No filter for 55 gal???

[tsklaner]

Yesterday a gentleman from my local reef society came by to give me pointers on my tank that has been set up for 3 months now. He advised me to forgo my Marineland Emperor 400 Filter System and to use no filtration system at all. He said between my skimmer and live rock/sand that for my goals for the tank I didn't really need the filter and by removing it I would be able to reach a 0 ppm nitrate level. Currently with filter nitrates run about 5-10 ppm. Never been 0 yet. Does this sound right to anyone out there?

Tank info:
55 gal tank
48" T-5 w/ 54 watt 10,000k
and blue actinic
60 lbs. live rock
4" crushed coral substrate
protein skimmer (needs to be upgraded)
AquaClear PowerHead 70(802)
1 sml frogspawn
1 sml colt coral
1 zebra goby
1 jaw fish
1 Dispar Anthias

 

[matt819]

I too have a 55...with about the same LR, maybe a little more. I just put fliter pads in the hob filter, no carbon anymore. I think my tank would be just fine without it altogether actually.
I primarily use the hob filter for the surface agitation on the surface of the water. They aren't a necessity in a reef with lots of LR.
You might wanna think about getting some increased flow if you were to do this though...maybe some nicer circulation pumps (koralia, tunze, modded maxi). This will help your LR in natural filtration. You'd also wanna upgrade your skimmer then too.
p.s. Ditch the crushed coral if you can!

 

[m0nk]

I have a 55 with an HOB too, but only run it for the same reason; surface agitation and to get some larger floating particles out. IMO they do very little on a reef tank this size (and bigger). You really do only need live rock/live sand and a skimmer, but the HOB itself wouldn't trap nitrates, unless you're using the Bio-Wheels (they're notorious nitrate traps if used over 6 months) or if you never change the filter pads.
I usually don't have a problem keeping my nitrates around 0, though occasionally they creep up a touch. Also, I have around the same amount of live rock, but instead of crushed coral I have sand, and I do a 5gal water change weekly. I've heard that crushed coral can cause a build up of nitrates and you should still do some regular water changes.

 

[zeroc]

as long as you change the filter pad every week you'll be cool, i just use my emperor for the baskets to run carbon or whatever media once in awhile.

 

[waterlogged]

Originally Posted by ZeroC
as long as you change the filter pad every week you'll be cool, i just use my emperor for the baskets to run carbon or whatever media once in awhile.
Do you rinse or do anything with biowheel?

 

[tsklaner]

Ya, the guy that came over did tell me to upgrade the skimmer and add a second better powerhead for more movement and cross currents. Will be working on that for sure.