External canister filters & reef setups

[Apestyler]

I'm a bit confused I visit a LFS in the centre of Glasgow yesterday and managed to have quite a long chat with them. They basically informed me that buying an external filter is a waste of money as if you have live rock it will do the biological filtering for you and the clean up crew will do mechanical filtering. He also pointed out that the media in the filter will just cause more nitrates/phosphates - The salesperson also suggested that as I have the filter just to whack some live rock in it with some carbon and use it for extra water flow.

I'm not too sure whether to believe what they said as alot of books recommend a canister filters but point out you should clean them regularly (which I totally understand and would follow) - Have I wasted my money?

[Chris]

No you have not wasted your money. Your sales guy is right in the fact they a nitrate factories BUT here is the secret, once you get enough live rock that can handle converting converting nitrates then slowly remove the bio media inside the canister, ie. bio-balls, bio-rocks (what ever it is), that way you give your bacteria time to grow in the rocks. Then what you are left with is a canister that has a good filter to remove large floating items, activated carbon to help keep water clarity and a unit that helps circulate and re-oxygenates your water. Yes, keep it clean, follow the manufactures guidelines.

I run with external filters on my smaller tanks and ran with one on my main tank for years, (until I moved its functions inside the refuge).

There are many philoshpys(sp?) out there on this point, this is just my point of view from my experience.

[minireefer]

Chris's answers are right target.Canisters do become nitrate factories if left uncleaned.Just rinse the sponges once a week and change them as recommended.Also a clean up crew will just help the mechanical filtering out by eating detris(waste) and algae.

[Apestyler]

Phew and thank you, was starting to panic there a little - So basically keep the coarse sponges in the canister with carbon once the refuge has been established!

[jhnrb]

you are doing just fine. a lot of folks will have experianced opinions, but, forget that you are not at their level or are not setting up a system like the one they base their opinion on. the guest response and mimireefer are right on. just keep the canister clean and you will be fine.

[Chris]

I am the "guest" user. All of my posts on the conversion, because I exsisted in the new forum, are my posts. Just to let you know.

[Chris]

Look at this picture of vixtrans tank, see at the top back the two black tubes with grates covering them? One is definitely a bio-wheel with filters and the other looks like a skimmer tube. You have to worry about your filter, look at how many corals he has.

http://www.livingreefs.com/forums/at...ttachmentid=76