External Filter And Skimmer

[GShorty1981]

I was planning on getting a external filter and a protien skimmer for my reef tank,what ones do you recommend and are they really necessary?

Shall i fill it with floss and carbon or LR rubble or all 3?

Currently i have a small internal filter and one power head and 25 KG of LR i was planning on replacing the internal filter with another powerhead once i got the external.

Tank stats in sig.

 

[N1z]

Externals arent a huge need, most people run extra liverock in them and phosphate remover it also gives a higher flow turnover, but if you have already got phos somewhere else. Id save your money. Unless you wanna run a steraliser or other things that require external flow.

As for floss it will block sooo quickly and personnally i think its a waste of time in marine unless you have huge particles in your water and carbon aint a big need either but thats my own opinion.

As for skimmer you should have one for a tank your size unless you like doing big water changes to stop that skum building on the surface.

Id look at tmc 400/ deltec mce300 or 600 or a tunze doc skimmer if not i think blau also do some, go on livingseas.com they sell tuns of skimmers, both hang on side of aquarium to internal ones.

 

[rabbut]

I don't use any exturnals on my marine tank, and no phasphate remover. Never realy had any algea issues yet either, despite feeding a whole cube of frozen food every other day, adding all the loverly phasphate-laden frozen food juce into the tank (Please don't all shoot me at once ) and so currently believe exturnals to be a waste of money Having removed the exturnal on works coral display, phosphate has remained at 0.1ppm, so the phosban in that filter obviously wasn't doing much

I run a skimmer however, and the gunk it pulls is phenomimnal I would not dream of runnig without one, but many regard skimmers as "optional" for smaller tanks

For exturnals, Eheim and Tetratec are the barnds to look at. For skimmers, Deltec, AquaMedic and Tunez are the three main ones

All the best
Rabbut

 

[chris348]

Agree with Rabbut,

external filters only suck your money. I used to have one running until i was told they really only become nitrate traps, mostly bad.

A good skimmer is essential IMHO, have a look at the ones Rabbut mentioned and look at getting one that is rated higher than your tanks capacity.

My personal fav are Deltec as i am waiting for my new ap701 to be delivered !!!

Oh and lots of live rock too, you will need that..