New Tank Need Help (Noob ?)

In the up coming weeks im taking a 90 gallon fresh tank and making it saltwater (have a 55 gallon now and that is going to be the freshy) But my question i have is, i making the tank a FOWLR and wondering what type of filtration i should use, i know ill be getting a protein skimmer with live rock like stated, but should i get a canister filter of hang onthe back filter? i new and dont want to drill then tank for a sump (never used one before) but just trying to figure the best way to filter the tank without to much difficultly till i can get the hang of saltwater and such

FYI: i do have a hang on the back and hang in the tank filters (one on each sid) running it now with freshwater, could i just use those or..

any help is wonderful!!

Thanks guy/gals

 

Hi Ant

you could do as you are suggesting but IMHO, you dont need to
the rock itself, providing you use enough of it, will provide the biological filtration needs of your reef tank
general figure is 1.5 - 2lb of rock per gallon, and the more porous that rock is the better it is for bacteria to colonise

the above coupled with really good water movement, so that water is always moving around the tank and thus taking the nutrients in the water to the bacteria on the rock
Id aim for at least 30 x tank volume to start with , if it where me, as even in my tanks when full of softies and LPS type corals 30 x water volume was not a problem for them

so in your tank you want 2700 GPH of water movement at least IMO and this is best achieved using the wave type power heads , such as Koralia, Seio, MP40s ETC as they create a lot of water movement but its spread and as such nothing gets blasted by it

I would rather have 2 or more smaller units, than 1 large unit because that allows me to make adjustments in various areas and fine tune my set up to try and suite the individual needs of various coral species

the 30x is a good starting point IME, but if you eventually progress to SPS corals, you will need to increase that flow without doubt.

if you do keep the HOB filters, or go for an external cannister filter , using them to hold things like Carbon, Phosphate removers, rather than filling them with biological media is a method I like to use

dont skimp on the skimmer, as this will become more important in a set up that does not have a sump/ fuge combination, removing nutrients before they break down and add to your bioload is extremely beneficial in this type of set up IME - check the site, ask the questions, which skimmer for a 90 ? etc HOB probably I assume - Id suggest Deltec MCE600 but Im biased as thats what I have . AquaC remora also gets a lot of good reviews as do others so do a search on skimmers or start a thread and ask for opinions on them

hope the above helps - different people have different opinions even on basic things
the above is just mine

Steve

 

Thanks Steve, this helps a bunch, my researched ive done said the same thing with a 1.5lb lr per gallon and a skimmer would be plenty of filtration, with great water movement, ill probably keep 1 HOB filter till i get enought live rock in the tank. AS for the skimmer i was leaning towards the AquaC for the reviews, but never hurts to look around thanks again

 

I just started my 55 FOWLR, so i'm new too.
Right now I'm using a HOB Marineland Emperor 280 (you would need the 400) which works just fine for me. However I don't know for 90 gal, might want to try a canister. Just remember, tunover should be between 8-15 times per hour, maybe more for corals.
Good luck on your tank!