sgould

For those with reef tanks...do you run mechanical filtration? Why or why not?

I have an XP2 canister on my tank and have been running the provided foam filters in 1 tray, with a matrix/de-nitrate combination of media in the 2nd tray. I pull the foam pads out every 2-3 weeks and rinse them out pretty thoroughly to prevent build up of material that would turn them into nitrate factories. I have been thinking of pulling the pads out and increasing the amount of the other media.

Mike

Rarely - only if I need to run activated carbon, then I'll hook one up. Other than that though, I don't use them. I feel that I forget to change/rinse out the filter media frequently enough and then the "stuff" trapped in the filter media can become a source of nitrates.

The protein skimmer and live rock seems to be working just fine. I think the key though is to have enough water movement to keep stuff suspended, pulled through powerheads and then skimmed away by the protein skimmer.

sgould

Thanks, Mike. I take it then that you do not find it problematic as far as larger particles not being removed? Or you are saying that being sucked through the powerheads keeps the larger particles broken down small enough to be skimmed?

agsansoo

In my barebottom tank, mechanical filtration is a must. In a barebottom tank a 100 - 200 micron filter sock is used to get the small particles out of the water column. In my case I use 1) marineland filter floss, 2) 100 micron filter sock material. 3) matrix/de-nitrate media. The 100 micron filter sock material is changed daily.



Since this picture was taken, I have removed the purigen from the phosban reactor and all sand in my refugium.

MY PARAMS
Temp: 79°
SG: 1.025
nitrate:<20
calc: 475
Alk: 11.2 DKH
pH: 8.2
Phos: <0.0
Mag: 1500

Mike

I found it more problematic to keep cleaning/changing the filter media on a regular basis. The large stuff gets chopped up by the powerheads and then as they break down into even smaller particles they should get used up by the filter feeders and the skimmer.

Gozer_1

I won't be using the black foam once I get rid of my XP2 for the future sump. The XP3 is all Matrix\DeNitrate. Nothing else. I hate dealing with it and it really doesn't help. I do like the MicroFilter pads for the XPs. I'll probably continue to use those. The black foam never really caught much gunk. The Finer floss of the McroFilter pads catches a ton of gunk. Hard to rinse and kinda pricey but do a great job.

squishles

The guy at the LFS told me to get rid of my Eclipse filter system bc I didn't need it. I have a skimmer, live rick, and a deep sand bed. Is he right? Needless to say, it's humming away next to me right now, although I could use the space for lights.

Gozer_1

As long as everything is running smooth and well established you should be fine. Just keep tabs on the DSB so it doesn't turn into a Nitrate factory.

sgould

Just an update...I did go ahead and remove all of the black foam pads from the XP 2 a couple of weeks ago. My thought being that the less I have to disturb the matrix/de-nitrate the better. I am still using the micro pad, but it is right on top of the top canister, so I can change it out without even removing the tray from the canister. Tray 1 and the bottom half of tray 2 is now all matrix and denitrate, the top half of tray 2 is a phoszorb cartridge and the micro pad.

agsansoo

How deep is your deep sand bed ? How much flow do you have in your tank ?

Gozer_1

I did the same in mine only I have nothing but Matrix denitrate in one canister and a seperate XP2 with micropads and Purigen and Phosguard. That way I don't even have to open the one. It's all gonna change in a couple weeks when I instal my newly built sump. No room for canisters so I built in a "canister" to the sump.