Today is the Day

[whodini6]

So today is the day when i get to pick up my 75 gallon tank and get a start on. This is a very joyous day for me after months of reaserch i am finally getting it started. Things I have:
75 gallon tank
30 gallon tank for sump
35 lbs live rock curing (plus another 30 or so lbs coming)
Protein skimmer
Fluval 305 canister filter (to be used with sump)
Hang on filter for sump as well
Pump for return to DT
CUR 48” DUALSAT 4x65W PC STRIP
80lbs live sand
And a whole lot of excitment.

 

[nick76]

GL I hope everything goes well.

 

[lion_crazz]

Sounds awesome.
If I can make a suggestion, I would forget the filter for the sump and the cannister filtrer and use that extra money to get stronger lighting and a top notch skimmer. You will benefit much more from stronger lighting and a good skimmer than you will from all of those extra filters. The only filters you need are rock and heavy water movement.

 

[whodini6]

the thing with the filters is that i had them on my 30 gallon before so i am just going to use them for extra help. i am always hearing that all i need is rock for filtration but i was never able to find out the reasoning behind this. Can anyone explain how that works?

 

[lion_crazz]

Well, if you are not spending extra money on the extra filters, that is fine then.
Live rock is a natural form of filtration. It is very dense and has a great capacity to hold biological bacteria. This biologicial bacteria breaks down organic material from the living animals in the aquarium and turns them into much less toxic forms. Live rock can even help take much of the organics out of the aquarium through anaerobic processes that they perform deep inside of the live rock. No man-made mechanical filtration can do this as well, as fast, or as easily as live rock (with denitrators being the next best thing - but they are very difficult to use and EXTREMELY pricey). Thus, the more live rock you have, the much cleaner your aquarium will be.
Water movement is necessary to keep all of the waste in the water column and from settling in pockets in the aquarium. The oceans are very turbulent, and very little settles in the ocean. It is always kept moving. The same must be done in our aquariums. If you can keep the debris from settling, your sump can pick up the particles and trap them so you can remove them from the system yourself.