Lr Filtration

[richard t]

It's been said on here many time's LR filtration is the way to go. My tank has a external filter, 3 180gl powerheads, one of which is running a undergravel filter. In addittion to this all the decor is LR. This is my first crack at a marine set up, and i purchased one of each, maybe just to be safe. Anyway is MORE=MORE or is MORE=LESS or LESS=MORE. Everything is fine at the moment. It's a mixed tank with a Orchid Dottyback, Firefish, Coral Beauty, Common Clown, Manderine. Mushroom's, Button's, Star Polyips (green+metallic), 2 leathers, 4 large tubeworms. And a clean up crew of 6 Hermits (3 blue 3 red ), 2 Turbo Snails. And last but not least a Red Knobbed Starfish?? ( the shop had it down as a maldives starfish ). The question i ask is. Do i stay as i am with 3 type's of filtration Or get a few more power heads and LR. Then switch the rest off "oh do the selection of occupents sound ok "

 

[Navarre]

although liverock is the preferred method of filtration these days, there is no "right" or "wrong" way to do it. If it works for you then great. however i feel some paths may mean more maintenance or monitoring. When i first started out i did a similar thing as you have. I had an external filter and liverock running alongside each other. I was quickly informed that the external would make the liverock lazy because an external can change ammonia and nitrites to nitrates extremly quickly. This meant the liverock wuould not be as good at converting these types of waste products. The liverock would then be working very hard at converting the enormous amounts of nitrates tha tthe external would kick out as well as trying to convert the nitrates that the liverock was producing itself.

On this advice i slowly closed down the external filter and left it running for flow but with no intenral filter medium. I havent looked back since. Natural filtration has always been a keen interst for me since this and i person\lly feel that if its good enough for mother nature then its good enough for me So things like refugiums, cryptic zones, mud filters and liverock are my main preferences. These types need little to no maintenance and of course are totally natural.

Undergravel filters and external are tried and tested methods and to this end they should not be tossed aside. However, i feel that with our knowledge of filtration at todays standards we can achieve better results with less work.

 

[richard t]

Thanks Nav I was reading a comment you made on a different thred. I think the equation was 1lb LR to 1gal water is that about right??

 

[Navarre]

I would consider this minimum to allow the liverock to act as a filter on its own with a realatively well stocked tank. You will probably find that you would want more liverock to finish off the aquascaping also.