Saltwater Reef Tank vrs Saltwater Fish Tank

[ESL12]

So just so I know I am on the page here.... A skimmer, and Live Rock? No other filtration is really needed? Keep in mind im coming from freshwater with Hang over the back filters.... So with Saltwater fish only you can get by without any electric filtration?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Yes and no. A skimmer could be considered electric filtration, but not like you're thinking from FW. In a nutshell, a skimmer generates a ton of bubbles and pushes them up a tube to overflow into a collection chamber. Think about the foamy line along the beach at the ocean - that's exactly what a skimmer is duplicating. And an electric pump drives that whole setup.

But yes... live rock (an appropriate amount as others have noted) and a skimmer is really all that's needed. Many of us (me included) will have either a cannister or a HOB filter to run chemical media in. Chemcial media normally used would be activated carbon, phosphate removers, or any of the numerous man-made carbon alternatives.

 

[ESL12]

Hmm... This is very interesting information. So what is the added benefit of a canister filter, or a wet/dry filter system?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Just my opinion, as I'm sure others won't agree, but...

Canisters and wet/dry filters are kind of "leftovers" from before "live rock" became the predominant (or at least "in favor") method of bacterial filtration. Just like FW, the bacteria need a place to live, and in the past the sponge media in the cannisters, or the bio-balls in the wet/dry have been the place to house that. But live rock does the same thing, and in a more natural way. (Haven't seen many bioballs floating around the reefs!)

The benefit of a these filters now though is that they give you increased water volume (thus diluting pollutants more) and a place to put chemical media. Most folks running live rock will remove any sponges or bioballs in a cannister or wet/dry and either replace it with live rock rubble or just leave them empty.

[Edit: Additional point about skimmers... many folks with FO (fish only) tanks will skip having a skimmer and just deal with nitrates in the 20-40ppm level with water changes. Fish can deal with those nitrate levels. They'd obviously prefer less, but they can deal with it. But once you start keeping corals, you really want those nitrates as close to 0.0 as you can get. And skimmers basically intercept the organics in the water and get them out before they can break down into nitrates, keeping your water more pristine to start with.]

 

[CaptainAhab]

A sump gives you added water volume, a place to keep your equipment hidden (heaters, skimmer, etc) you can add macro algae, more sand, more LR for filtration plus if you have critters/livestock that cause you problems you have a place to put them until you can deal w/ them.

The canister would mainly be a choice over a HOB. Looks better, provides more flow. You also can put LR in the compartments for filtration.

One thing to keep in mind is that SW filtration is different. You won't have any of the sponges in your filters (or shouldn't). Your clean up crew will take care of all that stuff. So in the can you would put LR rubble, any filter media you want to run (carbon, purigen, GFO, etc).

That's kinda the 5,000 ft view

 

[ESL12]

Ok, so this is making a alot more sense to me now.... Basically for my needs, ( building this tank into a wall in my basemet ) The sump will provide me with the cleanest look ( IE less items in the tank ) and give me an additional 10-20 gallons of water. How important is this extra volume? I want to do this right and not rush it, but i don't want to go overboard and do way more then i really need to.

 

[nanoluvr]

well...as stated before, the more volume the easier it is to maintain. A 20 gallon sump would do nicely. Then you can stick your heaters, skimmer etc... in there, and keep it clean like you want it. You're not going overboard w/ a sump. You can build one very easily w/ little cost compared to buying a ready made one as well.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Ahhh... if you're building something into a wall, I'd definitely go with a sump just to hide all the equipment in it - like nanoluvr and others have mentioned.