Professional Advice Appreciated...

[929rocketjock]

Hey y'all, its the new guy. I need some advice on a reef tank I just "upgraded" to.

The new tank was a steal but I am unsure of the setup. It is your typical 75 gal rectangle tank (undrilled), I previously had a 44 gal. The filtration the gentleman that sold it to me used is questionable though.
I have set it up as a reef tank with roughly 130+lbs of live rock teeming with fans mushroom polyps, sponges, and pulsating zxenia(sp?). I also have several reef safe fishies and inverts. My main concern is the filtration system provided with the tank may not be right for a reef tank. The tank can with 2 running magnum 350's(which I thought were for freshwater tanks) a wet/dry with bio-balls(do I need them with all the rock I have?) and a hang-on AND in-sump protein skimmer (2 total running). It seems like this guy wanted nothing to do with cleaning the tank EVER. If the plugs are not pulled it takes 10 seconds for all this filtration to suck every particle of food out of the tank before the fish even see it. My concern is there is nothing left in the water for my reef to thrive off of. ADVICE??

[salt creepette]

welcome to TRT!!!

i would say that you could remove the bio balls and magnums and just stick with one of your protein skimmers (whichever one is the best). that, plus your live rock, should be all you need unless you are running a fish only tank loaded with fish. if you are lightly stocking your tank and doing a reef (and are willing to do regular partial water changes to export some of the organics that a skimmer or other filtration just cant remove), you dont have the need for all that mechanical filtration (overskimming can actually be detrimental to a reef as well. I will find the link to author Eric Borneman's article in a minute). In addition, the filter media in the magnums and also the bio balls can accumulate debris which if not cleaned out on a weekly basis can become what is referred to as a 'nitrate factory.' what is your current nitrate reading? how long have you had the tank running?

[Tasher80]

I agree with that answer. I run a skimmer and Live Rock. Thats it. Everyonce in a while I run a magnum filter just to polish the water or when removing deterius in the tank. But that only runs for a few hours then it goes back in the closet for later.

[929rocketjock]

I understand now...I will "kill" the magnums the balls and the weakest skimmer. It is a bit much to dis-assemble and re-assemble the magnums to my system for occasions when I need them though. Since they were only running for 4 days can I just keep them attached and plug 'em in when necessary?
BTW my nitrates are fine and the tank has been running 4 days

Thanks for the advice!!

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by 929rocketjock
...BTW my nitrates are fine and the tank has been running 4 days...

Well...


four days is not really enough to begin to see the changes in a water column in a closed system that is cycling nitrogen. Prolly best to just pull the magnums and use them to occasionally polish the water or run carbon, leave them dry and clean the rest of the time.

You have lots to look forward to!

[929rocketjock]

Guess I'll be tearing those mags down after all. I knew it just didn't seem right to have them running. They will be high and dry till the water needs lovin'. Thanks for the advice!!!

[salt creepette]

looks great! here is the link I was going to fetch for you. see myth 15 and 17.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/eb/index.htm

[929rocketjock]

Very interesting and helpful articles, thanks. It is bizarre to find out for the first time that you should try disabling your skimmer in small increments, to find a perfect balance of skimming. Makes sense though if you have enough photosynthesis taking place to compensate for the loss of oxygenation. thanks again!!

[salt creepette]

welcome!

[Goofy]

I've heard of over skimming but i've never heard of someone turning their skimmer off for periods of time.

How is this helpful or detrimental?

[salt creepette]

goofy, check out the link above and read myth 17 for info on this.