Eheim 2227

Hi, I am new to the site and was hoping to get some advise. I currently have a 46 gallon aquarium which I just took out my last dead salt fish. I was running a wet/dry sump with a 1000 gallon per hour pump, had an inch and a half of sand and around 20 lbs of live rock. The wet/dry kept the water clean to the eye but I never had low nitrate and ammonia levels. The tank ran for around two months and didnt seem to cycle properly. I just emptied out the tank and was going to move back to freshwater. One thing caught my eye, I was at the LFS and noticed a fish only salt tank which was around 180 gallons. I was under the impression that a protien skimmer, live sand and live rock was a necessety. The tank had about one pound of live rock, about three or four fake corals, and about three inches of unpainted aquarium gravel. The water looked great and the fish seemed healthy. I opened the door to the stand and found two fluval 404 canister filters which I was told to stay away from due to nitrate problems. I am not sure what the water parameters are actually at but seems to be the same fish in there all the time. The tank is a show tank and they are not selling the inhabitants. Then I did some research and learned more about processing nitrites and nitrates. Seems to me like a wet/dry eheim filter would be an excellent biological filter. I am wondering if I used live sand, a small amount of live rock and just a few small fish with no corals if the eheim 2227 by itself would do the trick? Or to complicate it even more, using gravel along with the 2227 and let the filter be the main source of biological filtration?

 

Canister filters can work great IF you maintain them properly. They most likely clean them out constantly and have a very rigid feeding schedule on that tank. IMO live rock gives you more room for error. It requires practically no maintenance because its just a life form that feeds off the bad stuff in the water. Sounds to me like to didnt have enough rock to filter your water when you tried before. You generally want at least 1 lb per gallon of tank and 1.5 lbs is even better. If you are willing to keep up with the maintenance on a canister filter this may be the way to go for you. They can work very well on fish only systems.