29 biocube filtration
- Thread starter cody3819
- Start date
Pardon my ignorance, but if you're starting slow, why are you starting with matrix and chemipure? The best thing I did was start bare and simple (Keep It Simple, Stupid). If you find an issue, you can address it, but this hobby gets people started off on the wrong foot by starting with this that and the other thing.
As long as you're starting with liverock, you don't need matrix, and if you're just going through the beginning paces, you probably don't need to polish your water with chemipure. Did you identify specific reasons you need those things?
Filter floss is fine just for keeping crap/particles out of the water column, but without high flow in the display, most of that is just settling down into your sand bed anyway. At least floss is pretty simple, and pretty cheap, just make sure to replace it frequently.
Also, if you're going with what is typically considered 'easier' corals, remember that they do better with less than pristine water quality. I had mine so clean even zoas were dying. Since I took the chemicals out and speed testing and getting everything at 0, the tank has really flourished. This is one reason a lot of those corals aren't in sps dominant tanks.
Honestly, I still believe less is more even without SPS. Sure you can run ozone into your skimmer, and dose potassium and strontium and everything else individually, but many if not most of the best SPS tanks are relatively straight-forward. Big skimmer as the main filtration, GFO for supplemental phosphate reduction, and either 2 part or calcium reactor for calcium/alkalinity supplementation. And that's about it. High light high flow. Some people run carbon, some people run other medias, but really skimmer, flow, light, and occasional water changes are the biggest things. Everything else is just extras.
Particularly when you're new/beginning your tank, you should aim for simplicity. IMO it doesn't even matter what corals you're keeping. The only thing that matters for corals is the lighting, though with LEDs, I'd go for full lighting, full flow, in the beginning, and you can dial them back as necessary. Then add a skimmer and SIMPLE water changes, and you're golden. You'll have many years to explore the additional stuff available in this hobby.
I did read it, and it didn't change my recommendation.
Live rock = dead (base) rock + time
Adding matrix, chemipure, or anything else will not change that basic equation. My recommendations still stand.
Most of it is personal preference. Some of that preference is due to experience, some if is due to marketing, most of it is due to recommendations and seeing what others have done.
I always have to remind people there are few wrong ways to do this. My recommendation was to save you some money and headache while you're getting started.
Phosphate gets absorbed biologically into coral growth, algae, and/or gets removed through water changes, siphoning detritus, skimming or other mechanical filtration before it breaks down into free phosphate.
It also gets removed at a low ratio relative to nitrate, but it's still part of the process. The issue comes from it being added at a higher rate than it can be removed from growth due to nitrates from food being able to be converted to ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/nitrogen at a relatively high rate, while phosphate has to be removed through a process that isn't just standard bacterial nitrification. So there has been an argument to be made for actually dosing nitrate to the tank, to increase phosphate reduction (so that they can be in closer ratio so that organisms can actually use the phosphate).
TL : DR it's complicated
But phosphate can and do get removed other than from just GFO (chemipure Elite is chemipure carbon plus GFO).
It also gets removed at a low ratio relative to nitrate, but it's still part of the process. The issue comes from it being added at a higher rate than it can be removed from growth due to nitrates from food being able to be converted to ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/nitrogen at a relatively high rate, while phosphate has to be removed through a process that isn't just standard bacterial nitrification. So there has been an argument to be made for actually dosing nitrate to the tank, to increase phosphate reduction (so that they can be in closer ratio so that organisms can actually use the phosphate).
TL : DR it's complicated
But phosphate can and do get removed other than from just GFO (chemipure Elite is chemipure carbon plus GFO).
homer1475
New member
Honestly, you could get away with a skimmer, live rock(or base rock that's gone through a cycle, as yours has), and water changes. Biological filtration occurs in the rock, nutrient export takes place in the skimmer, and water changes replace essential elements as well as nutrient export.
I personally would not run a tank without a skimmer, but many do quite successfully, and its quite an interesting topic here on RC.
Doesn't get any easier then that, and as reefwreak has said "KISS", keep it simple stupid.
I personally would not run a tank without a skimmer, but many do quite successfully, and its quite an interesting topic here on RC.
Doesn't get any easier then that, and as reefwreak has said "KISS", keep it simple stupid.
cody3819
New member
Reefwreak, thanks for that bit of info. It seemed like right when I had it figure out bam, another option. Lol.... I like to do things the right way first. I do greatly appreciate your time explaining all this to me. And I also a precise all the time everyone else took out to hell me. I will start with what I have floss, matrix and chemipure. I plan on doing water changes every other week. See how that goes for a bit. And if it's to clean I'll go from there.
cody3819
New member
That's good to know acexotix,I was starting to doubt if the dry rock was a good approach. And ReefWreak you did help out greatly, thanks. And thanks for the complement I was wondering if I was going in the wrong direction again. But this has truly helped me realize that there is no right or wrong way persay. That it's what works for what you want to do. So I will give it a shot with my chemipure, matrix and floss. If that doesn't work then I'll reset and take a more simple approach. I'm just learning so I'm sure I will mess things up a few times. Lol.
