if you want reef the best will be refuguim and a good skimmer i have alreay 46 gallon and i am add more 90 gallon i want to put in this tank coral and fish and i was wondering what will be the best i always thought to go just with refguim and i wasn't so sure. in my 46 gallon i have canister filter and i took out everything and put there just l/r when i add the hang on refguim i get better water quality. i ask beth to give me an opinion what will be the best and i copy down here all the answer i think it will change your mind and will give you the correct answer what to do.
here is the information:
BETH TANK FILTERATION.
The filters were: HOB Skimmer, several maxijets and 2 SEIOs, LR, 6" LS-DSB, all the reef sand infauna that I could collect primary being a couple of fighting conchs, nassarius snails and a colony of spaghetti worms that went from a few to thousands. No hermits or any crabs for that matter. I kept a couple of trochus snails. Never overloaded with snails, but, imo, snails are well worth their keep! I encouraged the growth of LR fauna including thousands of bristleworms and brittlestars and copepods. I ensured that these creatures had no pretators in my tank. And, along those lines, I encouraged the proliferated of the filter feeders than came on the LR including sponge and mini tube worms [again making sure that these had no predators as they are great water cleaners].
The one thing [natural filter] that was in the future of that tank was setting up a refrugium which is certainly the ultimate in natural filters. I did culture macro algae in-tank [because I had not set up a fudge yet] cheato being primary here, but also Halimeda which is the sand making algae of reefs. Also, I encouraged the Sargassum that came naturally on the LR [until it died out due to competition with other macros I had added].
You really have to explore all the options and then decide what is best for you. I think most agree that natural filters can only enhance your tank. So, depending on how plumbing DIY you are [which I am not] would likely lead you to how to set up your system. I would say that you should plan on having a refugium and getting the best skimmer you can afford. For reefs, I would stay way from wet/dry, canisters, and mechanical filters in general.
A refugium you put together yourself is a heck of a lot cheaper, and you'll get more bang for your buck. You can use a tank, or even a rubbermaid container! There is some info in the Archives.
Sorry ProT for hijacking your thread! But back on topic now.
and you can see in this link the amazing tank that beth talk about.
http://hometown.aol.com/e0406/BethSWF.html
