my craigslist purchase

hey guys i just bought a 90 gallon oceanic tank running set up reef ready now heres my question i want to do a reef tank and i want to know if i can filter the tank with just a fuge or do i need more filtrtion if i can do a fuge how big do i need how much gph

 

Congrats on your purchase...

 

I personally wouldn't set up a tank ever again without a skimmer. (unless a nano) It can be a pretty big purchase but worth it in the long run.

 

Great buy...Congrats

Am sure you saved enough on it to get a skimmer...

get one.

 

Congrats on your new tank, 90g, great choice. As far as filtration goes, you can have only a refugium or do a combo like refug/sump. Read this, it may answer some Q's you might have. Luna


Types of Filtration
There are three basic types of filtration: mechanical, chemical and biological. Of the three, biological filtration is the only one that is unquestionably necessary. Many people rely primarily on protein skimming and biological filtration, and only use mechanical and chemical filtration on an as-needed basis to treat specific problems, stopping once the problem is under control.
Mechanical Filtration
Mechanical filtration is any process by which waste particles are physically removed from the water. This is typically done by running the water through some sort of filter pad, or a series of filter pads. As the water passes through, debris is trapped in the pads and stays there.
Biological Filtration
Biological filtration is the removal of ammonia and nitrites from the water via oxidizing bacteria. With live rock and/or a DSB, anaerobic bacteria can also consume the nitrates in your tank. (This is covered in more detail in the nitrogen cycle section.) In time, pretty much every surface in the aquarium will be covered in beneficial bacteria that assist in biological filtration.
The surfaces in the tank may not provide room for a large enough population of bacteria to eliminate all the ammonia that is produced by the inhabitants. In order to increase the capacity for biological filtration, some sort of porous media can be put into your external filtration system. Porous objects have extremely large surface areas, so a small amount of bio-media can greatly increase your system's ability to neutralize ammonia. If your aquarium has enough live rock, additional biological filtration may not be needed. (Live rock is quite porous and can therefore greatly increase your population of beneficial bacteria.)

Chemical Filtration
Chemical filtration is the use of some sort of chemical reaction to remove unwanted substances from the water. The most common chemical filtration agent used in aquaria is activated carbon (i.e. charcoal filters). Activated carbon removes things like chlorine (which should not be in your water in the first place) and DOC's. There are also chemical filtration media for the removal of phosphates, silicates and other substances. You must be careful when using chemical filtration because many kinds can cause new problems if not used properly. If you perform regular water changes with untainted water (i.e. RO water) and do not overfeed or overstock, there should generally not be a need for chemical filtration

 

Here is some more reading;


Types of Filtration
There are three basic types of filtration: mechanical, chemical and biological. Of the three, biological filtration is the only one that is unquestionably necessary. Many people rely primarily on protein skimming and biological filtration, and only use mechanical and chemical filtration on an as-needed basis to treat specific problems, stopping once the problem is under control.
Mechanical Filtration
Mechanical filtration is any process by which waste particles are physically removed from the water. This is typically done by running the water through some sort of filter pad, or a series of filter pads. As the water passes through, debris is trapped in the pads and stays there.
Biological Filtration
Biological filtration is the removal of ammonia and nitrites from the water via oxidizing bacteria. With live rock and/or a DSB, anaerobic bacteria can also consume the nitrates in your tank. (This is covered in more detail in the nitrogen cycle section.) In time, pretty much every surface in the aquarium will be covered in beneficial bacteria that assist in biological filtration.
The surfaces in the tank may not provide room for a large enough population of bacteria to eliminate all the ammonia that is produced by the inhabitants. In order to increase the capacity for biological filtration, some sort of porous media can be put into your external filtration system. Porous objects have extremely large surface areas, so a small amount of bio-media can greatly increase your system's ability to neutralize ammonia. If your aquarium has enough live rock, additional biological filtration may not be needed. (Live rock is quite porous and can therefore greatly increase your population of beneficial bacteria.)

Chemical Filtration
Chemical filtration is the use of some sort of chemical reaction to remove unwanted substances from the water. The most common chemical filtration agent used in aquaria is activated carbon (i.e. charcoal filters). Activated carbon removes things like chlorine (which should not be in your water in the first place) and DOC's. There are also chemical filtration media for the removal of phosphates, silicates and other substances. You must be careful when using chemical filtration because many kinds can cause new problems if not used properly. If you perform regular water changes with untainted water (i.e. RO water) and do not overfeed or overstock, there should generally not be a need for chemical filtration.
Hang-on vs. In-Sump Filtration
There are two basic ways to set up your filtration system. Hang-on filtration is a system that literally hangs on the back of the tank, drawing water out, filtering it, and returning it. The other option is to have the filtration take place in a sump tank, which is typically stored in the cabinet underneath the tank. There are a number of advantages to this kind of filtration. First, it just looks nicer. With a hang-on filtration system, you have tubes and pumps in the water for your filter and protein skimmer, and you have your heater in plain view, too. With in-sump filtration, all of that can be moved out of the aquarium and into the sump. You will just have a clear acrylic overflow box in the tank or, if you buy a tank with a built-in overflow, you will have no visible filtration hardware. In-sump filtration also helps to oxygenate the water by adding additional surface area, and increases your total water volume. This increases the biological capacity of your aquarium.

Wet/Dry Filters
A wet/dry filter (also known as a trickle filter) is a fairly simple system for providing biological and mechanical filtration, as well as aeration, in your sump. Water from the tank is poured onto a plate with a bunch of small holes in it. Water spreads across this "splash plate" and trickles down through the holes. Below the splash plate is some kind of bio-media, such as Bio-Balls. As water trickles through the porous media, it is exposed to air, as well as oxidizing bacteria. This aerates the water and removes ammonia and nitrites. After passing through the bio-media, the water is passed through some kind of mechanical filter to remove particulate debris. Chemical filtration can also be added at this stage. From here, it enters the main area of the sump, where a protein skimmer is typically housed. The water is then pumped back into the tank by means of a return pump. Wet/dry filters are very easy to maintain and can easily be constructed as a DIY project if you are on a tight budget.
Although a wet/dry filter is a good way to expand your biological filtration and aerate your water, it is not perfect for every application. The big drawback associated with a wet/dry filter is that it tends to create a lot more nitrates than your typical biological filtration would. This occurs because, when exposed to air, the bacteria do not only break down ammonia and nitrites, but they also break down proteins into nitrates. Also, when ammonia and nitrite are converted to nitrate by live rock, the nitrate is created in close proximity to the deeper, anaerobic areas of the rock that are occupied by nitrate-consuming bacteria. Excess nitrates mean you need to either change your water more often, or add a refugium with some macroalgae to consume some of the nitrates.
One other way to get around the problem of excess nitrates in a system with a wet/dry filter is to remove some or all of the biomedia that are in the aerating section of the filter. You can experiment with different amounts of biomedia to figure out what is right for your system. You are looking to get the least amount of nitrates possible, while keeping ammonia and nitrite levels low enough that they are undetectable. This will be primarily be determined by your bioload and the amount of live rock in your system. Ideally, if you have enough live rock, you do not need any biomedia at all. A system such as this, with live rock and a protein skimmer providing virtually all of the filtration, is called a Berlin system. I still like to keep my wet/dry filter in place because having the water trickle through the plate and splash into the sump does a great deal to aerate the water and keep they oxygen levels high.

What is Protein Skimming?
There are some impurities that accumulate in the water of your aquarium that will most likely not be fully removed via your mechanical and biological filtration. These impurities are called dissolved organic compounds (DOC's). For quite some time, commercial and industrial filtration systems have employed a process called foam fractioning to remove DOC's. A protein skimmer is essentially a foam fractioning system for your aquarium. It pulls out water, removes DOC's, and returns the clean water to the tank. If not removed from the water, the DOC's would result in a buildup of oils and phosphates from fats, and nitrates from proteins. Exactly how protein skimmers remove DOC's will be explained below
How Does a Protein Skimmer Work?
Foam fractioning is a relatively simple process. If you agitate pure water by blowing bubbles into it, the bubbles at the surface burst quickly and no foam develops. However, if the water has fats and/or proteins dissolved in it, the bubbles will not burst as easily and a foam will form as you continue to inject air bubbles. If you've ever blown bubbles with a straw in a glass of milk, you've seen this in action. Milk is basically water with some fats, proteins and sugars dissolved in it. So when you blow bubbles in it, a foam forms. If you were to continually blow bubbles into the milk and scoop the foam off the top, you would eventually remove most of the DOC's (fats and proteins), as well as some of the water.
This is what a protein skimmer does. It creates bubbles in the water and as foam forms on top of the water, it falls into a collection container while the clean water (the stuff that wasn't part of the foam) is returned to your tank. There is a variety of mechanisms by which different protein skimmers accomplish this, but they all operate on this basic idea.




.

 

And some more........

What is a Refugium?
A refugium is an area in which some of your inhabitants can be given refuge from others that might pick on them. It can be a separate tank connected via plumbing or a section within the tank that's separated from the rest. A growing trend is to use a refugium primarily to house macroalgae. Macroalgae feed on the same substances as the nuisance algae, so growing them in your system removes the food source for those nuisance algae and in turn prevents their growth.


Setting Up a Refugium
There is a variety of ways to set up a refugium. The easiest and most economical way is to use a sump that is slightly larger than what you would typically need for your tank (e.g. a 20 gallon tank instead of a 10 gallon), and to use that extra space to grow some plants. If you use a few dividers, you can put a separate refugium section in between the filter, and the skimmer and return pump. This allows you to put a substrate down for the plants, without having to worry about sand getting into the pump for the skimmer or return system. A commercial version of this type of system can be seen here: AquaFuge Refugium. Of course, you could probably build it for a lot less than $400 if you made it yourself.
The next simplest way to add a refugium to your tank would be to add a hang-on refugium. This is just a box that hangs off the back of your tank that holds some macroalgae, with a light overhead. A siphon and a small return pump bring water in and send it back to the main tank. If you don't already have a sump, this is probably the easiest way to go. But if you do, there's really no sense in cluttering up the back of your tank with additional siphons and return hoses. Such a refugium can be seen here: Hang-On Refugium.
A third method is to have the refugium in a sealed-off area inside the tank. This offers the advantage of not having to add additonal plumbing or lighting for the refugium. The main problem is that it takes up space inside your aquarium. The sealed-off area should have some kind of ventilation to allow water exchange with the rest of the tank. These refugiums attach to the inside of your tank with suction cups, and have powerheads mounted inside to maintain waterflow through the refugium: In-Tank Refugium.
Stocking a Refugium
Presuming that your main reason for adding a refugium is to improve your water quality, the first thing you will want to figure out is what kind of plants and macroalgae you want to put in your refugium. I have never been interested in experimenting with a wide variety of plants and macroalgae, so I have stuck with those which I have read and heard were both easy to care for and good at cleaning the water. I only grow mangroves and chaetomorpha. While experimenting with different plants and algae may seem benign, it can actually be fairly dangerous. Plants and algae are good for your water because they remove various toxins. If you don't care for them properly and they die, those toxins are released back into the water. Some plants and algaes, such as caulerpa, can also release toxins as part of their biological processes if care is not taken to prevent such activity.
Chaetomorpha, also known as spaghetti algae, is a stringy macroalgae that typically grows in a ball. (To me, it looks kind of like a green, underwater tumbleweed.) It is typically purchased as a ball of wound up algae. I put two powerheads in opposite corners of my refugium to create a circular current that keeps the chaeto rolling. This exposes all sides to the light equally and provides a fresh supply of water throughout the bundle. Chaetomorpha grows quickly, so you must periodically pull off a section of the ball and discard it. If properly cared for (not difficult), it will greatly reduce the amount of nitrate and phosphate in your tank.
Mangroves also remove nitrates and phosphates from your tank. The plant should be placed in your refugium with the roots submerged and the leaves above the water, but at least a few inches from the light. The plants are quite hardy and do not require much more care than the chaeto. Keep an eye on the leaves, making sure they are not wilting, getting covered in salt or falling off. The nitrates and phosphates pulled from the water are used in the leaves, so if one falls off and decomposes in your tank, it will release a great deal of these and may lead to an algal bloom. If leaves are wilting, make sure they are not too close to the light, or covered in salt. Also, an excess of macroalgae consuming all the nutrients in the water may lead to wilting. Your chaeto may need to be culled.

 

Heck, heres the whole web site. Saltwater Aquarium Setup Guide Luna

 

Thanks, Luna....

Definitely use a skimmer....Skimp now, sorry later...JMO....

 

hey guys i am going to run a skimmer for sure that was going to be my next question for the great minds here whats the best skimmer i can get for my money