I have a 47G tank with a dual bio wheel filter, live rock, 3 cromis, 4 hermit crabs, 2 turbo snails, 1 d goby, and now one clown fish(had to take one back because I think he was sick).
I am new to this, and have been reading this forum a lot.
Do I need powerheads, and do I need a prtein skimmer? Tested my water today when I had to take the clownfish back due to him laying to the bottom of the tank (lfs clerk, told me it was probably do to stress), and my tests were perfect. sorry I do not have the parameters.
Someone on here also told me that the reason the clown could have acted like that was because of lack of oxygen, is this true and will power heads help this? Also if I should get how many and what speed?
You need powerheads, and a skimmer. I beleive any tank over 20 gallons needs a skimmer and some sort of fuge.
I have never invested in a skimmer, so someone should be able to reccomend one. As for powerheads, I would get two. Koralia Powerheads are great. I would reccomend having 30-50 times gph the size of your tank (IE: 10 gallon tank = 300-500 gph). For a 47, aim for at least 1500 gph, but I think two Koralia 1's would be best since you already have the filters.
Do you have the biowheels running on the filter? These are very bad for SW because it will become a 'trate factory.
You need powerheads, and a skimmer. I beleive any tank over 20 gallons needs a skimmer and some sort of fuge.
I have never invested in a skimmer, so someone should be able to reccomend one. As for powerheads, I would get two. Koralia Powerheads are great. I would reccomend having 30-50 times gph the size of your tank (IE: 10 gallon tank = 300-500 gph). For a 47, aim for at least 1500 gph, but I think two Koralia 1's would be best since you already have the filters.
Do you have the biowheels running on the filter? These are very bad for SW because it will become a 'trate factory.
For now yes it is fowlr, going to wait a couple more months to introduce coral andn or anemone, LFS recommended i let it cycle couple more mths and then I think I would need to bring down the salinty he said.
My tank is a 47g tall tank, taller than it is long, about where and what direction should I put the powerheads?
Once I get the protein skimmer should I take the filter out?, it is a emerson 400 biowheel.
I do have the biowheels in, I rinse them out along with the filters once a week as well as do 5% water change once a week, should I still take them out?
Cody, another question for you, will the powerheads and skimmer maintain adequate oxygen flow without the filter or better with the filter?
Reason I am asking is beacuse i recently bought 2 percula clownfish, and I had to retunr one, because he went from not really eating, to staying to the top, to me finding him the next day laying on teh bottom breathing very heavily, and did some research and figured it might be a type of disease so returned him just in case, but got adivce from another thread I posted on here, and someone said that I need better oxygen flow. But my 3 cromis and othe rclown fish are perfect, just always hiding when I go near tank.
Well, you arn't supposed to rinse the Biowheel out no matter what. That might have been the cause for the Clown breathing heavily because you killed off the good bacteria. But right now, you are still probably going through a cycle. What are yoru water params? Also, a better soultion to this is to ditch the fitler cartridges, and get some live rock rubble and macro algea in the filter.
You can point the powerheads wherever you need flow. This is different in every tank.
Your oxygen flow should be enough as long as the tank has the right amount of gph running in it.
It wouldn;t hurt to keep in the filter when you get the skimmer, becuase you can convert it into a fuge. Get the rubble in there ASAP though so you can build up a good bacteria "safe-house."
Well, you arn't supposed to rinse the Biowheel out no matter what. That might have been the cause for the Clown breathing heavily because you killed off the good bacteria. But right now, you are still probably going through a cycle. What are yoru water params? Also, a better soultion to this is to ditch the fitler cartridges, and get some live rock rubble and macro algea in the filter.
You can point the powerheads wherever you need flow. This is different in every tank.
Your oxygen flow should be enough as long as the tank has the right amount of gph running in it.
It wouldn;t hurt to keep in the filter when you get the skimmer, becuase you can convert it into a fuge. Get the rubble in there ASAP though so you can build up a good bacteria "safe-house."
Sorry I do not have my exact paramters, as I need to buy a kit, but tested my water today at lfs, and they said all was perfect, just my salinty was a little high if i had corals or anemones which i dont.
So ditch the bio wheels, get teh live rock rubble & macro algea, and ditch filters? Also 2 powerheads and a skimmer and I should be good to go?
Do i need to change out the lr rubble in the filter canisters at all? Will this also help my live rock turn color, right now it is still greyish, white colors, with light green spots on it, and brown(but the brown is like dust brown, i think a lot of it is the loose sand my d goby is kicking up)?
All right. You need to get a test kit, because your levels can be completely off from "perfect." The LFS may have just been trying to get money from you.
Keep the filters, but take the Bio-wheel out. Where you would put the filter cartridges, put the rubble and macro in there. Then, add powerheads/skimmer. So you will have 4 things; 2 powerheads, 1 skimmer, 1 filter.
Better lighting will help your rock, because right now you have a very bad light, and your live rock may be turning into base rock if the requirements arn't met.
Well, the question is are we looking for long term or short term?
long term = sustainable eco system = sumptank
Well, if everything is running, why not take some time off, split the stuff into a temporary area and mount a sump.
Or for easier, is canister, there are few very good canister around and make sure u remove the carbon filtration tat comes wiv the package, carbon remove iron and replace wiv bio ring or bio balls to keep more friendly bacteria.
thanks for the help, ive been on this forumn all day, addictive hoby. So in the end using either of these options will work:
option 1: skimmer, filter(lr rubble, macro, no b wheels), 2 powerheads
option 2: canister and bio wheels, bio balls(do these go in the bio wheels)?
(better lighting a must on both)
This will be a long term tank, already want to upgrade size, but when we sell our townhome, and get a house with more room, so I say in the next couple yrs.
Right now my 3 cromis, 1 clown and clean up crew are doing fine, it was just that one clown fish that I had to return because he was laying to the bottom, and I thought I saw some white spots so did not take a chance since I am still new.
Nope, bio wheels and bio balls different in sizes cant fit in both.
bio balls r ball shape, it can retain alot of biological bacteria, well, u can try JBL Denitrol this can help boast ur bacteria in there (sump or canister).
No Bioballs! This will raise your nitrates and is terrible for marine use, espically reef. You cant have bioballs now in your FOWLR and then in two months take them out, you need a stable bio-thing now, which will be live rock rubble.
I am unfamilar with the canister filter, so I cant help you there. But, either option you with, you will still need a skimmer and additional powerheads.
No Bioballs! This will raise your nitrates and is terrible for marine use, espically reef. You cant have bioballs now in your FOWLR and then in two months take them out, you need a stable bio-thing now, which will be live rock rubble.
I am unfamilar with the canister filter, so I cant help you there. But, either option you with, you will still need a skimmer and additional powerheads.
It depends on how you use bio-balls. They were designed for saltwater wet/dry filters (sumps). Now there is better material for biological filtration though.
I'd recommend an ASM skimmer, they are very good, but if you can't afford an ASM, then I'd get a Coralife.
As for a filter, a sump is going to be the best. I've never seen any saltwater canister filters, but I don't look for them, so there may be one. I'd look into a sump though.
Though i have seen many tanks that are established use bio-balls i don't think i'd recammend them. i'd go with a good sump with a decent skimmer...(although i don't know how i feel about the coral life i'd say remora, but to each his own.) but if you don't have the space a skelter or another hang on back skimmer is good too. Live rock is the best way to keep the good bacteria in the tank and even the tanks with the bio-balls use them. Just make sure you do your research before you go and buy something and learn how to use it. i suggest reading much about skimmers and look at riviews too.
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