FX5 on a 90 gallon reef?

[redtailcatfreak]

Well hey everyone its been awhile. Ive gone to the darkside and have not looked back. Last winter I set up a 20 gallon reef. And it has taken off extremely well. Now im in the process of moving from south florida to cali. Im going to be transporting the 20 out there along with a drilled 90 i picked up 2 years ago and 2 Fx5s that were taking off my 350. Once i get out there im gonna start setting up the 90 and transfer everything from the 20 into it.

Now heres the question. Will a Fx5 work for a 90 gallon reef?

Now Im a big fan of the all natural look. The plan is to do about 3 inches of Carib Sea sand (the fine white stuff) and alot of live rock. In my tank now i have alot of macro algae. It completely covers every inch or rock in the tank and the fish have done a great job of keeping it trimmed down to where it looks like grass. I love the look of it and it does a great job at biological filtration. I also have some mangroves in the tank as well, i had to remove some because there starting to get too big for the tank.

Since the 20 was my first reef/saltwater ive done some experimentation on it. This tank being a year old has only ever had 4 water changes none of which have been within the last 6 months or so. I have yet to have a fish die off (besides one jumping out). Everything is extremely healthy and growing. So im thinking if i take the same concept over to the 90 it would cover my biological filtration needs. Then the Fx5 (which currently is 2 lvls bio 1 lvl mechanical) would take care of any actual debris in the tank.


Sorry for the sort of random jumping around but i wanted to get everything out there.

 

[Ptrick125]

I think they should work


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[wednesday13]

Should b fine...salty canisters can be a bit dirtier than a freshy one but if not over stocked they can last faaaar longer between cleanings than your ust too, especially if you have plenty of live rock. They are good for harboring worms though that can sting when your cleaning your sponges. When i got into salt I set up systems every way i could think and theyve all flourished. When i say this i mean tanks with sumps, tanks with canisters, tanks with h.o.b.'s and tanks with skimmers and without. I have found live rock to be the most essential part of any of these setups. I try to do 10lbs for 10gal. but run about half that ratio in some of my tanks with no problems. Any setup can keep things alive, but which setup will make them thrive is the question. If i had a drilled 90 id have a sump with skimmer as the best setup, especially for reef. IMO small setups can handle everyday equipment but larger ones must must must have a good skimmer. This is the basis of all saltie setups. You should setup the tank with a sump since its drilled and just add equipment as you go. the fx5 will keep you cycling until your sumps complete. Euro Reef/Dynamics skimmers or bust! you need an ins-100 or even a ins-80 for that 90 to keep it squeaky clean. Any hang on skimmer is nonsense

 

[wednesday13]

one of my customers is a coral distributor with 30 8x3' tanks and a good standing buisness.....He only uses large skimmers in sumps for his tanks...no bio, no mech, nothing! but a skimmer and water. Tanks are always crystal and corals healthy. I am amazed how easy some salt setups can be, if you had a 350 fresh a 90 salt will be a breeze.

 

[redtailcatfreak]

Thanks for the insight. And yeah i know a sump with a skimmer would be best but this is what i have. Eventually id like to get a sump and skimmer for it then use the fx5 and the return pump. Of course id be limited with space and the fx5 will take up half of the stand on its own. But even a 20 gallon sump with the fx5 there really should never be any problems with water quality.

Im just tired of the constant maintenance. lol. The 200 gallon water changes and having to clean 2 fx5s full of mud every week got really old. Im really starting to like these self sustaining systems.

On the note of the worms. Im just gonna get dead rock and seed the tank with the live rock that i have. Every night for the first 2 weeks i set a flash light next to the tank and picked out all the worms with tweezers. After servicing a tank that had an infestation. I mean i was scooping them out of there sump in hand fulls. I made sure there were none in my tank. They freak me out for some reason.

 

[wednesday13]

They def freak me out for some reason aswell lol...its just weird to see underwater centipedes crawling around hah gross... but also agreed with the matinence of salt. Its alot more stable after the initial cycling period. Im up to 8 salt tanks in little over a year. Ive been turning all my frehy grow outs into salt. Just did a 197 aswell. Still like my fresh tanks but it sucks doing waterchanges on a daily basis. Much eazier to empty a skimmer cup every few days. I run a 47 on a canisyer with no issues. With all the rock you plan on you should b fine with no skimmer.
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[CHOMPERS]

Since you like the look of algae, the canister(s) should work out well for you. Normally they are referred to as 'nitrate factories', but in this instance, it is a good thing. The algae needs nitrates (and phosphates); you can naturally supplement phosphates by feeding nori to your fish. You can also get nitrogen products and phosphates in fertilizers. There is a reef safe fertilizer that is commonly used in hydroponics (I don't remember the name, but I think it is by Miracle Grow). Iron is also important for macro algae. The algae will also suck up your trace elements, so you'll need to dose that every now and then too. Before you leave Florida, visit some of the boat docks close to you. I've found many interesting algae and sponges. If you can make it to the Indian River/Banana River lagoons by NASA, you'll find some amazing algae types (purples, reds, and orange).

 

[11sec76]

hey redtail, i currently have a 120g reef and water is perfect. nitrates are never high because i do a water change weekly. the filter pads are changed out every 6 weeks or so. heres a link to se it.

http://youtu.be/n0XKXgzOSOs