Use filter or no ??

[munchieiam]

Hello, i'm pretty new to this 6 months. I've been doing quite a bit of reading here and there. and now you guys have me wondering... here is what i have
58 gal tank
approx 95 lbs live rock
60 lbs live sand ( approx 3 inch base)
2 96w ( 1@10k 1@true actinic) 1 55w 50/50 PC lights
Prizm skimmer
Emperor 400 filter

now my question is... should i dump the emperor ??
thanks

 

[Super Len]

It's up to you. I'd remove the media provided by Emperor Aquatics, and either operate the filter without media (for additional water movement) or with a bag of high-quality carbon (TLF Hydrocarbon and Seachem Matrix Carbon are good choices).

 

[500 G]

Nothing wrong with mechanical filter. It will help keep the water clean. The only problem maybe the removal of small critters. Just keep it clean or it can pollute the tank doing more harm than good. You can also use it on an "as needed" basis.

 

[danmhippo]

Ditto, nothing wrong with using them, except you also need to clean them up more often then you used to (eg. once per week). As the trapped food/detritus has not had the chance to be fully consumed by detrivores in the tank. Trapped inside the mechanical filter, food particles would turn into nitrate faster than you think. Moreover, it's easier for skimmers to pick up raw forms of nutrient than trying to pick up nitrate compounds.

 

[Anonymous]

Carbon and floss filters do a great job of removing both the good and the bad. They suck up waste, trace elements and various little things that corals enjoy eating.

I sometimes run carbon for 2-3 days (after that it's lost it's affectiveness) if the water starts looking not so clear.

 

[GMH320]

I was running a small wisper filter to help remove some of the larger waste, but noticed that it was sucking up a lot of copods, so I put it on a timer and only ran it during the day. I then began to worry about that waste just rotting in the filter during the night and then having the entire tank water flowing over it when the lights came on. So I removed it completely and haven't noticed any difference in water quality as of yet (It's been about 2 weeks) If I notice any buildup of detritus I'm just going to run it for a couple of hours after blasting the rocks with a baster.

 

[munchieiam]

Thanks for the input. I took out the filter media yesterday and am just letting the filter run for water movement. hopefully all will be well. if not i'll be asking more questions

Joe