type of filtration

[jer4916]

Hello,
I have a 55 gallon saltwater fish tank, and im running two different types of filters, ones being a protein skimmer and also a eheim bio logical canister filter. the tank seems to have amazing water clarity as well as pretty decent water levels ( still a new tank) levels are just above zero, also im running a maxi jet 1200 ....
anything left to improve on?...or should this be enough to have a healthy tank

 

[mudplayerx]

How much live rock do you have? Do you have any inverts?
Take all the devices in your tank and add up the gallons per hour, what is your total?

 

[jer4916]

The tank has around 30 pounds of live rock, i know the bio filter is designed for 66 gallons, and the skimmer is designed for a 55 gallon... so i really only ave 45 gallons in my tank due to live rock...etc
sound like its gonna be pretty optimal? ...also i have a maxi jet 1200

 

[rlmabry]

IMO you need more live rock. I reccomend 1 to 1.5 pounds per gallon

 

[mudplayerx]

You need to know how many gallons per hour the equipment pumps, not the siz of the tank the box says it is designed for

 

[jer4916]

i have so much rock in my tank, it might be almost even 60 pounds...im not sure the exact weight, but the pet store said its by far more than enough, ...all together current wise of gallons in my tank between the 3 things i have going im assuming i have about 100gallons per hour being moved in the tank, i have no inverts and im running copper.
thanks

 

[trainfever]

WOW! a hundred gallons an hour? If you want to run a reef tank, heck you're only 1000 gallons an hour short. Yes I said one thousand. If you want a fish only tank, then you want to circulate your tank 10 times in an hour. In your case this would be 550 gallons an hour. If you want a reef tank, then you would need to circulate your tank 20 times an hour. That would mean that you would need to circulate 1100 gallons an hour.

 

[dicemanj]

Did you say you are running copper, I think copper is very bad for LR and and inverts?

 

[teen]

never ever use copper in ur main tank , bad idea. i found this site when i made that mistake. i started over from scratch. when u do need to use copper, add it to ur quarantine tank, hospital tank. if its already in ur main tank, that was a bad idea, and i dont know what will happen to ur rock. i do know it will kill ur inverts though. hope everything turns out ok for u though.

 

[jer4916]

my rock is just a dead white base rock, basicly dead coral, i got it along time ago...and i dont have inverts...its a fish only tank, one time i got ich in my tank and to prevent further ich outbreaks i just run a little bit of copper...and my hospital tank i have copper running as well. i've found it to work quite well but i haven't added copper to my tank in 2 weeks and its almost completely undetectable.
is there anyway i can post a picture so people can see this to tell me?
~chris
leave an email and i'll send you a picture of the tank.
thanks
In the tank i have
1. niger trigger
2. angel
3. lion fish
4. bi-color blenny
other then that i dont want any other fish because it might get to crowded.
*note i know when they get bigger the tank will become more aggressive, i plan on buying a 180 gallon in about 4 months*

 

[jer4916]

i just checked the websites for my the gph on what i have
the bio filter does 116 per hour
the max jet does 106 per hour
and the skimmer does 100
so im getting about 325 gallons per hour
this sound good?

 

[mudplayerx]

Nope, need at least 500gph for a fish only 55 gallon tank. You can easily add this by buying a $35 hang on the back power filter.

 

[jer4916]

I'm retarded, as i said im new, i was reading the wrong things on the maxi jet site....i have a total of 511 gph being moved in my tank.
is that good enough? or should i up it even a little bit more