Over the top?

[Paulm87]

My marine fish tank is 34gallons (red sea max 130d) and I want to upgrade the equipment. I'm going to buy a bigger protein skimmer, a fluidised sand bed, a uv filter and is there any need for an external filter with all this plus live rock? Or will that be enough? I want my water to be the best I can get it to be, I'm also going to buy a RO unit

 

[mr_X]

i don't think you need any of that stuff. just do regular water changes with your new R.O. unit and not only will your water be clean, the elements that are needed by your corals will be replenished, deleting the need for any additives.

 

[SHARPiE]

Whats your stock list like?
What are your water parameters?
What prompted you to upgrade?

Without knowing the above, I'd have to agree: it's overkill and your LFS is trying to upsell to you. The Red Sea tanks are pretty good off-the-shelf.

 

[Paulm87]

It's standing empty at the minute but I'm gonna build and set it up at the end of the month. The stock protein skimmer is terrible and constantly needs adjusting it just doesn't work. I plan to have 4 to 5 small and mainly concentrate on corals.

 

[SHARPiE]

Fair enough - In that case if it were me, I'd only upgrade the skimmer.

IMO, I wouldn't go with the fluidised sand bed, UV filter or external filter they are overkill - someone else may back me up here.

Overkill can be a good thing - EG: heater, it's better to use a heater that is rated for a much larger tank as it will be more efficient in heating the tank.

At the end of the day, if your budget permits and you see a valid reason for replacing the old - why not?

In regards to the external filter, you won't need it if you have enough LR and Power Heads to keep the water turing over.

Before you emptied your tank what were you keeping?
Was there something in there to make you think you might need a UV filter or a sand liquidizer?

 

[Paulm87]

I had 2 false percula clownfish, a Midas blenny, a sixline wrasse and a red stripe angelfish, I had a lot of Cyanobacteria and couldn't get rid of it, I know that UV filters help to kill algae spores but also heard that they can damage free floating good bacteria, do the benefits outweigh the cons? I had 22 kilos of live rock with plenty of flow too.

 

[mr_X]

cut back your feeding and implement the R.O.D.I. unit to rid yourself of the excess nutrients that caused the cyano. a U.V. sterilizer will do nothing for cyanobacteria.

 

[Paulm87]

I used RO from a LFS but I think the cartridges in the RO unit were depleted because it seemed to come on after the water change

 

[SHARPiE]

I think the best thing to do us get the RODI from the word go and use it for all water changes. Look for a decent brand of skimmer, it's best not to go cheap for a skimmer.

The UV does kill good bacteria, but very little good bacteria is in the water column. The good bacteria is in your live rock. On that note for a 34 gallon tank you'd be looking at closer to 40kgs of live rock.

 

[Paulm87]

I thought rule of thumb was 1.5 to 2 pounds per gallon, 40 kilos in 34 gallons would be nearly 2.6 pounds per gallon. 22 kilos seemed like too much when I had that in, I think I'll go for 18 in the DT and if I get a sump put 3 to 4 kilos in that.

 

[SHARPiE]

Sorry - got confused with the conversions. Should have said 40 pounds. (which is what you have anyway!)

 

[huma-huma]

A good strong flow over your lr and a sump/refugium will do you wonders. I've heard that skimmers also take out some necessary chems in your water along with the bad. I have 2 1140gph ph's ,an emperor 400 and my dual overflow running. That being said, I have to clean my sponge filter in my refuge every 3 days because the waterflow in the tank is so good, it collects all the waste in the refugium.