Is this Filter Any Good?

[BobbyD109]

Hi all. I'm new to reef keeping.

I have a 46 gallon Bow Front Tank and currently have 50 lbs of live rock doing well inside.

I was frustrated with the Via Aqua Multiskimmer I bought, so I decided to buy myself a new canister filter. I am going to keep both running for the next 4 weeks or so until i'm satisfied that the biological culture is established in the new filter.

I bought the Rena Filstar xP 2, because my LFS said it was a good product and is what I am looking for.

Does anyone have any experience with this RENA filter, and if so do you like it?

Please weigh in.

Thank You. :?:

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm... If your skimmer wasn't working properly it probably would have been better to replace it with a better skimmer.

Canister filters can be used for particulate filters or to run carbon, but I don't believe they would be effective as the main filter for a reef. Biological action in the filter will result in nitrate, and that fuels algae growth. This is the same reason trickle filters aren't recommended for reef aquaria.

Skimmers remove the nutrients before they break down into nitrite and nitrate, and are superior for that reason.

 

[KookyNewky]

Not to steal the topic but I have a question regarding the reply. Does that mean that all one needs to filter a reef tank is a protein skimmer?

 

[jandree22]

yup, you get a good efficient skimmer and at least one pound of Live rock per gallon of tank, paired up with at least bi-weekly water changes, and that's all you'll need. It's refered to the Berlin method. You can take it one step further with the usage of Live Sand as well.

 

[J.Howard]

Haven't heard much about Rena, but see them all over ebay. FWIW, I use canisters for a few reasons.
-Good for back up on seperate plumbing if main pump dies for example and mine is big enough to provide my chiller with correct flow, so my big pump doesn't reheat the water on return. Plus the chiller has less chance of clogged heat exchanger.
-Great way to add carbon or other absorbing media to lower phosphates/nitrates if needed.
-Also polishes the water nicely
-Best of all IMO, increases total system flow, can even be used with a wavemaker as long as cycles are not too close together as this would cause premature wear. ( don't use mine for that, but heard of those who do)
So it's a good thing...

BUT, I would not rely on them for biological/ principal filtration. Sure you can get "biomedia" to throw in, but never enough to be the only thing, even with lots of LR. Don't give up on your skimmer unless you are replacing it with another one. You may have exactly what you need running right now with both. Give it some time.