Transition to larger tank

Hello All,

I'm currently in the process of moving/upgrading from a 10 gallon tank to a 29 gallon tank. The 10 gallon tank is at my old address (and cannot stay there much longer) and my 29 gallon as at my new address.

The 10 gallon tank has one Pajama Cardinal, about an inch of sand and about 10 pounds of live rock. The 10 gallon tank has a HOB filter, I did not add a protein skimmer because I changed a gallon out every week.

On the new 29 gallon setup, I was wondering what to do in terms of filtration/protein skimming? I am not in the position where I can put a sump in as I do not have the space to do so. I have tried to do some research and some mention to not bother with a filter because the live rock and sand will do that for you and only use a protein skimmer.

I plan using the live sand from the 10 gallon tank along with the adding more sand to accommodate the larger tank as well as using my original 10 pounds of live rock and adding some more.

If a filter is favorable, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on canister filters and using something like chemipure as the the media?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or tidbits of knowledge.

 

The only mechanical filtration I would recommend would be a protein skimmer, no canister filters (unnecessary). You can get a good HOB skimmer such as "bakpack". I would not re-use the sand, just buy 50lbs of dry sand from pretty much anywhere and rinse it first. Re-using your rock will work great. Are you using Ro/di water when doing water changes?

 

Thanks for the reply..I have an RO/DI unit because I got sick of having to lug jugs back and forth to the pet store. I have a protein skimmer that I used to have in a setup in a sump...I'm wondering how bad it would look submerged in my tank...

So you are saying as long as I have good circulation in the tank the rock/sand should provide good filtration in conjunction with a good protein skimmer? I wonder if there are any internal protein skimmers that will work well? In my sump I used to use chemipure, I'm guessing I can put the chemipure where the filter floss goes in that bakpak skimmer.