equipment question

[joenewbe]

hello to everyone at tonmo!
this forum has been very helpful.
i do have a couple of questions about setting up the tank. first let me explain what i have.
65 g all glass with mega flow overflow, 29 g tank for sump/refugium below. and now im stuck as to what goes best with an overflow.
i would like to have a aqua medic multi because ive heard they are the best. and ive heard that fluval canisters are really good. but im not sure if all this stuff is compatible. the guy at the fish store said that i should go with a wet dry witha built in skimmer. im totally lost and dont want to buy the wrong equipment.
any advice?

 

[cthulhu77]

First off, welcome !

Wet/dry filters are something of a personal taste...I don't like them, but many Tonmo'ers do...if you have a sump with a good canister filter (sure, Fluval, Eheim...etc) and a Protein Skimmer, you should do just fine...for a ceph, there is no way to get the water TOO good !

greg

 

[joenewbe]

I guess I will go with a canister filter. I was back at the fish store last night and was recomended a eheim ecco 2235 for an 80g tank. But i was thinking that would not be enough filtration. (i have 95g total).
i was also wondering if there was a way to test the water at my house and what i should be testing for.

joe

 

[Scouse]

I just wanna question this whole canister filter buisness....

why do people choose for this over....

fluidising carbon in a reactor
and
fluidising rowaphos in a reactor
with
the use of a refugium

does this not give better results from the carbon an rowaphos, whilst also using less products over a prolonged period

is it just that people have traditionally chosen a canister because thats what historically the majority have used

wouldnt the other route i mention provide more suitable 'reef-like' water conditions

Cheers

 

[joenewbe]

hi scouse
im not sure about the kind of filtration you mention but it sounds pretty high tech. what do you think about using tapwater? safe for octos or bad news? i figure it will take me about 20 trips to the grocery store to get 94g of r/o water.
joe

 

[Colin]

Scouse,
I think that the main benefit of having a canister is that it works very well as a mechanical filter as well as, eventually, a biological filter. Through the actions of the water movement in the tank the physical particles of dirt can get trapped in the canisters media.

If you put rowaphos or carbon in a canister filter it would be working chemically. IE it adsorbs wastes into the structures. But you need to make sure that the physical particles of dirt don't get in as they would clog it up and work against its real cause for being there.

Wet/Dry allow the bacteria on the media to get a lot of oxygen from the air. Canister filter's bacteria can only get oxygen from the water from the tank and can, in extreme circumstances compete with the tank's livestock for O2.

My personal recommendation and what I am going to make for my new place when I move at the end of the month will be...

Overflow from surface layer of tank and directly into skimmer, through a prefilter to remove any large bits of dirt the skimmer couldn't lift then into a 4 foot tall by 1 foot wide wet dry tower with rotating spray bar. Then into sump then return to tank(s). I will run rowaphos/carbon through a separate fluidised bed in the sump.

Greg's suggested use of a canister and a skimmer works very well as the skimmer increases the O2 level as well as removing proteins etc. While the canister does the best of the actual filtering. Canisters can often require regular maintenance.

I am still a bit undecided on the practicalities of a refugium in a cephalopod tank. I think that a reef tank or baby octo tank would be fine but I have yet to try out a refugium on a full grown octopus... might be too much for the refugium? Just guessing.

Joenewbe an Aqua-medic 100 multi will serve you well, i have used them for years, if you go with that and a canister you wont go far wrong.

(incidentally, my proposed set up with big trickle tower etc will be to run several tanks at once)

cheers
Colin

 

[joenewbe]

Today I ordered an ecco 2236 and a aqua medic multi 1000 from marine depot. thanks for all the advice>
I was still wondering about reverse osmosis water. where i can get it besides the grocery store or maybe if someone could recomend a test kit that would tell me if tapwater is safe.( i have well water ) is it the metals in tapwater that can harm an octo? or is it some other impurity.
joe