Useless Filter?

[marynik007]

Was at the LFS the oterday talking to one of the employees and we were discussing my set up. I told him that I had the protein skimmer and the UV sterilizer witch he said was great but when I told Him about thae canister filter I had he said that it wasent doing me as much good as it is worth and did not need it. He said the skimmer and sterilzer would be enough and if I put live rock in there also it would be fine. He did not say the filter was bad he said it was a great filter but it is just much better for fresh water and not so much for salt. Does anyone else have a set up with only a protein skimmer and UV with LR? And is his filter not worth the money I spent on it for salt water? If it's not I would gladly sell it to get some nice VHO lighting.
Thanks to all who reply,
Tom

 

[splash1914]

its not useless because you can add carbon in there...... the problem with a canister filter is when you clean them all the beneficial bacteria will be gone..... IMO, for a tank that size I would go with a wet/dry...... is your tank a reef or aggressive or community?

 

[marynik007]

Right know the tank is recycling I just moved cross country and have to start over. But I was thinking of going reef. I had a FO tank before that.

 

[von_rahvin]

the lfs guy is right IMO if you have lr and a dsb all you need is a skimmer. and sometimes not even that. i use a skimmer on my reef but one of my local friends has been running skimmerless for about 9 months now. he is just careful with is tank and his additives. he has one of the best looking tanks i have ever seen.

 

[splash1914]

using just LR/LS and skimmer is called the berlin method.....

 

[marynik007]

OK so the filter is not necisary and all the bacteria ect in the LR is enough to filter the tank? Hmmm So the filter is not useless but meerly just not needed. So how bout if I dont use LR beeter to keep the filter?
Tom

 

[splash1914]

I dont trust the berlin method for an aggressive tank or a fish only tank..... if your still going to do a reef, ask about the berlin method in the reef forum...... (I never had a reef tank so I know nothing about them)..

 

[rane]

Splash nice movies, and still a beauty of a tank, what you should also do is make the pictures so you can super size them...just my sugestions

 

[von_rahvin]

i've had my lion in a berlin method tank for over 2 years. works fine. to each his own though with big aggressive fish you can never have too much filtration.

 

[splash1914]

Rane, thanks, I know I need to!! with a newborn around now its hard to find anytime! Hows the tank now?