lil_dose

Hello, hope everyone is doing well!
I've had freshwater tanks for a while now and i've been looking to make the switch to marine tanks.
There is a tank i am looking to buy but it has an established Plenum gravel filter system...For this tank i was also going to try and get a new canister filter and a protein skimmer....what i was wondering was
1. it says on some websties that the P.system means you can't run water over the gravel...would this be imcopadable with my set up? (canister filter, protein skimmer and power heads (2-3) for 75 odd gallons.
2. it also says that this system can only manage a few fish..i was looking to build up this reef tank...with the extra protein skimmer and filter would this eliminate this problem?
3. would the filter/skimmer mean the p.system cannot function with the sand disturbance and could this create a water/fish health problem in the future.
Thank you for you time and thoughts! Have a great one!

Mike

Huh? When I think of plenums, I think of the plenum under a sandbed used for denitrification. How could you not run water over them in an aquarium?

I would use the canister filter for periodically running with carbon or phosphate remover and for the rest of the time just use it for water movement with no filter materials in it. They can quickly become nutrient sources if not replaced frequently.

I think the plenum setups can be more complicated and they have to be setup "just right" from my understanding. Which means calculating a proper plenum depth and sand bed depth above it. They are supposed to be very efficient at nitrate reduction.

And welcome to FishLore,
Mike

agsansoo

1) A plenum system is a space below the substrate, usually a modified undergravel filter with PVC tubing. Don't understand the "can't run water over the gravel". Because a plenum system uses a DSB (deep sand bed) usually around 4" deep.

2) Most reef tanks don't have a big bio-load. IMO you don't need a canister filter. Just DSB, protein skimmer, lots of live rock and 10x-30x water flow.

3) Sand disturbance should be minimal. Sand shifting stars and nassarius snails to keep the sandbed stirred to prevent dead spots. As for the future problems .... Think of DSB as a marine septic tank, after three or four years it will start to back-up. When this happens the DSB will need replacing.