filtration
- Thread starter tbrock
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
BrendanH
Aquarium Advice Activist
You don't necessarily need a seperate filter but you do need far more filtration than a skimmer will provide. The skimmer will help remove dissolved organic compounds (DOCs) but it will not help with nitrification, ie biological filtration, which is the key filtration you need. You can get this type of filtration with about 2-3" live sand and as much live rock as you can afford. For a 50g it would be great to have about 80-100lbs rock but not all of it needs to start out right away as live rock. You can use some base rock and then add some live rock on top to seed the rest of it. Likewise you do not need to start with all live sand but can seed "dead" sand with a few cups of mature live sand.
I've got a 55g and I'm running a Fluval 404 canister filter aswell as all the LR/LS and an AquaC Remora Pro skimmer (excellent skimmer btw - I think most here will recommend that if you're looking for a HOB type). My canister filter is not 100% necessary but can be useful for running carbon and other chemical filtration on occasion.
Keep reading before making any final decisions. This is a pretty complicated sport but well worth the effort
Welcome !
I've got a 55g and I'm running a Fluval 404 canister filter aswell as all the LR/LS and an AquaC Remora Pro skimmer (excellent skimmer btw - I think most here will recommend that if you're looking for a HOB type). My canister filter is not 100% necessary but can be useful for running carbon and other chemical filtration on occasion.
Keep reading before making any final decisions. This is a pretty complicated sport but well worth the effort
Welcome !
BrendanH
Aquarium Advice Activist
BTW - I'm not sure how much research you've already done but here are some key areas to look into before taking the plunge :
- Water movement (ie. powerheads and lots of 'em !! )
- Heaters (get good quality heaters right from the start, eg. EBO-JAGER and it's better to have 2 instead of just one for redundancy)
- Food (feeding small amounts of high quality food is important - no flakes if possible)
- Test kits (you need to test for various water chems such as Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, Specific Gravity, and possibly Calcium, Magnesium and ALK if you intend to have a reef tank (ie. some corals))
- Lighting (only important if keeping any corals or if you want good coralline growth on LR in a FOWLR)
- Salt (a lot of people have a lot of differing opinions on what salts are good so do some reading and make up your own mind. It's useful to start with a good salt as switching later is a bit of a pain)
- Water (Not a simple as turning on the tap unfortunately. Do some reading about RO/DI water. If you can start with that right from the first fill you will have less problems down the road)
- Safety (be sure to connect all electrical equipment through GFCI outlets so you don't get electrocuted !)
Finally - if a lot of the terms above are confusing try moving your mouse pointer over the ones highlighted in red - it will give you a little popup with the full term.
Finally Finally - get a copy of "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Bob Fenner and read it cover to cover before setting up
Good luck !
Brendan.
- Water movement (ie. powerheads and lots of 'em !! )
- Heaters (get good quality heaters right from the start, eg. EBO-JAGER and it's better to have 2 instead of just one for redundancy)
- Food (feeding small amounts of high quality food is important - no flakes if possible)
- Test kits (you need to test for various water chems such as Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, Specific Gravity, and possibly Calcium, Magnesium and ALK if you intend to have a reef tank (ie. some corals))
- Lighting (only important if keeping any corals or if you want good coralline growth on LR in a FOWLR)
- Salt (a lot of people have a lot of differing opinions on what salts are good so do some reading and make up your own mind. It's useful to start with a good salt as switching later is a bit of a pain)
- Water (Not a simple as turning on the tap unfortunately. Do some reading about RO/DI water. If you can start with that right from the first fill you will have less problems down the road)
- Safety (be sure to connect all electrical equipment through GFCI outlets so you don't get electrocuted !)
Finally - if a lot of the terms above are confusing try moving your mouse pointer over the ones highlighted in red - it will give you a little popup with the full term.
Finally Finally - get a copy of "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Bob Fenner and read it cover to cover before setting up
Good luck !
Brendan.
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