Newb Reef Question

[thefishfreak03]

I was visiting Conneticut(spelling?) today and I saw a very nice reef store. I am going to start a reef so I spat out some questions. I asked what kind of filtration I would need and this is what happened. I said I have a 55 gallon with a wet dry and a biological bak pak 2 filter. The bak bak 2 i have is half protein skimmer half bio media. He said all u need is the protein skimmer in a reef. He said take away the wet dry filter and take out the bio media in the bak pak 2 so i would only have a mini protein skimmer. His reefs looked amazing and I was wondering if this was true? thanx

 

[sterling]

Well, I think some of that is true. There's a post in the Newbie section regarding bio-balls/bio-material along this same line.
If your reef tank has a DSB and lots of LR, according to the people who know (not me exactly), they say you should only need the protein skimmer, powerheads and leave the rest to mother nature.
I'm not that brave, yet.......I still have the bio balls in my wet/dry/skimmer set up, magnum and a penguin filter on mine, along with several power heads at different levels.

 

[michelle13]

I have a DSB, sump, liverock, and powerheads. That's it, no other type of filtration at all and I have had perfect water quality for the past 8 months....so I believe it!

 

[shep]

dont touch it due to taking out bio could cause tank to cycle. bio load overkill is safe thing. I have 125 with 200 gallon wetdry and over 200 lbs of sand/arragonite. It gets to 9" in places, and I have yet to have any problems from bio filter. That and the 140 lbs of lr and I dont fret a thing. Estimated is the tank could support 350 +gallons and is only doing 125. Overkill here is a good thing. If you do take the bio out you could cause major upset.

 

[nm reef]

What you are considering is a Berlin type system or a modified Berlin system. basically it uses LR or a combination of LR/LS along with a skimmer and no mechanical filtration. Lots of us use this type system to maintain a reef with success. I run a 55 gal reef with approximately 100 lbs LR & 120 lbs LS in the display...a sump with a skimmer and magdrive 1200 return pump getting about 800GPH...plus a refugium system that contains LR/rubble/LS/macro algaes...there is no mechanical filtration of any kind. If you'd like I could e-mail a very good article on this method...it is rather long or I'd copy/paste it here....below is a quote from the article:
The Berlin Method in Practice The first aspect of the Berlin Method that differs from traditional saltwater set-ups is that this system does not utilize an artificial biological filter for ammonia metabolism. That is, neither a trickle filter, undergravel filter nor other external or internal system is utilized to convert ammonia to nitrate. In this system, live rock is the primary locus for bacteria. Live rock contains numerous nooks and crannies on which bacteria can colonize. In addition the ******** of the rock may be anaerobic or anoxic and this allows for nitrate to be further reduced to nitrogen gas
Contact me at bdjr@cox.net if you'd like to read the full text.

 

[tiffster]

I have had better water quality and coral growth since I got rid of my canister filter with bio media and switched to a system with a refugium, sand, lots of rock, no mechanical filtration, and a skimmer. I do run a power filter, but it only contains carbon ( I have soft corals and stony coral, don't want any warfare.) My main tank is only 23 gallons total and I haven't tested positive for nitrates, trites, or amm. in 8 months. (two fishies) You could always take your bio balls out and put in live rock rubble. Way more surface area and I don't think you have to worry about cleaning the rock like you do the bio balls. Anyway, good luck. I am getting my 55 reef ready too. Woohoo!!

 

[thefishfreak03]

Do u think i would be fine using the bak pak 2 cause it does have a protein skimmer?