Fluval 405 with HOB skimmer ?

I am planning on purchasing a 60G tank this week for mostly fish and perhaps a few corals. The tank I like at my LFS does not have an overflow for a sump and I was going to use about 60lbs of live rock, 2-Fluval 405s and a HOB Coralife Super Skimmer (125G). Will this be enough filtration to support my tank?

Thanks for your replies!

 

I believe it would, but If I recall correctly, I believe that Canister filters are known to be nitrate factories, which would not be good with the corals.

 

I would probably skip the canister filters. IMO you would be better off with just the skimmer because, as was said, cans can be nitrate factories.

 

I run an Eheim 2217 (I think) and an Octopus BH-2000 (HOB) on my 120gallon tank. It works, nitrates/phosphates are no existent in my tank.

The reason canister filters got a bad name is because of laziness. People neglect them for months at a time and then wonder why they have nitrates. You have to clean them out at least once a month and change the filters or at least rinse them. It's a pain in the butt to have to disconnect all the hoses and clean it out, but I do it because it has to be done.

If you go the canister route, then you must be willing to put the time into cleaning a canister filter.

IMO - having two canister filters would suck, because of the cleaning required. I would rather have one larger canister filter than two smaller ones.

 

+1 on above 3 posts

with enough rock and enough flow, you dont need any additional biological filtration capacity for a reef tank

cannister can be usefull mechanical filters - loaded with foam or padding and washed regularly so they dont ever become biological and thus dont add to any nitrate issues
( this can help with water clarity in a set up with no sump and thus no place for waste to end up or sock to capture it)

cannister filters can also be used to run certain brands/ types of chemical media when a sump / reactor set up is not in place - carbon or some carbons work great in a mesh bag in a cannister, as does Purigen and Phosguard etc

but again you do need to periodically rinse these things off to try and prevent decaying waste matter accumulating in there and thus adding to ambient Nitrate levels

Steve

 

Thanks for the input! I bought my tank yesterday!

 

Sry still new to hobby, are you saying that if you have enough rock and flow than a filter isn't necessary?

 

Yes, traditional filters (hob/cannister) can work with SW tanks but will require proper cleaning/maintenence so that debris doesn't get trapped and ramp up your Nitrate levels.

Good quality Live Rock will act as the biological filtration in a SW tank. If you have a skimmer, good flow, a nice clean-up-crew and are consistent with water changes/maintenence, your tank would be fine. Traditional filters are usually used to run media and for mechanical filtration. Water params are less forgiving in SW tanks so that's why not everyone uses one (they don't want to deal with the routine cleaning).

 

Do you mean shrimp and crabs?

 

snails and crabs, check out www.reefcleaners.org to get yourself a good one if you don't already have one, they are a sponsor and wonderful to deal with.