[maxrady]

Hello everyone,

I am thinking of turning my 75 gallon tank into a saltwater. I currently have a 20 gallon reef tank, and i would like to focus this bigger thank on a fish only set up. Do i REALLY need a canister filter on this big of a tank? I have heard i should be using a canister flter on any saltwater tank, but i just want to make sure. Also, do i need any special light if i am doing fish only with live rock? Or can i just use normal aquarium lights? I would really like to put a Lookdown Fish in there, but i dont know if thats big enough, what do you think? I dont really know too much about the fish other than i love them for some strange reason. Thanks for all your help!

[Jeremy0322]

I have never heard of a lookdown fish but i can help you with the other 2 questions. The canister filter is usually a no-no. You are MUCH better off getting a nice amount of live rock, around 100 pounds for a tank that size, and making sure that you have some decent flow to get water moving through it. That will do much better than a canister filter, plus you dont have to clean it once a week like most canister filters that leave the "junk" in the water column for more water to get pushed through. As for the light, you can use normal aquarium lighting because you dont have any photosynthesizing corals that will need the lights. If you ever decided to get some corals they will die super fast without the right light though, so if you plan on that in the future you will need the lights to do the job.

[maxrady]

ah that definately helps, now please tell me why you say no to the canister filter, are you saying all i need are powerheads and like 75 pounds of live rock? i know that the live rock does the filtering but im really interested to know why no canister, i heard that was the way to go. but as far as salt water goes im still a bit of a noob. ive had my 20 gallon reef tank up for 2 and a half months now.

[Jeremy0322]

When you use a canister you are just taking all of the gunk out of the water and collecting it somewhere. Then you keep taking your water and running it through the stuff that you cleaned out of the water which will continue to happen until you clean it out. Then you clean it out, collect crap, and run some more good water through poop. You never really need to clean out live rock, but a canister filter needs cleaned out about once a week. It is just a good recipe for some nitrite build(or nitrate, i have them confused right now). Same general idea as why bio balls are pretty bad. Canister filters go have their place though, you can use them for siphoning out stuff from a sand bed, or for running carbon from time to time to make your water nice and sparkley.

[maxrady]

So as far as filters go, what would you recommend? ANd what about a protein skimmer?

[JackedupSOB]

I have heard if you have a good skimmer you dont need a mechanical filter. I only have skimmer but my tank is only a 29 gallon