Coral filter/flow requirements

[Atom75]

I was also informed at the pet/aquarium shop that the filter i have (came with tank) wasn't really suitable for a lot of corals, it would be great if someone could explain this to me. Is the flow too strong/too weak?

The filter does about 480L/h and it has one powerhead.

Please keep in my mind my tank is only 34L or 9 gallons, i have upgraded the lighting so i don't think thats an issue (hopefully).

If necessary i can buy another filter, just looking for clarification

 

[zoafarm]

IMHO that filter is irrelevant...sure you could put something in it to help with clarification.

What you need is water flow, good lighting, and stable water parameters. If you have those, the tank is suitable for coral.

Do you have live rock in your tank? If so, this is really your filter. After that regular water changes and a refractometer to monitor salinity would be a great start.

 

[Chibils]

A hang-on-the-back filter is fine as long as you change out the filter media (floss pad, carbon, etc.) regularly. Otherwise it will collect debris and pollute the water.

More than likely the LFS employee thinks your tank does not have enough water movement for corals. They need quite a bit, and the best course of action is to supplement the filter with a powerhead like a Tunze nanostream 6020. It is very compact and produces about 2700LPH. When combined with your filter, this would be enough flow for soft corals and certain hard corals.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-turbelle-nanostream-6020.html

A more inexpensive option is SunSun JVP-110 powerheads which produce about 2100LPH. They are a bit larger but are extremely inexpensive.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Atom75]

Thanks guys

yes there is live rock in my tank

i bit the bullet and ordered a tunze nanostream 6040