Opinion on mechanical filtration

coral how often do you change your carbon filters?

 

I'd recommend that you put your rock in when you get it and remove the bio-wheels. They can be beneficial for fish-only systems without rock, but do require maintenance. That will give you 38lbs for now which will be ok for light stocking, but I'd get a few more lbs before I add much livestock.

 

i am planning on purchasing more live right from my LFS but what they currently have isnt very good and is expensive so ive been very picky on what i get i purchased the 7lbs today and got some very good pieces i think. if you look into my original thread on new to the hobby that we were talking before i added a pic of the rocks

 

the only mechanical filtration I have on my 65G is my protein skimmer. But I do have a refugium and my nitrates are never detectable. I do however wish I had a way to fun carbon and gfo. I would keep the emperor just for that reason. Being able to run additional chemical media when you want.

 

I'd just get a few more pounds of dry base rock. It's a lot cheaper, and the live rock you have will seed it. An added bonus is you won't have to worry about die-off or ammonia spikes.

 

I wouldn't run any mechanical filtration at all. Any type of filtration that isn't either directly exporting nutrients of removing it from the water is exactly like a bio-ball nitrate factory. It is good to have a spot for some carbon if needed though, so you may be right to remove the cartridges and run it empty for special occasions. Make sure you check inside the filter once in awhile though for build ups of debris as they can sit in there and rot also causing nitrates.

Are we still quoting 1lb. per/gallon of live rock. I thought that was a little like watts/per gallon. The amount of rock you need depends more on surface area for the bacteria to colonize. This will change drastically depending on what type of rock you are using. Fiji Florida or Tonga rock can be quite dense and heavy, so you may need even more than 1lb per gallon. Tokani or totoka is usually fine porous branches and you may get away with less than 1lb per gallon. These are based on minimums though, so if the look you like requires more rock, you can of course add more.