Survey- Mechanical Filtration

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Do you use any sponges, pads or canisters on your reef? Just want to see what everyone else is doing and what results there having.

I know Sprung said it was not necessary and I dont use any on my present reef tank. But you can't believe everything you read, especially in this hobby.

Thanks,

Steve


Steve

 

[Anonymous]

I use a magnum 350 to polish the water every now and then, thats all

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My 180 Utopia: Updated 5/17/00

 

[Anonymous]

I use a sponge in the overflow after I do a water change, but nothing at all in-between.

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geo

 

[Anonymous]

I use a MAG 350 all the time for circulation and put carbon canister with sleve in 1 day a week.I also run a protein skimmer 1 day a week bio wheels are always going.all are off when feeding.

 

[Anonymous]

No mechanical filters like sponge or pads.
Sprung is right, it's not necessary.

 

[Anonymous]

You are on the right track. If you don't want to clean a mechanical filter every day then you are just giving algae a great feeding gound. We have a 200 gallon tank and a 400 gallon tank and the only time we used mechanical filteration on it was to clear the substrate cloud when we first put it in.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks,

Any other opinions on this topic?

 

[Anonymous]

IMHO, mechanical filtration is just a detritus trap, and the breakdown products from the detritus are being continuously introduced into the water column.

Detritus is best removed or processed with live sand beds, etc.

As stated above, A canister or hang-on filter for occasional use is handy to have around, for sand bed disturbances, etc.

Regards,

Scott

 

[Anonymous]

First I don't have a reef, I'm FOWLR so maybe this doesn't apply. Few things about a canister I like. One is with a small tank like mine (29g) it gives me much needed added water volume even if it is only slightly over 1 gallon. Being in an apartment an external sump is out of the question. Second is the water turnover, not the same as a powerhead. I use charcoal and pads, rotate change them monthly. Third I have an inline UV and use the canister for this dual purpose.



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If you ever dreamed of being a chemist, try salt aquariums it's close enough #

 

[Anonymous]

I run a Magnum 350 with the media container full of GAC full time, changed out every two weeks. I wrap the container with blue filter material and run for two weeks each month. Nitrate zero.

 

[Anonymous]

I use a HOT Magnum right after changing water just to polish up. After a couple of hours i take it out. There is no need to keep it running 24x7. Like Scott said is a detritus trap which will probably increase your nitrates or phosphate levels.

HTH.
Reefmann.

 

[Anonymous]

SeaView I use a prefilter sponge in my overflow box and ocasionaly add a filter pad with GAC in my HOB Millenium 3000. I clean sponge once a week and its usually fairly dirty.....Mike

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Its only money!

 

[Anonymous]

I run one sponge in my overflow box and one in my sump under the return line. Both are mainly for noise reduction of water. Working on removing them but clean them once a week presently. No issues with Nitrates.....RR

 

[Anonymous]

Seaview,

Good survey!! I use a polyester bag for mechanical filtration. It gets cleaned about once a week in the washing machine with bleach. I feel that the amount of detritus that gets trapped, and the microorganisms that grow in the material represent a fair amount of nutrient export. I quit using mechanical filtration for about 6 months, and noticed more turf type algae growth and velonia. Both are back under control after resuming the mechanical filtration. I would like to hear anyone elses .02 on these observations.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, I have 4 reef tanks (80, 65, 40, and 6 gallons). All are run with live rock/deep sand beds. None have any form of mechanincal filtration (well, actually, the three larger tanks have under-sized skimmers which I run at less than peak efficiency, more for oxygenation than filtration, but also as a safety net).

I used to run a large pre-filter, poly-filters and have a wet/dry on my 65 gal tank (my first). It seemed I was always battling high nitrates and problem algae. Now I don't have those problems.

Kevin

 

[Anonymous]

Well the no filter way always seemed to be the best for reef tanks. The sps tank experts seem to like to keep their tanks cleaner though and use them more than other reef tanks.
My new tank has oversized overflows that will serve as a refugium. The slotted standpipes will have foam pre-filters on them to keep the critters from ending up in the sump or skimmer. Also the food stuck in there will feed them. Of course I wiil cleand it when it gets to accumulated. Cant see nitrates being a problem with the sand and rock we use now.
My 2 overflows and kalk input all feed into separate bulkheads in the top of the sump. I use a filter wool there also, mostly to keep the noise and splash down.

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Doug Lowey

 

[Anonymous]

For those who said they do not use mech. filtration: Is your tank has a very low fish loading?

I have a 65G with DAS skimmer, Bio-balls, floss with medium fish load...Currently fighting a hairly war.

 

[Anonymous]

My 65 gallon tank has a pretty high bioload (overloaded, IMO):

-one 6" Royal Blue Tang (P. hepatus)
-one 3" purple tang
-one 2" gold striped maroon clown (was two, but the 4" female recently died due to egg-binding)
-one 3" yellow watchman goby
-one 2" sixline wrasse
-one 2" purple pseudochromis (P. fridmani)
-one 1" yellow-tailed blue damsel
plus 2 cleaner shrimp, a pistol shrimp, 7 rose bulb-tipped anemones, one 10-12" ancora, a purple tipped acropora that's slowly being killed by all the anemones and the ancora, and a variety of mushromms and other polyps (plus a variety of snails and hermits).

I have very little macro algae growth in the main tank, although I do get a good amount of hair in the refugium (a 4" x 18" space n the rear of the tank that was designed to hold the bioballs for the wet/dry).

Kevin

 

[Anonymous]

Like many others, I use a Magnum 350 when I'm doing water changes. It's mostly to catch any of the algae I'm pruning that I'll miss (I avoid stirring the sand, so I'm not trying to get that stuff). This lets me use the magnum on more than one tank, which is a big bonus. If I used GAC, then I might use the Magnum more, but I haven't used GAC in about a year and a half.

The fish load is fairly small, but we feed a ton.

Dave

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