Filter Help!

HI Everyone,

I have been lingering for a long time, and reading to the point im pretty sure my eyeballs are going to fall out.

I need some advice with filtering, I was given 72 all-glass gallon bow front tank, I would like to set up a reef tank and eventually incorporate corals into it. I took a class in marine botany, and they have always facinated me.

The stand that I have is open on two ends, with a door in the front, what ever I get has to be able to fit behind the door which is like 18 inches. I for the life of me have yet to figure out the sump/refugium situation, and the pet store was not much help. I also dont think one would fit as I would need it to be like 20 gallons?

With the tank it came with and eheim2215 but its rather nasty looking so I would rather not use it.

I saw a fluval C4 filter which looked like it might be okay, but im still not really sure what type of filter you need for corals, I keep reading conflicting information. I bought a few newer published books and they too are conflicting .

Any suggestions on the filter?

 

Look into a 20 long. that will fit under that stand. I had one on my 75 that worked very good.

 

skip the filter and as long as you have a gooda mount of live rock you will be fine with a good quality skimmer. Filters can work but they will need to be cleaned regularly to keep decaying waste from jacking up your Nitrate level in your tank.

I sustain my sump-less 55g reef on 70lbs of LR, a good hob skimmer, 2 powerheads, 1 reactor & it does wonderfully. Of course you will need good lighting for a reef & to keep up with regular maintenence/dosing if you go that route.

If this is your first SW tank, it's best to start slow with a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) & then move to a reef when you are more experienced with the basics of SW.

 

What would be a good hob skimmer?

Do you need a protein skimmer too?

 

you don't need one, but I would strongly advise you to get one. and a good one at that(so no seaclones)

 

Protein skimmer makes maintenance much easier. Live/base rock is reccommended for the display portion of the tank, while the skimmer and usually a refugium are good for the sump. You'll want somewhere to put carbon, as well, which usually means under outlet of the drain line in the sump, or in a reactor fed by a pump from your return section.

 

A sump is your BEST bet and allows for much greater flexibility in your system.

 

What I'm really having a hard time with is I don't get the sump idea.

How does the water get back to the tank? Are there any good places I could buy the entire set up? I'm not much for the diy stuff.

 

Think of the sump as a storage unit... It stores some tank water, return pump, and if it is large enough your skimmer. A return pump removes water from the sump up to the tank. An overflow system takes the same amount of the tank water back to the sump where it is filtered and then the process begins again. A sump can also have a section used as a refugium where you grow macro-algae to help with water quality.

 

There's an overflow up at the DT (display tank). Water is filled up until the level of the overflow. As water raises above that level, it drains to the sump.

The return pump takes water from the sump, and pumps it back to the DT.

When the return pump is off, no water is overflowing, since the return pump is supposed to dictate the rate water is being returned.

I don't know of any place to buy a full setup like this, but I haven't exactly looked. If you do find a place, it'll be 5x the cost of doing it yourself, at least.