Filtration question

[Digiman]

I have a 55 gallon that I have just setup with 55 lbs of LR and 55 lbs of LS. I currently am running a wet/dry with a 400 GPH powerhead as the return; which isn't doing much for circulation. I also have 3 other smaller powerheads in the tank to help with the circulation but still doesn't seem to be enough. I also have a canister with activated carbon that I am using mainly to remove debris. And finally I have a Sea Clone skimmer, yeah, yeah, yeah I know they supposedly suck, but mine is actually working beleive it or not.

My question is: Would I be better off taking the wet/dry out of the loop completely and putting the more powerful powerhead directly in the aquarium. That would leave me with the LR, LS, skimmer, and a canister as filtration. Will that suffice?

Thank you,

-- Digiman

 

[clk2609]

like you, i am a junior member also, but the way it looks on your set-up, reminds me of my first 75g. for the price seaclone is not that bad, it was my first one, just alot of tweeking and clean out the sponge on the maxijet often. in a 55g it should suffice....if you just set this up, depending on if the live rock is cured or not, you might not get too much waste from the skimmer, give it time.

are you doing the berlin method(live rock and skimmer)? if so, i would take out the bioballs in the wet/dry and most berlin filtration methods do not use activated carbon because in theory, the carbon will deplete the system of trace elements. I have a 110g reef set up now with no activated carbon and it is doing fine.

how much stock will you have in your aquarium? might add some more live rock for the filtration.

is your tank overflow with u-tube or drilled? if you want more circulation....you can get some maxijet1200 (off top of my head) about 300gph and put 2 in the tank, rather cheap. not sure how good that 400gph is doing, especially if you have bends in the return, i believe each bend(90degree) will slow down the flow around 100gph. The Mak pumps are submersible and strong(again, rather cheap).

you will get a lot of different advice, hope this helps.
chris