do I need a hob filter?

[kernyboy]

hey guys, I recently got an aquafuge refugium. I still have my old penguin biowheel. do I need this still? or is the job five and refugium enough?

 

[tpvang]

what about a HOB protein skimmer?

 

[kernyboy]

yeah, i have a hang on back PS, and a HOB Fuge. I want to know if i can get rid of my biowheel filter or not. Or is a FUge and a PS enough

 

[tpvang]

everybody i know don't even run a biowheel filter. Those filters are more for fresh water. a good protein skimmer and a fuge with proper lighting should be fine. i would say to just toss it or sell it on craigslist or something...its up too you...

 

[kolosy]

with the exception of the biowheel, those things are nitrate factories. ditch.

 

[otrlynn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13311404#post13311404 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kolosy
with the exception of the biowheel, those things are nitrate factories. ditch.

Don't ditch it. Hopefully you are/will QT new fish and a HOB filter is great for the QT. If you are purchasing new fish, put the filter cartridge in your DT for a couple of weeks, then put it in the QT for instant nitrification bacteria in your QT. You can leave off the biowheel. Or seed the biowheel in the DT and use it on the QT also. Throw away the filter and biowheel if you ended up with sick fish in the QT (don't put them back in the DT). Actually, though I have a skimmer, I run an old Penguin biowheel (with carbon) on my DT all the time. I discarded the biowheel and clean the filter weekly. My nitrate run 0-5. When I blow off the rocks with a turkey baster, this filter clears up the water within an hour. Not necessary but seems to work for me.

 

[Tswifty]

Re: do I need a hob filter?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13311253#post13311253 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kernyboy
hey guys, I recently got an aquafuge refugium. I still have my old penguin biowheel. do I need this still?

Pitch it.

 

[kernyboy]

so basically the HOB filter does nada? It does clear the water...but other than that..do i need it for filtration? I have a skimmer and a HOB fuge.

 

[Runner]

A biowheel is a wet/dry filter and does exellent work at turning fish poop to much safer nitrates just as it does in freshwater aquariums. It would help with heavy fish loads in a fish-only tank -- particularly if something dies. But you would need to change water often like you would do in freshwater setups to keep nitrates down.

There are better methods to keep nitrates down if you want to keep corals. If you have a decent skimmer and a refugium and live rock, after a time you can remove the biowheel and use the HOB filter for just adding some carbon filtration from time-to-time. Or toss in some live-rock rubble into the HOB to have a pod-refugium if you have fish that like to eat them.

I presently keep two clownfish in a 10G tank with a big hunk of live rock and an Eclipse hood with bio-wheel. Mushrooms like the environment and grow like crazy. I just tested the water and nitrates are about 30 -- reasonable considering I have been a slacker and have not changed the water in three weeks.

 

[kernyboy]

so basically I should keep the penguin biowheel?

I'm running sumpless and want to make my tank efficient. I have too much stuff hanging off the back of it.

at present I have:

penguin biowheel

CPR aquafuge with built in skimmer


do I still need the biowheel filter or is the fuge skimmer enuff?

 

[Runner]

To answer that, I need to know several things including tank size, contents (rock, substrate, etc.), present occupants (fish/corals), and future planned additions.

 

[kernyboy]

The tank size is 30 gallons:

I have about 35/40 lbs of live rock

2 inch sand bed.

Live Stock:
2 clown Fish
1 6 Line Wrasse
1 Small Tiger Goby
1 Small Green Clown Goby.

I dont plan on adding ANY more fish!

As far as inverts go, I have about 20 hermits and 10 snails.

I have 3 peppermint shrimp (apstasia problem)
1 red banded shrimp
1 sexy shrimp (and no, my wrasse doesn't eat or attack my shrimp : O)

My current filtration used to be a biowheel and tunze protein skimmer.

I recently got a CPR AquaFuge HOB refugium with a built in skimmer.

In it, I have chaeto tumbling round. Can I nix the biowheel and just keep the FUGE/SKIMMER and that be enough?


I literally have box, after box, after box on my current tank and want to streamline the whole thing.

 

[Runner]

Sounds to me like you have enough rock and a decent enough skimmer to go without the bio-wheel if you want to remove it. I would give the new skimmer and refugium a couple of weeks to establish before you pull out the bio-wheel, then another week or so before you take of the HOB filter. Slow changes are better.

BTW, it sounds like you have a nice setup with the addition of the fuge.

 

[bobt2]

i use the hob filter for carbon only

 

[kernyboy]

can't i just throw in a carbon bag in the return of the fuge? and maybe some filter pads to catch floating particles?

 

[Runner]

I am not sure how the fuge is configured, but if there is a place for it, that would not be a problem. My fuge was in my sump and I used to put a bag of carbon and/or a polyfilter right before the return pump.

If you want to use the refugium to produce pods and such for your 6-line, though, a filter pad is not what you want right before the return. It will, however, help keep the macro-algae in the refugium.