New nano reef

[The Iceman]

Can I get away with just using power heads and live rock and no hob filters in my nano reef? Power heads and circulation pumps?

 

[Searchin]

How big is the tank?

 

[The Iceman]

It's a 20g long tank. I have a hob filter read its mainly for mechanical purposes. I have live rock and sand. Getting more rock this weekend, I have 24lbs right now. I have a dead spot with no flow and getting brown algae in that corner, plus the filter in the hob is brown

 

[The Iceman]

Tank finished cycling 2 weeks ago

 

[The Iceman]

Also already have one powerhead rated at 500gph, was thinking a smaller one in the opposite corner

 

[marty20]

If you have finished cycling you could give it a try as long as you have a lot of biological filtration like live rock and sand and a good clean up crew. Also if you do it without the filter I would imagine pristine maintenance would have to go along with it and feeding would have to be meticulous to not overfeed the tank at all. Water changes would become more important too. Just some thoughts from me. Im interested to hear what others have to say!

 

[The Iceman]

I appreciate the info, I may leave the filter on for now until I get more live rock and a small powerhead for the the other corner. I also am not using a sump for this. It's just the filter cartridge was really brown inside the filter. I'll just check it every week to make sure it's not getting dirty and clean it when I change water. I did add 2 snails a couple days ago.

 

[marty20]

You could always get a replacement filter cartridge for the filter but if this is a new tank I would recommend the filter until you work out all the kinks and get to understand the ways your tank works before trying to go without one. But at that point I don't see the point in not using one after having it for so long