best filter for a 120g tank?

[burtoncb47]

my mom and me are going to be starting a larger Sw tank soon and we are not sure if we want a fish only tank or a reef tank....we are interested in the wet/dry filter..does anyonme have any experience with these?? are they ood? i have heard that they are not great for reef tanks but would they be ok with just a couple of small corals? any info/opinions help!! thanks!*twirlysmi

 

[FishGeek]

Personally I dont like using any type of filtration other than rock and powerheads.

 

[Katie217]

Im with FishGeek on this one. The LR does all the filtering you need

 

[burtoncb47]

so u dont use filter at all??

 

[Lotus]

If you're doing a large tank and want corals, you should get a sump/refugium setup.

Canister filters and wet/dry filters will produce nitrates, which are terrible for corals.

You don't need anything other than live rock and powerheads for your biological filtration. A sock on the sump will help with mechanical filtration by filtering out large particles. In general, you shouldn't need chemical filtration, but if you have a sump, you can put a bag of carbon in there when needed.

I highly recommend you get the New Marine Aquarium (Paletta) and Conciencious Marine Aquarist (Fenner) books to get a good understanding of how the system, equipment, water chemistry, etc. work. Neither is overly technical, and both have a lot of practical advice. They'll save you a ton of money in the long run by helping you make the right choices.

 

[aresgod]

Remember for a tank that size you will need a good protein skimmer as well

 

[FishGeek]

Thats part of the reason SW is so expensive, filtration is not as easy as getting a filter and thats it. Look at some of the stickies. They will help.

 

[burtoncb47]

so your saying that if i went with a FOWLR tank the the wetdry would be good but if i wanted reef the i would need the sump/refugium right..?i have my 30g reef tank but i just have a HOB biofilter...but im just not that sure about how to set up a sump/refugium underneath the tank??

 

[KahluaZzZ]

 

[Guysy1110]

I dont have a SW tank but im reading more and more about them to get a good understanding, from what i have learnt so far, if your going to have a FOWLR tank, you only need the live rock as the filtration, with good water movement provided by power heads, most people have a sump/refugium to add water volume and also have a good skimmer to get all the muck out ?

 

[burtoncb47]

ok thanks for the help kahluazzz, the diagram really helped me understand it...and guysy1110 im in the same boat as you except i have a sw tank lol thanks for the help...kk so i have one more dumb question the sump and the refugium are the same thing but two different parts?the sump is the entire thing and the refugium is the section with cholerpa and mud?

 

[aresgod]

correct you are, although a refugium does not always have to be in the sump, it can hang on the side, be its own separate tank, whatever....

 

[CoolWaters]

yeah buts it very common to have a refuge in the sump because it isolates it. and good place to put the heater, skimmer ect...

if u want to have a lot of livestock try getting a balanced amount of live rock. and yeah live rock is and will take up a lot of your tank room so its good to have a big sump/refuge to put them in.

 

[burtoncb47]

ok again im just trying to repeat this myself to get it in my head better.... the refugium had your mud cholerpa and your live rock, and your sump had your refugium skimmer and heater?? right? and all you have to do is have a pump that puts the water into the sump and it flows through the sump into the refugium and back to another pump back ionto the main tank?? correct me if im wrong please!?!?!

 

[1979camaro]

You are wrong. I will correct you.

What it sounds like you want is this:

Your Sump And Refugium will be in one container.

Water will flow from your main tank to the Sump/Refugium via an overflow (if the tank is drilled) or a HOB overflow box (if the tank is not drilled).

Going off Kahluazz picture (though there are many options):

That water will flow in to a chamber which houses your skimmer.

The water will go through some baffles into a second chamber which will contain your refugium (mud, chaeto, etc).

The water will go through some more baffles into a third chamber which will house your heaters.

The water will then flow into an external pump or into an internal pump (again, depending on your setup; Kahluazz drawing shows an external pump) and return to the tank.

 

[burtoncb47]

ok now i get it!! thanks camaro!! just one more question im not sure what it means when you say a drilled tank?? can you explain?and how does an overflow work?

 

[1979camaro]

A drilled tank has holes drilled in the glass to allow water to overflow into a sump. A HOB Overflow takes the place of those holes on a non-drilled tank; it uses siphon to pull the water down. What you cannot do is use a pump (which you mentioned earlier) to send water to the sump. It is impossible to synchronize the two pumps.

I would strongly recommend you get a commercial drilled, or "Reef Ready", tank. All-Glass makes a nice one as does Oceanic. It will cost you a little more in the beginning but it will save you a ton of headaches later.

If you check out the All-Glass website and select "Megaflow" on the left hand index you will get an idea of what I am talking about.

 

[TheFool]

Lets get this straight - a sump is another tank plumbed into the main display as somewhere you can keep unsightly equipment like skimmers, heaters, filter bits or whatever.
A refugium is a piece of connected water that is physically separated from the main display so you can grow things that would be eaten in the main display. Typically peole treat their regium as their sump if it's below, but I have seen and dome refugiums insidethe tank , like hiding porous pondpart pots of live rock to act as pod farms.
Wetdrys are not a good idea for most home systems as they do a killer job of oxidising ammonia, but you end up with nitrate hassles. Like most people I have holes drilled in the side of my main display. Water flows out through these and down to my sump/refugium. In that, a 20 long tank, it first goes thro my skimmer compartment - it is worth buying a reputable skimmer with a reputation for performing - avoid seaclones, prisms and so on. After that it passes in to a chamber that is acting in effect as a refugium - I have bed of mud and very fine sand, and grow algae in there on a reverse time cycle, so it photosynthesises at night to help keep pH up. After that over 2 more baffles and into a chamber with a return pump, where the heater also lives.

Nice and simple. As a note, as I have an overflow on the main tank, the effects of evaporation appear on the sump, so I have an autotopup attached to it there. This returns into the final compartment

 

[burtoncb47]

thanks for the help everybody i think i finally get it!