Filtration for a 34 gallon cube?

[toruk]

Hey so I have a 34 Solana I just got off craigslist. Currently I have running an Aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer which is amazing and probably overkill for this tank lol. Anyway I am trying to cover my bases as far as filtration is concerned. Here is what I am looking at doing.

-Media trays with carbon, GFO, and filter floss(I know it needs to be changed regularly)
-Media reactor with carbon or GFO(or both?)
-Refugium

Or maybe some combination of all three? How would you guys filter the tank? The stock currently includes a small pair of saddleback clowns and a pair of blood red shrimp. I want to add a goby/pistol shrimp pair, another small goby(not sure yet), and for sure an anemone(either a sabae or a LTA). The tank with be centered around the clowns and anemone so I am not sure If I will be getting other coral.

Thoughts?

 

[Hentz]

Personally, you would be fine with the trays including the Carbon, GFO, and Filter Floss (Which I would put on top).

This plus weekly or bi-weekly water changes would be more than sufficient to keep your tank going smoothly, along with the protein skimmer.

I ran the tank a while back and essentially ran exactly what I just mentioned above. Worked great, however, I wish I had more knowledge in keeping SPS when I did run the Solana 34.

Though, you mention you're only going to be running the tank with some fish, inverts, and an anemone. I wouldn't worry TOO much about the filtration as weekly water changes alone would likely be sufficient.

Refugium wouldn't really be ideal, especially with the 34 AIO back end being as small as it is. A refugium that would fit in there wouldn't be ideal to filtrate the tank.

Here is my old Solana 34, great little tanks!

 

[toruk]

Thank you so basically I am overthinking the filtration a bit lol. I was was looking into biopellets to extend the time between water changes. What are your opinions on that?

 

[Hentz]

Thank you so basically I am overthinking the filtration a bit lol. I was was looking into biopellets to extend the time between water changes. What are your opinions on that?

I mean you can. Being you'd only have an anemone in the tank, there wouldn't be much to risk aside from that (biopellet over dose, causing the tank to strip too fast too much and killing corals). However, on such a small tank, running a bag of GFO and doing weekly 2.5-5 gallon water changes would be plenty. This is assuming you aren't over feeding and what not. In this case, I'd say biopellets may be more of a bandaid for nutrients. It would be your best bet to also do weekly water changes which consists of you blowing out debris from the rocks while siphoning out, and siphoning the sand.

I know the water changes seem tedious, and trust me, I thought so do. But I started doing weekly 5 gallon water changes on my tank. At first, it seemed like a chore. Until I did it and realized how quick and easy it was.

 

[toruk]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I will keep it simple with water changes, skimmer, and media. One last question. How often should I change the GFO and the carbon?

 

[Hentz]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I will keep it simple with water changes, skimmer, and media. One last question. How often should I change the GFO and the carbon?

Depends on how your tank is. When I ran a bag or GFO/Carbon, I just changed every 1.5-2 months. Sometimes longer, depending on how my tank looked.