filter with refugium?

Have a 75 gal tank with canister filter. Wife gets stuck taking care of it most of the time, cleaning, coral keeping, etc. She wants to add a refugium to help with water quality, pods, and so on. My question is do I need to keep the canister filter to run with the refugium, or does the refugium take care of that? I know it is a pain for her to clean by herself.

Thanks in advance

 

If you have live rock I would think the canister filter is already unnesessary .
J

 

yep, drop it

 

I run a filter sock and wash it in the washer once every 3 days. Water is crystal clear. I skim too.

 

the canister filter is not needed, but may prove to be a pain to remove all at once, I used one and had nitrate issues with nitrates. I have seen where people remove teh canister filter all at once and have alot of issues with ammonia nitrates and nitrites because they didnt keep it clean. that being said remove the media slowly or keep a bottle of prime on hand and remove it, in SW tanks there is almost no need to have one unless you are running it as a media reactor. a sump is somthing you might want to look into as well if you do not have one already but you can get a hob fuge for yout tank that will work alot better in the long run.

I vote for a fuge ;D (on a side note they do remove rate,rite,ammonia, ext better that a can filter too)

 

I have a fuge. I do not have a canister filter (nor do I know what it even is lol). I do not have a filter sock. My ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels are low (judging by the looks of my tank ;D havent tested it in a while as I haven't felt the need to).

 

Get a powerhead or cartridgeless filter for the sump. You'll need to cycle it before connecting the two. If it's large enough, I'd think you'd be ok. If you double the water volume and live rock, you should be able to handle a lot more bioload even without carbon (which I wouldn't bother to run). If you want to be extra safe, keep running the current filter for a bit once the sump and display are connected.

 

Yep, lots of live rock for display tank, and would add more to refugium since increasing water volume. Would we need to add anything to refugium besides chaeto to be beneficial and help feed corals? Mostly softies- mushrooms, zoas, a duncan (that hasn't opened back up in quite a long time). And if needed, where would I want to put a sock? Protein skimmer is hung on display tank- hidden, as the display tank is built into wall for double sided view. So, to set up the refugium, overflow from main tank, down under cabinet to refugium, then back up to main tank via a pump? Do I need one of those tanks with all the baffles in it?

 

I'd read up on this. It's a very good setup.

http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx