Maintaining my HOB filter, how much light, which skimmer?

[drewsteriam5]

I don't use a mechanical filter at all. Just about 60 lbs of live rock plus the skimmer (and sump). My water is crystal clear. Mechanical filters are fine as long as you religiously clean them. And it is not enough to just rinse out the sponge, you really need to remove the entire filter and clean it as you will see the first time you do this - a lot of ditreus collects in the bottom. I'd add an extra power head and lose the filter altogether.

For fish only you could get away with the HOB but coral and invertebrates are very sensitive to high nitrates.

What I was thinking was that I could put something in the HOB filter to remove any chemicals the corals may put out to try to kill each other. I had a paly frag next to some SPS frag and I'm assuming they touched because overnight the SPS frag turned ghost white. However, I'd like to avoid corals killing each other with chemical warfare when they're not touching as well.

As I stated before if maintained properly the filter is a great piece of equipment. There is no reason to pull the sponge. Just give it a good squeeze in the old water during changes and replace. It will be fine. It will also add a bunch of flow to the tank. I do agree with above about the koralias though. 1 750 would be great, 2 of them would provide all the flow you will need in a tank of that size.

Where would I put the Koralias to optimize flow? The tank is literally a quarter of a cylinder. On the left I have the HOB filter. The skimmer will go on the right. I just don't know where powerheads could go that would make any sort of difference.

 

[ReeferBob]

You might want to look into a wave controller. The RKL is cheap like $115 shipped and includes everything you need for wave control plus you'd have a tank controller as well (lights, heaters, etc). It works nicely with Koralias I have that set up right now. Once you have your wave set up, I usually throw in some food and see how the flow looks.

 

[drewsteriam5]

You might want to look into a wave controller. The RKL is cheap like $115 shipped and includes everything you need for wave control plus you'd have a tank controller as well (lights, heaters, etc). It works nicely with Koralias I have that set up right now. Once you have your wave set up, I usually throw in some food and see how the flow looks.

Just ordered a Koralia Evolution 750/850. Not exactly sure what kind of flow I'm even looking for though. I can drop food in and watch it move, the problem is I don't know what kind of flow I'm looking for.

 

[ReeferBob]

You are just looking for flow period. FOWLR doesn't care too much as long as the water moves a bit and there are no stagnant areas. Corals on the other hand are specific to what flow they like and you can rearrange your flow appropriately if/when you get coral.

With no sump I would aim one of those powerheads towards the surface to promote good gas exchange.

 

[FunkyFish]

I have a 90 fowlr w two aqua 110, no skimmer yet but looking for an HOB if I get a deal. 120lbs of liveR, made lots of caves, a 3in sand bed and a dozen small fish all around two inches. Have 4 power heads, one on L about 4 inches from surface and aimed up, two hitting ea side of rock from right and on down low on L. T5 lights. Food shoots all over. Tanks been up a year now and fish don't fight. 3 dif triggers a hippo some clowns some damsels. Always searching craiglist for that upgrade.


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[drewsteriam5]

You are just looking for flow period. FOWLR doesn't care too much as long as the water moves a bit and there are no stagnant areas. Corals on the other hand are specific to what flow they like and you can rearrange your flow appropriately if/when you get coral.

With no sump I would aim one of those powerheads towards the surface to promote good gas exchange.

I've got coral already (probably went overboard as the SPS aren't thriving) so I'll probably try to run water past where those are.