HELP WANTED: Filter question on new 75 marine newbie tank

[prostock442]

Setting up my first 75 gallon marine tank. Question I have is about filtration. I know there are thousands if not more filters available. The one I chose to go with is the Marineland Emperor 400. I bought a new one & it's in place on the tank. I'm wondering just how is this filter going to keep this tank clean considering the water just trickles out the water fall type outlets. I have the two spray bars spraying on the bio wheels at the appropriate angle, & still there's not much pressure coming out the outlets. Any suggestions would be great. I'd like to know if this filter will be enough to do the job & keep my tank clean or do I need to do something else? Thank you

P.S. Tank will be Fish & Live Rock for the first few years or more. I may never go into corals depending on my situation.

 

[THE WOOKIE]

i have heard its best to ditch bio wheels with saltwater, they are nitrate factories. also a majority of your filtration will come from your liverock and protein skimmer so dont fret about your filter, it will just remove large particles suspended in the water column. with the HoB filter for my 29g i ditched the bio wheel, removed the filter pads, packed the area the filter pads went with liverock rubble (high maintenance has to be cleaned weekly), stuffed the compartment where the water is sucked up by the pump with filter floss(has to be replaced weekly) ,and let it do its thing. i do not have a skimmer for that tank so weekly water changes are a must to keep nitrates down. also if you do want to build a reef tank it does not have to be done all at once the lights and other things can be added to the tank down the road. start off with your rock (dry rock is a much cheaper option, i wish i started with it) and add some fish untill you make your decision. and dont rush stuff i did and i wish i could have gone back and done it over

 

[kingfish62]

I have an aquaclear 110 on my 55g tank for mechanical and chemical filtration. Works well for me but as mentioned before clean it regularly.When ever I do a water change i rinse out my media in the old water before tossing it. You will be suprised how filthy that stuff gets.
Wookie is right about dry rock being cheaper but I love the biodiversity of some fresh LR. All the hitch hikers you find on LR are fascinating.

 

[P-Nut]

Setting up my first 75 gallon marine tank. Question I have is about filtration. I know there are thousands if not more filters available. The one I chose to go with is the Marineland Emperor 400. I bought a new one & it's in place on the tank. I'm wondering just how is this filter going to keep this tank clean considering the water just trickles out the water fall type outlets. I have the two spray bars spraying on the bio wheels at the appropriate angle, & still there's not much pressure coming out the outlets. Any suggestions would be great. I'd like to know if this filter will be enough to do the job & keep my tank clean or do I need to do something else? Thank you

P.S. Tank will be Fish & Live Rock for the first few years or more. I may never go into corals depending on my situation.

To answer your highlighted question:

Bacteria are supposed to live on the wheel. They dont need a lot of water, it just needs to stay wet. In simple words, bacteria in the filter would break down the waste.
In theory, filters are awesome, but in real life, they really arent. The reason is that waste gets caught in the filter and starts to rot and contaminate your water ( a lot of cleaning solves this problem, but most people dont wnat to ahve to clean their filters every single week). bacteria are good, but they are not that good. You can throw a fish pellet and it will still be there a week later contaminating your water.

Live rock in the filter can work, but you dont wnat to put so much that waste gets trapped in there.

When i set up my tanks, I like to put the live rock a few inches (usually 2-3") from the back glass and put a power head in the back, to try to eliminate as many dead spots as possible. I also like to use bigger pieces and not have it all stacked in such a way that crap gets caught in there. But that is me, and everyone has a different way of doing things, so do your reaserch and take your time.

 

[prostock442]

Okay, so some good information there to start...... Still, the question remains... Is this Filter going to be good enough? NOTE: I was able to adjust the impeller so now there is much more water pressure but am still wondering just how well this filter will keep my tank clean? Also, how important is a filter if most of a Marine tanks filtration happens through the Live Rock? Am I stressing over this OTB filter a little too much?

 

[Pat02026]

Your going to want to find a skimmer. Not saying you can't run a tank without one, they are just the most effective form of filtration you can have on a marine tank. After a week worth of skimmate you'll understand. Read up on them to get an understanding of how they work.

 

[prostock442]

Thanks Pat - Yes I also plan to run a Skimmer. I'm looking at the Eshopps Hang-On Protein Skimmer 100. It's pretty reasonably priced at $159.00 & will work on tanks up to 100 gallons.

Another question I have is about Power Heads. Which are good for this size tank? Name brands & model numbers if you have them. Thanks again.

 

[Newguy]

Okay, so some good information there to start...... Still, the question remains... Is this Filter going to be good enough? NOTE: I was able to adjust the impeller so now there is much more water pressure but am still wondering just how well this filter will keep my tank clean? Also, how important is a filter if most of a Marine tanks filtration happens through the Live Rock? Am I stressing over this OTB filter a little too much?

i just dont think the marineland 500 will be enough filtration especaily when you add a bio load with fish. I could be wrong but id think it would cause you to do a lot more maintance as well. i know some are going to say they only have an air sponge in a 1 gallon milk jug loaded with corals. but to do that you have to be experienced in this hobby and imo any help you can get filtration wise and water cyclying will help ya.

 

[s_kelley]

Look into koralia Evo power heads they're fairly inexpensive and plenty powerful. Ditch the hang on filter as soon as you can get yourself a decent skimmer. Get a skimmer ASAP it's way more efficient than that hang on filter. How much live rock do you have in your tank? Like pound wise

 

[P-Nut]

I use aqueon power heads and heaters in my 40breeder.

 

[kingfish62]

I think the filter will help pull out larger particles and you will have an option to use carbon, purigen or such. If you have enough LR and water circulation that is what will do the most biological filtration. I like to keep my water circulation at 10 to 20 times the water volume (closer to 20 X )

So if you had powerheads and filters moving 1500 gph (gallons per hour) that would be good.

 

[Privateer]

I use a smaller version of that filter on my 56G and I feel it works well to get rid of the detritus in the water column. I also run a skimmer but I feel that I still need some form of mechanical filtration to get rid of all the crap that flies around. Maybe I just have a dirty tank, or my skimmer isn't big enough, cause I need to change the filter pad in my filter every week as it gets covered in junk, so it's doing something right.