Filtration w/o LR or LS

[btldreef]

I emptied the 14G rock and sand into the refugium for the 155G and got a great deal on a 150watt lighting fixture that fits perfectly over my 14G biocube, so no more crummy PC hood! (hated that thing!)
I'd love to use the 14G as a frag tank for SPS and keep some clams on the bottom. I'm tired of raising clams under PC lighting, it's too much work, time for something new.
Anyways, I've always kept tanks with LR and LS, so I'm wondering how do you have good filtration in a frag tank without LR or LS?

I plan on modding the middle compartment of the sump to make a mini refugium (unless someone chimes in and says this is a bad idea), but what else would you suggest?

 

[tang master]

without lr the tank will crash within a month. i tried exactly what your about to do and it doesn't work out. It would work if you kept a refugium with lr ruble in it....but definitely don't try a frag tank without lr because its not even natural. idk. i just doesn't sound like a good idea....anyone else?

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by Tang Master
http:///forum/post/3298489
without lr the tank will crash within a month. i tried exactly what your about to do and it doesn't work out. It would work if you kept a refugium with lr ruble in it....but definitely don't try a frag tank without lr because its not even natural. idk. i just doesn't sound like a good idea....anyone else?
Well, I should clarify that I plan on moding the back chamber with LR rubber and chaeto. I'm just curious as to how people set up these frag tanks w/o LR, it makes no sense to me!

 

[spanko]

You don't need rock in a tank. Bacteria reside on the hard surfaces in our tanks. Live rock just give us much more surface area to house the bacteria. Plenty of fish only tanks out there. You just need to ensure you keep the water pristine for a frag tank. Clean, clear, chemical balance, lighting are the real requirements for a coral frag tank. This about bioload, practically none without any fish or critters in with the frags. A good mechanical and chemical filtration system with a balance of calc, alk, ph, and mag are the requirements for the coral. A fish or two depending on the size of the tank is good to have for algae control and to put a little "poop" in the system for the coral to feed on. Take a look at a few. You will see an angel, or a tang, or a foxface etc. to help to control algae growth.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3298554
You don't need rock in a tank. Bacteria reside on the hard surfaces in our tanks. Live rock just give us much more surface area to house the bacteria. Plenty of fish only tanks out there. You just need to ensure you keep the water pristine for a frag tank. Clean, clear, chemical balance, lighting are the real requirements for a coral frag tank. This about bioload, practically none without any fish or critters in with the frags. A good mechanical and chemical filtration system with a balance of calc, alk, ph, and mag are the requirements for the coral. A fish or two depending on the size of the tank is good to have for algae control and to put a little "poop" in the system for the coral to feed on. Take a look at a few. You will see an angel, or a tang, or a foxface etc. to help to control algae growth.
Well here was my plan (this is a 14G BioCube w/ a 150watt HQI on it):
refugium in center chamber
purigen and or carbon in 1st or 3rd chambers and possibly phoslock (I might just use ChemiPure Elite)
Tail Spot Blenny and one other small fish such as a pseudochromis/dottyback. Might consider a clown goby as well just because I can't have any in my 155 because they get stuck in the filtration system :-(
I might need to do a sand bed if I decide to house clams in the tank, but I haven't made a decision on this. I'm letting the tank run for a few days with nothing in it since I just took out all the sand and rock, need to let things settle and make sure it doesn't go into a cycle again.
My husband wants to make this an SPS reef, not a frag tank, and if we go that route, rock will be going back in the tank, but probably no sand this time. I've never done a bare bottom tank and would just like to have one for some reason.