HELP!! Just baught hang on Eco-system filter...

[the croc hunter]

Hi all..
I just baught a used hang on Eco filter. I would like to think I know a bit about them but I really dont! Any tips? SHould I use it with a skimmer? In place of a skimmer? How much light? How much caulerpa?Mud? Etc....
Thanks for your help!

 

[wamp]

"They" say, that if you have an Eco-System with lights calurpea and the mud you do not need a skimmer. No experience with this myself just reading the box.
As far as lights, I thought they came with PC lights?.

 

[new]

i ran an ecosystem 60 on my tank until i switched to a sump, going to use it on a 30gl reef. do you know which 1 you have, the 40 or 60, you can contact ecosystem for proper amount of mud but my 60 used 10# and came with a 13w pc fixture which i left on 24/7 as the instructions stated. as for skimmerless mine wasnt operational for me to really say with any real experience but a lfs guy told me best way to tell if you need a skimmer to run on the system is by looking up through the water and looking at the surface, should be a mirror, just about the time i lost faith in the eco it did the trick. as for calupera i would start with a small bunch and let it decide how much the system will support, the stuff i had grew like a weed.

 

[new]

anthem has a good point, the skimmer i have is for a 300gl tank but mine is only 75

 

[stanford]

I use a cpr backpack with my ref. I was only planing on using it until the filter cycled. Once I took of the cpr, I had a lot of brown algae growing, once I put it back on it went away.