Any room for improvement??

[jenni1979]

I had my tank set up for almost two years and then we had to move. I lost about $500 in fish and coral in the process. It is very hard to move fish and coral. Next time I will have a professional do it. Anyway, I am in the process of restarting my tank.
I had my live rock and sand sitting in buckets for about two months before I decided to restart. I have everything set up now and it is cycling in the tank with 2 power heads, cpr bak pak skimmer, a regular hang on tank power filter. I also have two PC lights on (I plan on upgrading to metal halide before I start adding corals this time).
My husband was talking about getting better filtration set up. I have probably about 120 pounds of live rock with a four inch deep sand bed. I figured that would be enough for filtration, but I am not sure.
My tank did good last time but there is room for improvement. I don't think my nitrates were ever down to 0. They ranged around 20 or so.
I also never used a ro/di filter. This time I may get one. Which is a good one?

 

[smarls]

Sorry about your tank when you moved...same thing happened to me about a year ago...lost everything.
IN a 55 gallon, 120# of rock and a 4 inch deep licve sand bed sounds pretty good to me. That, combined with a good skimmer should do it.
The CPR does not have the "best" reputation as a skimmer, so if you want to change something, I ahve heard that the Aqua Remora C HOB skimmer is very good.
Once you have the tank cycled, I think I would stop using the cannister filter, expcept for running media (ie - not use it for actual filtration). Depending on your cleaning / maintenance schedule, cannister filters can actually start to mess up your water quality, and may be the cause of your higher nitrates. Again, running it every now and then with carbon, or with phosban might be a really good use of the equipment, but I would probably avoid using it to actually filter...with the rock, the sand, and your skimmer, you should be fine. If your maintenance involves weekly cleaning of all the cannister filters etc., then you may be ok using it for filtration.
Definately use RO/DI water. I am fortunate enough that my LFS sells this, so I know nothing about the filters and units, but RO/DI water will really help improve your water quality.
Good luck when you get thje tank up and running again!
HTH
Stewart

 

[viper_930]

A refugium can help with the nitrates.

 

[mbrands]

snarls,
I'm currently using a cannister filter for my 55. I also have about 45 pounds of LR with the intention of adding another 45 or so. My tank has only been up and running for about 6 weeks. Are you suggesting removing the foam from the cannister filter and only using bio-media? Eventually, I'd like to set up a wet/dry, but I had the cannister from when it was a FW tank.
I should also mention that (shame on me) I started the tank with crushed coral, but plan to remove it over several weeks and replace it with a 3-4" sand bed (no flames please, beginners are allowed a few mistakes).
Jenni,
I didn't mean to steal your thread, but thought this was a similar question. Good luck with your new set-up!!!
Thanks,
Mike

 

[jenni1979]

No problem mbrands.
Thanks everyone for your help. I am going to start a sump/refugium, get some metal halides, and a ro/di. :joy:

 

[mbrands]

If you don't want to invest the money in a RO system right now, check out those water filling machines outside of grocery stores and some gas stations. I bought three 6.5 gallon jugs at K-Mart for $6 each and get the water outside my local grocery for only $0.25/gallon. With 10% weekly water changes and the occasional top-off, I'm only spending about $1.50/week. Not too bad for this hobby.
Mike