<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7927794#post7927794 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Herpervet
BUT I really want to know YOUR methods including skimming etc.
A lot of what I have done and learned has been posted on
Goniopora.org
About my filtration: I am currently doing a filtration experiment on my main goni tank (75g). The water flows into a sump through two good-sized media bags filled with carbon, then through a 5 micron cloth filter, then through a carbon pad, and then into the main sump chamber. In the main chamber is a large DIY venturi skimmer w/mag 7 pump and a phosphate reactor with 250ml of rowaphos. The water that comes out of the skimmer goes through two more carbon pads and dumps back into the main chamber. The water leaving the main chamber goes through a poly filter, then through another carbon pad, and then through another poly filter. After that, it returns to the tank. I've been running this since early May and change out the carbon/carbon filters every 2-3 weeks. I have to change out the carbon a little bit at a time because adding excessive carbon all at once seems to irritate the "Green" Goniopora for a few days afterward. Also, I intermittently run ozone and change 5 gallons of water a week. There was a 25w UV filter running, but I ran out of room for it and had to take it out for now.
The sump (29g) is made to be kind of like a big flow-through canister filter with a skimmer and a phosphate reactor in the middle of it. It is unlit, barebottom, and contains no macro-algae, but I do have some "cooked" live rock in it. It seems to be very effective at keeping the water "CLEAN"

. After I installed it, several of my corals slightly bleached (lost zooxanthellae) from the change in the clarity of the water. Also, it must have shocked the system pretty good because two days afterwards a heavy bacterial bloom killed all 5 of my fish. So now there is no need to feed the tank, other than the corals, and no fish to pollute the water.