Filter question

[rubiconman]

I have a Penguin 200 filter on my 55 gal. and I have been reading a lot about people who don't ever use a filter. I have 80 lbs of Marshall Island rock and was told that this does the job that the filter does. Is this true?

 

[Anonymous]

Not true. Depends on your setup, the live rock may not replace a filter. If the bioload of your tank is relatively low, and the live rock is good quality or cured properly, then your tank can do without the Penguin filter, and with live rock along.

However, if you have a heavy feeding, high fish/livestock density, and do frequent water change to take care of nitrate problem, then you will need to have the Penguin filter to keep ammonia in check.

Tell us more about your setup, and we can answer your concern better. It is very difficult in this hobby to make any generalized comment due to the wide range of setup there are.

 

[cjsrch]

alot of people whoi say no filter mean they have refugium. or they just dont use mechanical filter. l ike me only filter i ever used was wetdry and a refuge

 

[ChrisRD]

Personally, I wouldn't bother running the Penguin filter full time if you have a skimmer. IMO the power filter is useful for periodic maintenance tasks such as running GAC for a few days a month or removing suspended detritus after "storming" the rockwork with a powerhead/turkey baster, but personally, I would not run it full time (or just pull the cartridges until needed).

The problem with this type of filtration IMO is that it traps detritus and holds it in the water column until the unit is cleaned. Unless it's cleaned very frequently, the detritus will have time to start decomposing and can negatively impact water quality. The skimmer continually removes waste from the water column (along with providing aeration and increased pH stability as a fringe benefit) so it does not suffer from the same problem.

 

[rubiconman]

My current setup is a 55gal. w/ 48" Coralife Aqualight Pro (2-250 mh's, 2-actinic, 3-nightlights). I have 2-maxijet 600 ph's (waiting for Red Sea wavemaker system), Seaclone 100 protein skimmer w/ good extraction, 250w heater, and Penguin 200 filter w/out bio wheel. As for fish and livestock, I have a set of paired ocellaris clowns, coral beauty angel, royal gamma, fire shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp, 3 emerald crabs, orange linkia star, lettuce nudibranch, several hermits, several snails, fuzzy grass mushroom (13 polyps), and a group of green star polyps all surrounding 80 lbs of Marshall Island live rock. The tank is in it's third month and seems to be doing well. All test readings are normal, however I am not able to keep the calcium levels up. I have a fairly new peice of live rock that seems to have several unidentifiable patches of corals growing on them. I am wondering if the addition of this particular rock is eating up all of my calcium. Currently, my test readings are:

Ammonia - 0
nitrate - 0
nitrite - 0
ph - 8.3
Alkalinity - normal
s/g - 1.022
Calcium - 350