Mechanical filtration placement

[dx7fd2]

I want to add some additional mechanical filtration to my reef tank set up and I have a Via Aqua 750 cannister filter. There is debris collecting in the sump/skimmer and baffle area of my sump/fuge setup and it is difficult to siphon out because of the physical height of the sump placement.

The sump flow is: sump, bubble baffles, refugium, return area...

Scenario one: Install the filter with the input and output in the display tank with only some coarse sponge pads (then occaisionally just stir up the debris in the sump). This will raise the amount of total water turnover in the display, however I do not want to remove the pod population I have going on there.

Scenario two: Install the filter (again with just the pads) with the output in the sump/skimmer side of my sump/fuge setup and the input in the return side of the sump/fuge. This will filter the water before the return and send some of it back to the skimmer side but it will not add to the total turnover, I don't think...

Scenario three: Put the output in the sump/skimmer side and the input in the bubble baffle area, before the fuge section. (doesn't seem very efficient but it will solve the debris problem)

Scenario four: Don't use the filter except for when cleaning off the liverock and general substrate maintenace. *

Of course I can always temporarily add a carbon bag or any other media to the filter at any given time. (By the way for the price, $65, this cannister looks like its gonna' be a good unit) *

Any thoughts out there in lovely 3reef land? I would like the benefit of the additional filtration. The skimmer is doing its job but IMHO foam refraction is a little different than straight up mechanical filtration.

Drew

[beamer]

Sorry, I can't be of much help. Just a few minutes ago I put up a Magnum 350 hoping it will clear up my water a bit and maybe help out with the high nitrates and phosphates. *I have mine hooked on to the back of the tank. Right now I'm just using a paper filter and I have a bag of carbon in my sump.

I know its hard to clean the debris out of the sump. With the Magnum I'm suppose to be able to hook up a vacuum to it. Before now I was just starting a siphon-stealing gas method- and once the siphon was started then I used the end to vaccum up the crud. I just hate taking in a mouth ful of dirty water. *[smiley=sick.gif] Sometimes I'll put a little mini jet on the end in the sump and get a flow going and then I remove the tube from the little pump and have my siphon going where I can start cleaning.

Cindy

[dx7fd2]

I opted for scenario three and will post later as to the results, should anybody be curious...
Drew

[Birdlady]

Have you considered running the water coming down from the main tank through a filter sock to catch large debris?

Lemme see if I can go find a pic...

[Birdlady]

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_searchitem.asp

The first two items are used together

[dx7fd2]

Good call BL!!

I thought about the sock idea, and it is a good one, and then I thought about using those filters you can stick on the powerheads and then just take them off after a day or so. The drawback is that it is not as versatile as the cannister.

I am using just the sponge inserts in the can for now and I figure that with it just filtering the sump/fuge that it will not remove all the wonderful pods I have in the display tank yet remove some of the larger material that the skimmer doesn't remove. So far it is running very well and it is so QUIET!!! Sorry didn't mean to shout...it is so quiet

I decided when I built my new sump that I would not put the holes in the baffles so that there is not quite as much water flow through the middle and lower depths of the refugium. This will allow me to grow pods in there after I get them cultured...I think...

[smiley=thinking2.gif]

I also just got my phytoplankton and rotifer culture kit (I bought the medium one) from FAFUSA so I will be starting to grow phytoplankton which I will feed to the reef and will use to culture rotifers, brine shrimp and if I need to previously mentioned pods. I used to hatch brine shrimp, a few years back, for my FW tanks but I did not know at the time that feeding freshly hatched brine shrimp doesn't really benefit the fish that much as the brine shrimp have not been fattened up on the phytoplankton that contains all the nutrients vitamins etc. I'll do a thread on that once I get my first batches of plankton and rotifer going. I posted some pics of the growing station in the DIY section.

Drew

[dx7fd2]

After using the cannister in the sump/fuge for about a week the skimmer had actually stopped producing anything, so I have decided to use the cannister when I do cleanups every couple of months. The skimmer is a lot easier to maintain on a week to week basis, but the cannister does a good job of filtering debris out of the water column when I blow off the rocks and stir the sand a little. It also is easier to control how much filtration you actually are getting with the cannister (add different media etc.) as opposed to my diatom filter which polishes the water and removes everything.

It was worth the experiment...now I know how good a job my skimmer is doing!! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

Drew

[Matt Rogers]

I've been thinking about this little guy for my sump.

[dx7fd2]

Why does it say for freshwater only??? I would think that it would not make any difference!!

Drew

[Matt Rogers]

Oh.. I didn't notice that.

Probably can't take salt over time.
But if you just use it in your sump now and then and rinse it, I'd think it would be fine. Especially for $13.99.