Should I ditch the canister?

Hey guys,

I have a 46g dt, no sump, currently not skimming (long story short I had to take it out to get a brittle star that was eating my fish out, and I really didnt like having a huge tower in my tank) but all my levels are good and stocking is in the signature. Thing is, I have ALWAYS had nitrates in the 10-20 range...and I run a canister filter. I'm a pretty forgetful person, so I probably won't be able to keep up on the matinence very well. Question is, should I just add 20-30 lbs of dry rock (to the existing 40) and just take out the canister filter? Maybe add a HOB aquaclear 70? Or will my tank completely crash.

Thanks!

 

Oh I do have an intank refugium loaded with chaeto and some lr for the pods i seeded it with to breed

 

Myself I would add more rock, and get rid of the canister. If adding more cured rock will mess with your scape or coral placement than I would just make sure you do the routine cleaning and medium changes.

Sufficient LR should be enough as long as you keep feedings and bio load appropriate. I do not see huge issues with your nitrate level as long as you are not trying a sps dominate system.

As always let appearance of your corals and fish be your guide, in other words if it's not broken......

JM2C

 

Thanks! My scape is alright...I made a good one the first time I did it, but had to take all the sand out of my tank as it cycled so then I got lazy and just tossed the rocks in, and with minimal effort made a scape. I'm going to change it soon, will post pics on a new thread. ABout how many lbs more should I add?

 

oh, also no aquaclear filter needed, right?

 

you don't "need" any external filters provided enough live rock as a filtration method. The AC is just a nice thing to add for 2 reasons, its easy to run carbon/other chemical filters in, and 2 if left running on your tank, will be great for setting up an emergency hospital tank.

 

Oh, ok. My only concern is that I'm prob. Getting power heads soon, and after using my mag float there's TONS of algae and detritus on the sand. When all this gets blown up, I guess if I don't have an aquaclear, it will be all over the place.

 

An aquaclear won't clean that up, it won't hurt, but it won't clean it up. That's gonna take you or a good cuc and stable water param's.

 

I've got a huge CUC and right now they're dealing with the rocks...now that I think of it, a lot of it has been disapperaing, and I see them eating it all the time. MAybe I'll get the dry rock (25 lbs sounds good?) and just keep the aquaclear for emergencies.

 

I go the other way on this one. I think you can never have enough filtration, especially if you already have it on hand. Hang a calander somewhere and highlight days to do tank maintenance and make sure you do the canister then. From what you said above about not having powerheads I would definitely keep the canister on there for now for water circulation purposes more than anything. water turnover is definitely going to keep the water moving and reduce the dead spots where nutrients will build up and fuel your algae problems. I would same the same for the skimmer for the time being as well.