Setting up a 55 Gal, filtration?

B

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Guest
I bought a 55 gal corner tank from my dad who had it sitting around, i paid 200 for the arcylic tank and the bio-ball filtration system(all Brand new). I am planning on adding 40lbs of Marshall Island LR and 45lbs of Carribian rock(becuase of price) and was going to add 2" of arga-alive sand and let it sit for awhile...After reading it seems that adding and extra 2" of sand i would not need filtration...Now i just ordered a skimmer and a uv sterilizer...did i just order those for no reason? I am a little confused, if i put LS and LR rock in the tank i would not need any mech. filtration of any sort, just some powerheads to move the water around? I am trying to go the best route possible, what would that be? I have tried searching but all the things i find kind of dance around exatly what i am trying to figure out. Any help would be great!:help:
 
alison

alison

Member
:happyfish Hi, Sounds like you have a bio ball sump? If so, that's adequate w/ the protien skimmer you ordered. If your really worried about it, get a under tank canister filter for additional filtration. Good luck, ali
 
hookedonreefs

hookedonreefs

Member
Couple of things here-
It sounds like you are considering a DSB. If so, do you know about the potential (<-notice I said potential *key note here*) for the sand bed to eventually fail? I do have a DSB, and it works great, but there is a part of our reef-spciety that is noticing DSB failure after 5+ years.
What are you planning on keeping in the tank? corals only or corals & fish or fowlr? These thing matter in regards to filtration. Also, if you have fish, what kinds of fish? I would say overall, a skimmer is always a good thing to have. Especially for newer hobbyists. Second, UV sterilizers are good things. I will admit that I don't have one, but have heard of many people that have them with great success.
Last, are you aware of the downside of bio-balls. They are very good at producing nitrates which are always present but need to have a mechanism (biological or mechanical) for exportation. These are all things that need to be considered in order to accurately answer your question. BTW - you are the only one qho can accurately answer this question. Although I have a different opinion from Alison - neither are right or wrong, they are just different methods to reef keeping.
Hope this helped.
hooked
 
B

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Guest

Originally posted by hookedonreefs
Couple of things here-
It sounds like you are considering a DSB. If so, do you know about the potential (<-notice I said potential *key note here*) for the sand bed to eventually fail? I do have a DSB, and it works great, but there is a part of our reef-spciety that is noticing DSB failure after 5+ years.
What are you planning on keeping in the tank? corals only or corals & fish or fowlr? These thing matter in regards to filtration. Also, if you have fish, what kinds of fish? I would say overall, a skimmer is always a good thing to have. Especially for newer hobbyists. Second, UV sterilizers are good things. I will admit that I don't have one, but have heard of many people that have them with great success.
Last, are you aware of the downside of bio-balls. They are very good at producing nitrates which are always present but need to have a mechanism (biological or mechanical) for exportation. These are all things that need to be considered in order to accurately answer your question. BTW - you are the only one qho can accurately answer this question. Although I have a different opinion from Alison - neither are right or wrong, they are just different methods to reef keeping.
Hope this helped.
hooked
I am not planning on having a huge reef tank, lots of live rock and corals here and there with fish..mainly gobies, some percs, invertabrates, a wrasse, etc... But i do not think i will have some of the incredible reef tanks that people i have seen on here, main reason being budget. I have been reading and i think i am going to run the bio-balls, the skimmer, and the uv with 70lbs of LR and 2" sand bed and call it good...I hope that this will be ok.... Anyone have any other advice?
 
hookedonreefs

hookedonreefs

Member
i am going to run the bio-balls, the skimmer, and the uv with 70lbs of LR and 2" sand bed and call it good
Sounds good, just keep an eye on those nitrates. You'll need to export them somehow. Macro, trate filter or frequent water changes.
 
alison

alison

Member
:happyfish Ya, sound good. I too have heard bio balls are not best, not sure why. Something to consider in a few years down the road.
 
B

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Guest

Originally posted by hookedonreefs
Sounds good, just keep an eye on those nitrates. You'll need to export them somehow. Macro, trate filter or frequent water changes.
what would be the best way...i would be doing a 5% water change every 2 weeks...would that be sufficent enough? or should i go with another option?
And oh yeah, thanks for your help thus far....
 
hookedonreefs

hookedonreefs

Member
I agree with fishman830, 10% every other week would be much better.
Alison, bio-balls are alot like bio-wheel in an eclipse system. They are bacteria factories. I'll try to explain as best as possible. You have thousands upon thousands of these bacteria in you tank. All they do is one of two things, eat ammonia and excrete nitrites - or eat nitrites and excrete nitrates. OK, so then the nitrates have do be dealt with. You have a few options: DSB, water changes, macroalgae, clams, xenia (just to name a few). Now all these trate reducers can lower nitrates but each have their own amounts they can process, and limit. water changes are limited to the amount of new water. clams are only minor trate removers. DSBs work OK, but need some major sifting, and can get worn out. Macroalgae and xenia harvests are (IMO) the best option.'
Now, bio-ball/wheel. So all those thousands of bateria that I mentioned. Two things can happen. One, they get caught up in a bio-wheel or ball and do some great work, but much like the NYC garbage system, all the trates will end up around your bio-balls/wheel (NJ shore:) ) Or, you don't use the bio-wheel/balls and you allow the bacteria to move more freely around your system, creating nitrates all over the place. Now you can allow the water circulation to distribute the nitrates into your DSB and macroalgae and clams and whatever you have on a more spread out basis.
Now, mind you I'm by far - no expert. But this is what I've picked up over the few years in this hobby, and it makes sense to me. I hope it also makes sense to you, and it helps.
hooked
 
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