matter, but I'm a previous freshwater aquarist, so I just assumed that a filter was necessary.
Also, I have my 15-gallon Eclipse system with it's little filter pad that has carbon inside, but the guy who gave it to me was also running a flubal 104 with carbon, filter floss and bio-balls , so I just kept it set up that way. Could I nix the fluval canister and just use the setup that came with the Eclipse tank for my filtration? In that tank, I don't have much live rock, but I have a gramma, two very small clowns, a dragonet and a six-line wrasse, no inverts. (7.5 inches of fish recommeded by saltwater aquariums for dummies).
I have live rock in my tank and a canister filter. The live rock is in a loose formation and about 1/2, maybe a little more, of the space in the tank is live rock (read about those two items in the articles). I'm understanding that I don't need the bio-media in the canister filter, but what I meant was, I use filter floss, to filter out particulate matter, and carbon, for whatever it does, in the canister filter as well. I have a protein skimmer and two powerheads for flow (plus the one with the skimmer). Are you all telling me that I can just get rid of my canister filter if I want? I don't really see particulate matter, but I'm a previous freshwater aquarist, so I just assumed that a filter was necessary.
Also, I have my 15-gallon Eclipse system with it's little filter pad that has carbon inside, but the guy who gave it to me was also running a flubal 104 with carbon, filter floss and bio-balls , so I just kept it set up that way. Could I nix the fluval canister and just use the setup that came with the Eclipse tank for my filtration? In that tank, I don't have much live rock, but I have a gramma, two very small clowns, a dragonet and a six-line wrasse, no inverts. (7.5 inches of fish recommeded by saltwater aquariums for dummies).
Similar threads
