New Salt Tank - Filter help

I have a new 125 GA tank which I'm about to start a salt water setup.
My tank came with an Eheim 2217 canister filter rated for 159G and Eheim 2229 rated for 158G. I had been playing with different sump options but am starting to feel because of space limitations I may have to abandon my project.

A good friend of mine has a salt water setup with both corals and fish using only filters. He said it is possible to have a nice salt water setup if you maintain your filters regularly and do weekly water changes. He said that I would obviously miss out on having a refigum but he said it was possible.

What do you guys think about this plan, using the Eheim filters, 150lbs of live rock and sand?

 

I think providing you keep the filter clean, rinsed every week when doing water changes
then you have every chance of running a succesful tank

water quality parameters are key and its possible to maintain good water quality
with cannisters , it just takes a bit more physical effort thats all

but- with enough live rock, effecient skimming and good water flow
you dont need the cannister for biological filtration ( put it on the rock, was the popular expression some time ago)

the cannister does make a convenient place to run Carbon and GFO also any other chemical filtration media you might decide to use as if you dont have a sump. you probably wont have a reactor

Steve

 

Steve said it! With a tank that big...maintaining with weekly water changes and cleaning out the filters would be a little much. I like to have the least amount of maintenance required with my tanks...which equals more enjoying time. I think having a skimmer would be essential if you're going down the path of your buddies tank. Try to figure something out sump wise...I'm sure you could fit SOMETHING in there?

 

Been there, done that...No more Canisters for me
Canister = Nitrate Factory

 

By canister you refering to both the Eheim 2217 and the Eheim 2229?

 

kav

he means any plastic device with a pump on that syphons water into it, runs it over various filter media and then pumps it back to the tank

he means all external power filters irrespective of size and manufacturer model number.


but to clarify - badly maintained cannister filters = nitrate factory
it can be done, but it takes more work from the reef keeper than is needed using other more modern filtration methods (Sump/ fuge etc)
Steve

 

A sump does not seem to be in the cards for me right now - trust me I'm pretty sad about this..

So given the face that I have these two canisters that came with my tank, I'm think I'll just go a head and use them with my tank with lots of live rock and hope for problem free regular filter cleanings and water changes.

Do you guys think I can run the two Ehiem filters in sequence - ie Tank out to Eheim 2217 to Eheim 2229 back to tank? Or vice versa. These tubes are ugly as heck and I hate to have 4 of them going into the tank..

 

I would not do that kav
seriously - you dont need them in a reef set up
I would run 1 of them only
I would have alternative sources of water movement on tank - Korallia, tunze, Seio modified maxijets, MP 40 - move that water around the tank so the wastes are processed quickly
I would have at least 1.5 lb of live rock (or base rock that becomes live in time) and the more porous the rock the better ( more real estate for bacteria)

and the one I was running would have Carbon, GFO and Purigen in there - no need for any biological media in the cannister at all, if you have good water circulation and plenty of rock

external cannister filters are great in FW set ups for biological filtration as in FW set ups
you dont have the real estate for bacteria that you have in a reef set up

thats just my opinion

Steve