is it required?????

[marinefish]

i run a 20 gallon via aqua tank with 144 watts of light total. i have 22lb of live rock and 35lb of live sand. i have a aqua c remora skimmer and a proquatic 300gph hang on filter. i was wondering, do i really need this proquatic mechanical filter or can i just use it for water circulation? i do a water change weekly. one gallon water change each time. i dose b ionic calcium and alk. i currently have a sabae clown, neon dottyback, watchman goby and a coral beauty. all my fishes are within one inch. i have 2 spawn corals, corcea clam, xenia, zoonathids and mushrooms.
other then being a little over stock, is mechanical filtration require for a 20 gallon tank with weekly one gallon water change?
when the fishes gets big, i plan to put them in my 55 reef. for now i just need to know if mechanical filtration is required.

 

[michaeltx]

most people me included use those mechanical filters for running carbon and such chemicals without the filter media. I use mine as a surface agitator and leave the filter pads out,
HTH
Mike

 

[marinefish]

yeah, thats what i mean. use the filter for circulation but leaving the filter pads out. what is the benefits to this? i am just so sick and tired of it getting used up that i dont want to have to change it once a week. is this bad for the reef tank since nothing is filtering floating debries out?

 

[pmauro]

It is really your choice , with waterchanges lR and LS you probably don't need it for filtration, Running carbon now and then won't hurt, but will remove needed trace elements needed by corals and inverts

 

[michaeltx]

with the water changes you be adding what little bit carbon takes out.you dont run carbon all the time though maybe once or twice a month or when needed. I kept for circulation it adds a lot of water movement on surface an adds in gas exchange.
if you use the filter I would NOT use the pads that are made for it just leave them out completely they work for FW but not ot good for SW.
Mike

 

[marinefish]

ok, thank you very much guys. i will remove the pads since it create more problems than good results. thanks once again for the advice.

 

[stig]

I'm curious since this is the first time I've heard people suggesting that you don't need mechanical filtration on a salt water tank. I always believed that the ideal was a combination of mechanical, chemical and biological.
Could anyone tell me why mechanical filtration isn't required?

 

[marinefish]

i am not sure either, so i am just following the advice of the people here who have more experience than i do.
my guess is because mechanical filtration can cause high nitrates if not well maintained and that if left unmaintained, in the long run it might cause more harm then good.

 

[stig]

Personally, I refuse to go down the road of "everyone else says it's good and therefore it must be"
Anyone? Tell me why mechanical filtration isn't necessary?

 

[michaeltx]

the pads for these filters trap the large and small particals in them and if left ( like most people do) it will cause spikes in your water chemistry. these particles would go into the tank and become food for some creatures that live in the rockwork also it always has carbon and other chemicals in that take away some of the elements that we want to keep in our tanks for them to be healthy. thats why most people only run carbon for a few days a month.
Mike

 

[demosthenes]

Originally posted by Lebowski
Skimerless, Filterless.
Skimmerless, Filterless, Hopeless. Really though, nice looking tank. I also go against the use of Mechanical Filtration, I should mention though that I only use LR/LS and a Refugium to filter my tank, and any Mechanical Filtration would trap my pods. So that is why I advocate against it.

 

[stig]

Thanks for the reply Mike. Now I get it.
So, basically, a filter should ideally only contain bio-material and, occasionally, carbon.
If a filter only contains bio-material, am I right in thinking that it never needs to be "cleaned" since that would only mess with the bacteria living in there?

 

[jim672]

Stig,
You can "clean" bio-media but only by rinsing it in salt water. I use water I've just removed from my tank during a water change to rinse my bio-media.
If you ever want to replace bio-media, do half at a time. Replacing all of it at once could upset the biological balance in your tank and possibly cause a mini-cycle to occur.
Jim