Question: Is there such a thing....

[windlasher]

Is there such a thing as too much filtration in a tank? In other words, can your water be too clean. I know there will be varying opinions, but I am just curious.

 

[johnr2604]

I would say yes. No matter how you look at it our corals need some level of nutrients to survive. Can we realistically pull out too many nutrients? Probably not. I guess it really depends on what you keep. When it comes to some softies that tend to like dirty water Its my expierience they get harder to keep if you overskim or have too much nutrient removal. Xenia comes to mind when I think about this. Some people just cant keep it. This also tends to be the same people that have really efficient skimmers and filtration.
Also keep in mind that natural reefs are very nutrient rich unlike some people believe.

 

[ophiura]

There are many discussions about this, such as the extent too which skimmers pull out a lot of potential food for corals. and I think the discussion is really aimed at coral tanks.
For fish only tanks...I'm not sure you could over filter it too much. Even with a skimmer, wet dry, refugium w/macro, uv, ozone...think you would still be ok!
But corals and other filter feeders do benefit from a lot of the stuff that some filters or water treatment equipment would potentially remove,IMO
So the answer is, it depends

 

[btldreef]

IMO there is such a thing as too much filtration, but being able to reach that point takes quite a bit of work. I'm meticulous about my water quality and clarity. Some people have said that my tank is a little too clean, but I also feed my corals to make up the difference. I don't like seeing debris in my water, AT ALL. I really think it's close to impossible to over filter a tank, but I also think that filtration is in part a personal preference.