Filtering issues

[Pufferpunk]

Oh and I notice you are looking into wet/drys. Do not use a wet/dry or any other form of bio filtration on a tank with live rock, its a nitrate bomb!

Absolutely!

Skimming is chemical and the rock is biological, you still need mechanical which sponges do a great job imo and they fit the bill for the original post.

In what way is a protein skimmer a chemical filter? It is completely mechanical. FW HOB do nothing but create nitrate. Your skimmer will remove most of the waste of your tank & the LR/LS will be your biological filtration.

the goby is going to easily decimate the population of pods. The tank sounds rather young and small to house a mandarin. I would advise finding a new home for it if you can not get it to eat prepared foods.

+1, they eat their weight in live pods/day. No way can a newer 52g tank w/o a sump support this fish, unless it is eating prepared foods.
Have you checked into local reef clubs? Here's a great skimmer offer from mine:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... ?t=1803275

[Nick]

If you want something like a wet/dry for mechanical filtration, a "flooded tray" is a possible alternative, which will let you clear out unrotted accumulation a few times a week without having it rapidly fill the tank with nitrates.

[RTR]

+1 to PP and Nick's comments.

All my SW W/Ds were prefiletered by fine sponges in the overflow box or by a flooded tray (actually drawer) over the bioball towers. Either or both were rinsed and traded out daily, that reduces nitrates remarkably - even in those long-ago FO systems.

[bastallard]

Foam fractionation is considered chemical filtration not mechanical. http://www.fishchannel.com/media/saltwa ... n.aspx.pdf

[JaxPuffer]

This is all so confusing. I am picking up a skimmer tomorrow it is a Coraline (?) brand and seems to be a good one from a local reefer. He explained to me how I can set it up to be like a HOB until I get a sump going. So, with the skimmer and all the LR what else is needed until I can get the sump up and running? Also, should I leave the HOB filter going or take it down. I was thinking of possibly gutting it since it is a big one and putting some macroalgae with a little rubble in it until the sump is up and going. Man I have some reading to do...

[Mek0ng]

Even the biggest HOB filters are not going to really make a difference with growing macro for nutrient removal, if you want to grow some macro to feed something like a tang its great however. If you are going to set stay sumpless for a while, I would use only a bag of carbon in the filter, you can get a filter bag and bulk carbon, use 1 table spoon of carbon for every 10g, and change it every two weeks. Make sure to get good carbon like marineland black diamond, or esv, or bulk reef supply (thoes two come to mind first but there are other good brands). There are other good filter medias, like Chemipure elite and others that do even more than carbon, but the price reflects it. I read good things about chemipure elite particularly for HOB style setups where you don't have room to run a ton of media reactors, chemipure elite takes care of the phosphates and has benefits of carbon all in one.

So, with the skimmer and all the LR what else is needed until I can get the sump up and running?

A overflow, the water needs some way to get out of the tank. You will also need a return pump, the size of the return pump will be dictated by the flow rate of the overflow, and how high the pump needs to push the water.

A filter sock, like this one:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/pro ... -ring.html

Will take care of all the mechanical filtration you need. I leave mine on for 24 hrs or less when needed, and its only after I have done maintenance that its needed. If you are going sumpless, the HOB with filter media will work as a substitute.

[Pufferpunk]

I personally don't like filter socks.

[Mek0ng]

any reason? When ever I get in my tank to work and get stuff stirred up, I throw a sock on, and the water is crystal clear rather quickly, sure I loose some pods and probably plankton I cant see, but its only for a short while.

[Pufferpunk]

I should have said then, I don't like them installed full time.