New Tank. I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

[lawnguy]

:help: I just bought a tank from my buddie, its a 125gal with 2 fluval 404s. I have my 90 gal, I plan on moving all my sand and live rock to the new tank this weekend. I have about 70lbs of live rock, I have to buy more. I cant afford to buy a wet dry system right now. I am wondering if these filters will be enough to run my tank?? I lost all my fish,except for my Snowflake eel. I went down the wrong road the first time, and bought many fish.and they all died!!! So now I need some help on starting over here. I forgot to say that I also have a protien skimmer.. feel free to email me any time!! I need some help here!!! lawnguy38@cox.net
I live in East Windsor, CT I have fresh water angel fish, and pond fish that I have had for many years, but saltwater has me stumped.. I need help!!!

 

[sly]

Yes those filters will be enough to run your tank... temporarily. The thing about filters is that they can support a certain capacity. Let's say that one filter can handle the waste of 2 medium fish. 2 filters can handle about 4 medium fish... the point is, no matter what size thank the fish are in, the filters can handle the waste of 2 fish each. You put it on a bigger tank and you still can only have 2 fish.
So the point is you may not get many fish in this system. Start SLOW... Monitor your levels and when you see your levels start to rise and not go down, you have exceeded your tank's filtering capacity.
Ammonia and Nitrite should be at 0 ppm
Nitrate below 20, and close to 0 ppm
Your tank will take about a month to cycle during which your ammonia and nitrate levels will steadily rise, plateau, and then taper back off back down to 0. Do a water change and then begin adding some fish.
Each fish you add will increase your bioload. Nitrobacter bacteria will grow and consume this waste as long as your biological system can support it (ie, live rock and substrate). As you add more fish you will release more waste. It will take about a month for this bacteria colony to grow to compensate for the new load. Once that happens you will be in balance again and you can add more fish as needed.
You will come to a point to where you can not add any more fish. Your nitrate levels will start to climb and never go back down. You have exceeded your biofiltration capacity. Then you need to do heavy water changes to keep your nitrates low and quickly invest in things which reduce nitrate. Live rock, deep sand bed, mangroves and macro algae are some of those things. You may even need to get rid of some fish when this happens. It's better than them getting sick and then killing everything else in the tank...
I would use the filter that you have and then save up to buy a better filter before you go out and start buying a bunch of fish.

 

[lawnguy]

Thanks.. What kind of filter do you think is good for a 125 gal??? Every pet shop that I went to told me something different, they all wanna sell you something!! I really gotta get on the right track.

 

[1journeyman]

Lawnguy, I highly recommend Fenner's "A Conscientious Marine Aquarist". It's a great book that really explains saltwater filtration well.
Some of us here don't use filters at all. We use strong water motion, heavy skimming, and live rock to filter the tanks.
It can work well. Like the above poster said, the key is to go slow.

 

[sly]

Originally Posted by lawnguy
Thanks.. What kind of filter do you think is good for a 125 gal??? Every pet shop that I went to told me something different, they all wanna sell you something!! I really gotta get on the right track.
It's impossible to answer that for you... There are so many different filter options... It really depends on your budget, technical know how and goals in keeping a tank.
Generally I recommend a sump system over a hang on filter and a hang on filter over a canister filter system... Then again as was already mentioned having lots of LR and plenty of water movement and a good skimmer is all some people need.
I can't tell you what is the best to get because the best doesn't exist. They are all just different ways of doing the same thing... One thing I can tell you is to stay away from most of the cheap setups like what you see as petsmart. Check out the book that was mentioned and choose the system that's best for you...
Generally you want a filter that is rated above what your tank size is. If you have a 55 gallon tank, I recommend a filter that is designed for something bigger than that. IMO overkill is not a bad thing when it comes to filters... but opinions will vary. Some people run what is called a "berlin" system where the filter is meant to be as non intrusive as possible.
I personally use a wet/dry (also known as a trickle filter) in a large sump. I have a Kent Nautilus TE skimmer and an Iwaki system pump. Beside my sump I have a 10 gallon tank that I use as a refugium. In it I have ocean mud, mangroves and chaetomorpha algae to consume nitrates and phosphates. In my tank I have about 100 pounds of live rock and two maxijet powerheads to move water. Hooked up to my skimmer I have an ozone generator... Then finally I have an ultraviolet sterilizer to kill any spores that may be in the water which could make the fish sick...
This is just ONE way of doing things. Some people HATE wet/dry filters... they take some maintenance. Other's don't like UV or ozone... opinions vary and you will have to determine what you are looking for.
Ultimately you want a system that will consume ammonia, nitrite and nitrate leaving only harmless nitrogen gas. You want a system that can easily handle the bioload you have... wet/dry filters are good at housing aerobic (oxygen loving) bacter which handle the ammonia and nitrite problem... while live rock and deep sand beds will consume the nitrate due to the anaerobic (oxygen hating) bacteria they house. If you don't want a deep sand bed (I don't like 'em) then you can stock up on macro algae, etc...
Hope this gave you a GENERAL overview of what to look for. As far as brands... can't really answer that one.