Is there any such thing as 'too much' filtration?

Hi everyone!

I have a 55g tank that I am planning on turning into a reef tank with about 6-7 fish, some crabs, clams, and a bunch of coral.

My current setup is:
Aqueon 55g glass tank
Aqua Clear 110g filter
Koralia Hydor 3 jet
20 lbs live rock
Sand

Water clarity is one of the most important things to me. I am thinking of getting a second Aqua Clear 110g filter, as well as a Coralife 65g protein skimmer. I have found a good deal on these, and could get the combo for around $130. Would this be overkill? Would it cause too much water flow? Too much filtration?

Thanks!!!!!!!!!

 

IMO i think you would be ok...esp. on water flow...you could easily add another koralia 3 to the tank and I am the same way on water clarity...i think it makes a tank stand out and obviously if the water is cloud something isnt right. For filtration i think I would personally ditch that aqua clear filter and not invest the money in that but rather but it towards a nice canister filter. What Skimmer are u specifically talking about? Not a sea clone are you? or is it the needle wheel skimmer? The needle wheel is better than the sea clone but you could also save the money and buy a nice aqua c remora, cpr, deltec skimmer (getting pretty pricey tho) but it does depend on your budget but i would suggest a good skimmer if you plan on keeping clams and other sensitive corals

 

I suppose the answer to your question would depend on what kind of corals you're keeping.

 

pass on the coralife and look into getting a aqua c remora or a bak pak or even an octopus HOB skimmer MUCH MUCH better and worth the lil extra penny it will cost you

 

Trust me, you will not like the look of the Coralife Super Skimmer hanging off your tank. I tried it and it's a eyesore.

When I was researching info for keeping a bubble tip anemone I noticed on karensroseanemone.com that she is successfully keeping beautiful mixed reefs with nothing but AquaClears and protein skimmers. You may want to check that out.

 

To answer the main question there is no such thing as too much filtration. Corals do benefit from feeding however so if you filter everything out of the water you will want to increase feedings. Carbon will help your water clarity tremendously.

 

Here is how I see it. Biological filtration is done by rock and sand and anything else that can be colonized. You are not in charge of that so to speak. Bacteria will grow to what ever the bio load will support.

Chemical filtration is by carbon, or GFO, or chem pure ect. Good stuff. Can't really have "too" much. It wouldn't harm your tank, just your wallet. You can just waste money using too much.

That leaves mechanical filtration. Skimmers are mechanical filters. Obviously filter floss and sheets, canisters, filter socks. One good thing is that if you filter stuff out of the water before it breaks down that is good. Remove the source, not the byproducts.

The bad is that it is a lot of maintenance. They will fill easily. If you do not do maintenance often enough, they turn biological. Not bad in it self, but when you remove it you remove some of your bio filter. Not to mention added cost of filter media. Most just go with a sock and wash them.

Now I used to filter aggressively. Very fine filter changed every week. It gets old. Can't stand doing filter maintenance. I don't use any now and just clean my skimmer. The corals and every other living thing feed of the particles. One animal's poop is another animal's lunch. My skimmer does the Lion's share and it is easy to clean. My tank is not "dirty". Water is clear enough and I have zero nitrates, no algae, and good growth. Good enough for me. YMMV

 

You know, I never thought of this. Recently I removed all the sponges from my canister (which I had 0ppm Nitrates) and shortly after had a Nitrate spike up to 20ppm. This makes sense now.

 

The bacteria will want to be where the food is. So filters grow plenty of bacteria in time. Removing the sponge removes a large chunk of bacteria. Most recommend quicker changes, or only changing half your stuff at a time. Something to take this in to account.

 

Also linked to how much area you have for the bacteria. For example, the more rock you have, the more space you have for anaerobic bacteria (that grows inside the rock). If you have too little rock then the bacteria can't grow to what the bio load will support for example.

So true, but clarifying.