Dear god the conflicting opinions!

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Darky

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 11, 2007
184
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AUSTRALIA
Ok, lately Ive been asking alot of questions about saltwater set ups. Lets first get out of the way what I want to do.

20G long tank, I have 55W PC lighting, not sure about filtration at the moment as my brain just got completely screwed over by talking with the people at a few LFS. All I want is a pair of clowns, with a few chunks of live rock. No corals, or anything mega flashy. Ok hell maybe a few of the easier soft corals :D.

I had it all planned out, I wanted to run a 20G long with possibly a 10G sump, with skimmer. I went down the the fish shop number 1. They tell me my sump idea is rubbish and I need to buy some 100 dollar all in one skimmer, hob filter, ozone sterilizer...:screwy: I mean, I want good stuff thats actually going to do its job.

Next is shop number two. He seems pretty cool, but most of his stuff is mega overpriced. Anyhoo, at least he trys to sell me eheim stuff. But he doesnt believe in live rock...they use lava rock to hold their bacteria. They also tell me that FW beneficial bacteria is the same as SW.

So I walk away with all these conflicting opinions. Heres my battle plan.

I want a skimmer. I refuse to attempt SW without the right equiptment.

I also want LR. Man the first shop had some sexy LR :D

Aragonite is my chosen substrate.

What has me confused is the filtration. Should I get a 1200L ph cannister and put biomax in it like they both instructed me?
 
Nope, live rock & skimmer is all you need. The more LR & better skimmer, the less water changes.
 
I knew it. One of the people even said a new tank wouldnt work with just live rock and a skimmer.
 
AND another funny thing. When I said I do 40% weekly water changes on my 75G tank with my red devil, the lady laughed and said "Oh god, your tanks probably still only running on water changes". Errr, sorry to break it to you but the bacteria lives in the filter and the other surfaces of the tank, not the water. I had to hold my tongue there, she was a real douche bag.
 
I do 75% on all my FW tanks & 90% on my discus.
 
I only do water changes when the test readings dictate that it's necessary not because I was told it was the way to go. Still I know of a LOT of salt water aquariums running on nothing but live rock and a skmmer...the problem is that ALL of them have been AT LEAST 6 feet long. I honestly question if you can support enough live rock in a tank as small as a 20 gallon for that to be your ONLY real filtration. Skimmers remove needed trace elements from the water along with the junk. Even huge tanks run relitivly small skimmers concidering the gallonage.This keeps the impact down to a minumum but on a small tank like a 20...even a small skimmer may well be overkill. The answer IMO may well be one of the small HOB combo units with an approiatly sized skimmer built in like the one LFS suggested.
 
Hmm interesting. Thanks for that wolf, seeing as though that costs 100 bucks that gives me more cash to spend on LR :drool:. Definately worth thinking bout.
 
I have a Bacpac on my 15g mantis tank & it skims quite well.

How does a skimmer remove trace elements exactly?
 
Ok, my turn.

Live Rock and Skimmer is the way to go. NEVER LISTEN TO ANY LFS!!!
they atre only there to sell stuff and can never be trusted.

I recommend a sump, not for the filtration but the simple ability to keep the equipment out of your display.
Those all-in-one pieces of equipment are usually crap and not worth it. you will be better served by getting a great skimmer over anything else. Even live rock is not as effective (I have done tanks with no LR and only a skimmer). As far as the bacteria, they are in the watercolumn as much as the surface of the rock and stuff.

Trace elements are not as big a deal as many may think. I have never heard of a tank dying due to depleted trace elements. Besides, if you do waterchanges like you do then you will be fine with trace elements since most salt brands have 10 times the normal amount allready.

Cannister filters are nitrate factories and will cause you nothing but trouble in the end.

Tank size is not a big deal with what you are doing. I have had big and small tanks, with and without skimmers. if you go without skimmer on a small tank then prepare for algae blooms and regular waterchanges. if you do a skimmer then you will find the tank will be much easier once the tank has cycled and the LR has shed all the crap it is bottling up.

all you need for this tank IMO is your skimmer, some live rock (20-25lbs), a heater (25-50w) and your return pump.

keep it simple, the more equipment you add the more you will need to maintain.
 
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