Opinion on mechanical filtration

I currently have a 65 gallon tank up and running, about 100 lbs of live rock, a protein skimmer, 4 inch sand bed and a Emperor 400 Power Filter. Current livestock is a Flame Angel, 2 Clowns, Yellow Tang, Anemone, Urchin and Fire Shrimp. Plus the CUC.

Im still running a steady reading of about 15-20 ppm Nitrate level even with weekly 10-15% water changes.

The question is, should I even have the Emperor? I feel like i could do without it and have heard it can be a nitrate factory. Any insight and opinions are appreciated as always.

Thanks!

 

I think it depends on whether you have somewhere else to run carbon or not. I know my system would be unsustainable without carbon, but it's anywhere between that and something that may need to be run in an emergency depending on your system.

I would personally keep it, but remove the cartridge, and have a couple in case you needed the carbon, if your system can get away without it. Otherwise, I would consider getting a mesh bag to put carbon in, and run just that in the Emperor. That way, you have carbon, but not the downside of pads.

 

Thanks for the advice. I removed the power wheels a week or two ago but still have the cartriges in there. I guess I have an expensive carbon bucket now haha

 

That's what I do. It works great.

 

+2

I'm running a Whisper 60 on my 29g for surface circulation plus having a quick place to put carbon or other chemical filtration if I need it.

 

Thanks everyone! Seems to be the way to go!

 

i am curious to this also i have 2x bio wheel 350s on my 45 gallon tall and my nitrites are very high amonia is at 0 and nitrates are at 40 i dont have any fish in yet and added 7 lbs of live rock today also removed the carbon filters, are the bio wheels doing harm to my system

 

My opinion, which will need to be verified, is that your still cycling. So the wheels may actually have a benefit to you since your still building up a bacteria base. I would say once your through the cycle you should consider losing the bio wheels.

 

Hazzard1986~

How much total rock do you have in the tank? If it's less than 1lb per gallon tank capacity, the bio-wheels may be the larger portion of your biological filter. If you have 1lb or more per gal, I'd remove the wheels and let the bacteria build on the rock.

 

currently have 8 lbs of live rock 5 lbs of dry rock 40lbs of live sand and 25lbs more dry rock will be here tomorrow.