New Tank

[azeritis]

Hello
I kept a 90 g tank a few years ago which I dismantelled when I moved back home, in Greece. I just set up the tank again and the people on my LFS suggested that I donnot use my old sump, but an EHEIM filter for better results and convenience. Reading your posts I am really confused on which method is better. To be honest, my original set up never run smoothly, I frequently had imbalances, however it is almost certain that I was to blame (overfeeding, overstocking, inexperience), and not the filter.
Any suggestions on which method is better?
I never used a protein skimmer in the original set up. I bought a prism skimmer to use when I complete the cycle, but again some of you recommend it while others do not.
It will be an FO tank.

 

[foxface402]

Well to answer you, I got a 150 no problems with it. This is all you need a overflow down to your trickle filter put the skimmer in the sump of it with a pump. It pumps the water out of the sump then buy you a small ten gal to for the skimmer water to go to put 10 lb lr in it with a pump back to tank. and you won't have any problems.But you still need 1 to 2 lb lr per gal of tank size.

 

[conundrum]

I say use the old sump(unknown size) as it will give you many more options to do it better this time. A deep bed of 4-6 inch aragonite will do a lot of filtration at a lower cost than a EHEIM, give you a place for all the stuff to go, keeping the main tank clutter free and a quiet tank for new fish to recover from the shipping trauma. A sump just gives you many more options for future change that will happen. Also, is the prism skimmer big enough for a 90, any is better than none. If you want to save money, go for at least 60 lb live rock/4 inch bed in tank as 2lb per gal will set you back $1000. I feel that is excessive and unless that figure does not make you pucker... spend $350 on rock and get the sump going. There are plenty of areas to throw cash at to get a good stable, easy to maintain system. Load the tank slow, don't overload, do the water changes and keep looking at the forums for more info. good day
If you think doubling your efforts can compensate for lack of skill, there is no end to what you can't do.

 

[entice59]

j21kickster uses an enhiem and his tank is great looking, he can probably tell you more about enhiems
i would keep the sump, you can turn it into a refugium and it will act as a filter.
prizm, it says up to 100 and people say its only really good up to 50 gallons, i could be wrong; if you can still return it i would, reuse the sump and get a insump skimmer, i have a prizm it produces a lot of bubbles and is loud. I just got a seaclone skimmer for my new 55 gallon tank and when i read the instructions it shows a way to use it as a insump skimmer too, its no berlin but its 70 bucks. if you cant return the prizm, give it a try