Need Help With My Septup

Francisco_PR

New member
Hi I need advice to upgrade my current setup:

I have a 55gal with a canister filter (carbon, phos-zorb, sponge and ceramic media), one 850gph wave maker, live rock and sand bed. No skimmer:uhoh3:!!!

My original idea was to setup a tank for my daughter and I and keep it simple with fish and live rock only for decoration. I already had the tank and purchased a second hand unused marineland 220 canister filter for $30 and the orbit marine led light fixture. Then it happened, I went to a frag swap exhibition and got bite by the reef mosquito and started purchasing frags.

I currently have the following in my tank:

Fish:
(1) yellow tang, (1) Maroon clownfish, (1) lawnmower blenny

Invertebrates:
(1) small carpet anemone, (1) cleaner shrimp, (1) Coral Banded

Corals:
(1) Frogspawn, (1) Torch, (3) Acan Frags, (1) Galaxea Frag, (1) Kenya Tree frag, (1) Pulsing Xenia frag and some Ricordias.

All my corals are healthy and growing but realized that I need to upgrade my equipment in order to keep it that way. My budget is a bit tight right now, I was thinking of purchasing a HOB Skimmer (RO bh-2000 for $165 used) and convert my canister into a sort of reactor by putting Carbon and GFO only and also purchase a jebao wp-25 to increase the water flow. Will that be OK or should I wait after the back to school:hammer: and purchase the sump, skimmer, carbon and gfo reactors, return pump, maybe a biopellet reactor and who knows what else.

Please advice or comment.

Thanks,

Francisco
 
IME the HOB skimmers are not that efficient. I had one and it never collected the amount that most people report. I upgraded to a Seaside Aquatic CS6 and man what a difference. I, like you, wasn't going to do corals and got bit as well. Now I have a full blown reef. I don't use reactors so I can't advise for or against them. If you are going to stay with the corals you have you should be ok on lighting. If you ever expand your collection I would suggest upping your lighting.
 
Hi I need advice to upgrade my current setup:

I have a 55gal with a canister filter (carbon, phos-zorb, sponge and ceramic media), one 850gph wave maker, live rock and sand bed. No skimmer:uhoh3:!!!

My original idea was to setup a tank for my daughter and I and keep it simple with fish and live rock only for decoration. I already had the tank and purchased a second hand unused marineland 220 canister filter for $30 and the orbit marine led light fixture. Then it happened, I went to a frag swap exhibition and got bite by the reef mosquito and started purchasing frags.

I currently have the following in my tank:

Fish:
(1) yellow tang, (1) Maroon clownfish, (1) lawnmower blenny

Invertebrates:
(1) small carpet anemone, (1) cleaner shrimp, (1) Coral Banded

Corals:
(1) Frogspawn, (1) Torch, (3) Acan Frags, (1) Galaxea Frag, (1) Kenya Tree frag, (1) Pulsing Xenia frag and some Ricordias.

All my corals are healthy and growing but realized that I need to upgrade my equipment in order to keep it that way. My budget is a bit tight right now, I was thinking of purchasing a HOB Skimmer (RO bh-2000 for $165 used) and convert my canister into a sort of reactor by putting Carbon and GFO only and also purchase a jebao wp-25 to increase the water flow. Will that be OK or should I wait after the back to school:hammer: and purchase the sump, skimmer, carbon and gfo reactors, return pump, maybe a biopellet reactor and who knows what else.

Please advice or comment.

Thanks,

Francisco

Imo, you should buy the skimmer. Reef Octopus makes good skimmers, many people use them. Hob skimmers are fine as long as you purchase a quality one.
Get the extra powerhead and converting the canister are good ideas.

Your tang should be in a larger tank, the maroon clown is aggressive & could prevent future additions. The coral banded shrimp can take your fish.
 
Thank you guys for your time and the advice. Newsmyrna80 my situation with the skimmer is that i have no sump right now, I heard good things about the RO bh-2000. I purchased the tang with the advice from a LFS, I was thinking that when it gowns a bit more I will exchange it with my LFS, but i like it.

Thanks Again
 
Ditch the canister and go with a skimmer and flow. As soon as you get into sps there is almost no way you can not run a skimmer.
 
I had a Reef Octopus HOB skimmer for a long time on my 29 and it worked great. Actually, I am looking to sell it. Pm me if interested.
 
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