whats the deal with the emperor 400

[juice28]

I currently am running an emeperor 400 on my 47high tank, now ive heard some pretty basic, uninformative things about this set up so i figured id ask the pros! now i plan on adding a couple powerheds or i was actually going to get another emperor probaby the smaller 250. that should be close to 700 gph with the combo plus added filtration so this is my question/s

1. Is its sufficient for my tanks main source of filtration?

2. Is it a good product to use? Ive heard mixed reviews on biowheels

3. would the 2 on the tank be a good set up or add pwr head or switch it up all together?

4. how do you recomend cleanimg the filters or should i just discard them and buy brand new ones when that turn a little brown? (im talking about the blue pad filters not like filters that hold the carbon or whatever you put in them)

[MichaelsLilGray]

Every tank i have has emperor 400's on it.. my 55 has one and a little walmart cheepy to keep circulation.. then my 125 has 2 400's... and a fruval 305. I love my biowheels. you also want to look at it this way.. 700gph is a 14.8% turnover... (turns over the water 14.8... 15% in an hour.. ususally you want to stay around 10%) It may be a little over kill.. but if the fish arnt struggling to stay in one spot.. that will be more than ample.

[juice28]

ok thanks, I know I need good circulating for adding corals and its pretty ok but i see tanks with 3-4 big power heads and its like the wind is blowing in them lol my tank just has a little breeze.. i moved my pump(as you can see) on the side wel lactually i moved my rocks to the side and left the pump on the back but you get the point, i rearanged it so the rocks were not directly blocking my intakes for my pump which increased flow.. thanks

[melosu58]

You basically dont need the bio wheel. Proper amount of LR and a skimmer is basically all you need along with some frequent PWC`s. That`s all I had on my reef for 7 yrs.

[juice28]

wow that is the simplest thing i have heard, all ive been reading is get a sump and a protien skimmer and a ref. and an overflow and rodi/o and im like c'mon..seriously...with my tank, ayou ouldnt even see my tank with all that on and around it..have you seem my tank? im wondering if I need more rock im sure I do but the rule of poundage soesnt seem all that right to me, I have some rocks that are softball sized ut weight about6-7 lbs and i have a piece thats the size of a small long shaped watermellon that weighs about 10 so the ration of rock surface area compared to weight of the rock is vastly diferent. I usually get rocks by "size" instead of weight maybe im doing it wrong but that makes sense to me... why get 50 lbs of small dense round rocks that dont even take up a 1/4 of the tank when you get get 50 lbs of large porus rock that will take up 3/4 of the tank..