Marine or not to Marine

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Eric A;3237670; said:
The skimmer in mind is the Deltec APF600...
if i remember right deltec is a very good skimmer
 
Eric A;3237670; said:
The skimmer in mind is the Deltec APF600...
perfect for your tank imo.

Eric A;3237627; said:
Yeah, it doesn't seem cheap at all.

I think id rather just go LR. It will have to be built up gradually however, as I know I can't afford it all in one go. Just build it up as I add fish I think.

I didn't want a skimmer, as that deffo the most expensive bit about it. But I suppose it's the key essential with the tank. I saw an article in a magazine a while ago with a fella who had an 8x2x2 with large angelfish community that only had a huge skimmer as the external filteration. Just had a huge fuge.

Is it vital to have a fuge or sump? I'd much rather just have a heap of LR and a DSB in the tank, and fill a canister with live rock rubble.

Eric.

a sump'll help lots if you want live rock as your primary means of filtration. you really need quite a lot of it. it's pretty easy[cheap] to set up, and definitely is worthwhile.
also it's basically a filtration "holding area", where you keep your heater, chemicals if any, skimmer, etc. then cram live rock in the spaces :D, maybe algae if there's extra.
and don't forget the humble overflow, which helps gets rid of any crap on the water surface.
 
Eric A;3237670; said:
The skimmer in mind is the Deltec APF600...

Deltec does make a nice skimmer, but you can get a lot more now for that amount of money. I'm not sure where you seen the deltec at or what price you got on it but marine depot has them for $697 and if your looking to spend that kind of money on a skimmer then there are a lot better skimmers for that amount. For example Royal exclusive the same company that makes bubble king skimmers which are by far the best skimmer on the market now, make vertex alpha cone skimmers which will absolutely blow the deltec away, and its only another $50. Let me give you a few specs from both skimmers. First the deltec uses the aquabee pump which isn't a great pump its about as good as an eheim its not bad and is a needle wheel impeller which uses 21 watts so it is pretty energy efficient but it only produces 450-500 lts of air per hour.And for a heavy stocked tank is only rated for 200 gallons. Now the vertex uses the red dragon pump which is the best pump hands down nothing competes with it at all. It uses 28 watts and produces 2000lts per air an hour more than four time the aquabee more air means more bubbles finer bubbles and way better skimming. And the vertex is rated for 300 gallons, and for an extra $50 your getting a way better more efficient skimmer. the vertex and other great skimmers are available at aquariumspecialty.com i guarantee you will love the vertex over the deltec

Edit: One other thing i wanted to add is that the red dragon pump is going to be so quiet that you will not hear it running if you are in the same room as the tank as to where the aqua bee isnt going to be as near as quiet.
 
Street Fish;3238871; said:
This is a great thread - can someone tell me what fuge is?

A fuge or refugium is basically an additional tank much like a sump or can even be part of your sump, and is used to grow macro algae that you don't want to be in your display, macro algae helps to remove nutrients from the system. A fuge is also used to grow small animals, like amphipods, copepods, and mysid shrimp, so that they can grow and reproduce in the fuge safely and then migrate to the main tank as a food source. If they didn't have a fuge to grow and reproduce in then they most likely will be eaten faster than they can reproduce.
 
i like the deltec stuff, but man are they pricey, i also like the octopus skimmers, along with tunze (another high priced unit, but very compact), i run a tunze doc 9008 or something like that on my 225 show tank, and i have the octopus dnw 160 on my frag tanks, both skimmers do a great job.

If you are in need of alot of rock, you might try emailing them at liverockusa.com, i was able to get base rock for about $1 a pound shipped, its not live rock, but if you do a bit of both, the base rock will eventually become live rock and host all your beneficial bacteria.
 
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