Question on filter for Saltwater

[bcfd144]

We are a freshwater house, but finally wife talked me into doing a salt tank for her.
So, I have a good connection at my LFS and he will help me set it up. Will be talking to him Tuesday about things.

Im going to use a 65 gallon tank for our fist setup.
Planning on doing both coral and some fish.
So will need a filter and protein skimmer.

Since tank is not drilled, Im going to use a Fluval canister filter to filter it.

My question is this, is there anything I need to do different in the filter.
Meaning, I set all mine up for freshwater, is there different stuff needed in it to do saltwater or is the setup the same?

thanks for any info..

 

[Jc1119]

It's pretty much the same if your running canister. You may want to add a skimmer at some point. It really earns it's keep in a salt system. Very good investment. I spend alot of time on reefcentral as well and surface skimming in a salt system is top priority and pays dividends.

If you were running s sump, it would be a bit different. Old school thought ( which still works quite well by the way) was wet dry, but as efficient as the sumps were at eliminating ammonia and nitrite, they became nitrate factories as a result. Freshwater, not a big deal. But in salt,it's a different story. Most reefkeepers nowadays remove all bioballs and pack it full of live rock. Run some filters socks on the drains and your done.

All in all a canister setup is the same. As you get deeper into it you'll see how crazy it can get if you ge into keeping certain species of coral. Reactors, dosers
.......

It can get deep quick. But filtration principles are the same. You do have to deal with nitrates differently though. Freshwater is forgiving. Salt is not. Skimmers are cheaper than buying saltwater all the time.

 

[Pazzoman]

For a filter try hitting for a sump. If you have any questions on sump's or anything don't be afraid to ask (Took me lots of explaining to realize the beneficialness of a sump). I currently am using an fx5, great but not worth it for saltwater IMO.

 

[stopsharkfinning]

the strange thing about marine tanks is the filter is the most simple part, put some live/base rock in, ghost feed it wait a couple of months for bacteria to grow according to the amount of waste,that is all the filtration you will need other than protien skimming and some filter wool. slowly add your fish a protien skimmer is a must have.cannister filters are nitrate traps and will cause issues if you are intending to keep coral. is your tank fish/ coral or just fish?

 

[ZZ5150]

Nitrates are much more important to limit that in freshwater. In fish only try to keep to 20 ppm or below. If going to have coral you need to keep even lower.

 

[TMartinez]

In all honesty in a sw system a filter is just a water polisher. Its only advantage is to pickup larger undissolved materials. The berlin system (live rock and skimmer) is the most common and works very well. The skimmer picks up dissolved oranic material and the live rock house nitrifying bacteria. I have a hang on back Aquaclear 110 that I converted to a refugium. It has a sponge filter to catch larger materials and then I have live rock rubble and macro algae in there to eat up nitrates. Its a very good system...

 

[BIG-G]

I have been doing saltwater for about 11 years now, I have a 150 gallon reef. The skimmer is most important. I have found that a canister filter is more hassle than its worth. They will trap and quickly clog with all sorts of debris and worms and other critters will setup shop unless you maintain and completely clean it at least once a week. All you really need is some sort of mechanical filter somewhere in the system just to polish the water and liverock will do for bio. I also tell everyone to plan on taking the rock out of the tank once or twice a year and rinse it, swish it in some tank water. The live rock will become clogged and lead to nitrate and algae problems over time.

 

[bcfd144]

Ya, I know a skimmer is important. Since this tank Im going to use is not drilled, I plan to use a back pack skimmer. That part is already taken care of.
There will be live rock in the tank. So I know that helps with water bio and stuff.
Only reason Im putting a flival 305 filter on it is because of water polish and because the tank will also have fish.
Have been told, if you have coral, you need a skimmer,
If you have fish, you need a filter.
I plan to have both, coral and fish...

Just didnt know if the filter set up was any different as far as media...

 

[TMartinez]

You can run the same media. Just make sure it gets a through cleaning on a regular basis.

 

[EastBay]

You can run the same media. Just make sure it gets a through cleaning on a regular basis.

+1. You'll probably need to clean it a couple times a week. That's why most SW keepers don't use cannisters as primary filtration. They get packed with gunk quickly and cause nitrate spikes. As a result, they have to be cleaned often.
For corals, just as important as filtration is lighting, which is WHOLE separate thread!