More rock or more water

[chrisjj625]

Hello, I have a IM 30L AIO and I am not utilizing the back chambers for anything at the moment. Should I stuff the back chambers full of rock or is it better to have the extra water volume? I am not running any kind of mechanical filtration other then filter floss ATM. Toying with the idea of getting a skimmer, but not sure I need it. Curious if I could see benefits from more rock or if the extra water volume is more important to health. Thank you in advance for any information you may provide!

 

[waverider]

How much rock do you already have in the tank up front? If you've already got alot of rock, diversifying your filtration by leaving that space in the back chamber for a skimmer and or media reactors is what I would do. -assuming you've already got adequate established rock up front. Because as you know, a skimmer will remove all that nutrient matter from the water before the bacteria in your rock has to process it -just my 2 cents

 

[chrisjj625]

Honestly IDK, I didn’t weigh it out or anything. I don’t really have plans to get any other type of filtration. Thus, the question really is rock vs more water.

 

[chrisjj625]

Bump for the night folks.

 

[chrisjj625]

Anyone?

 

[attiland]

+1 for rock or any high surface media over water

 

[aquakj]

I’ve heard rock is the best kind of filtration so I would go more rock

 

[Billdogg]

The problem with filling a relatively small/difficult to access area with rock is that it will likely trap detritus and could then become a nutrient problem that will contribute to Nitrate and Phosphate issues.

The need for more rock, and therefore more biological filtration, should be based on your bioload. If the rocks you have in the display area are already handling the bioload ok, then I'm not sure you need to bother unless you plan on adding more fish. In a 30g tank you are fairly limited on the total number of fish anyway so you might already be maxed out.

As for adding a skimmer - IMHO, one really isn't needed in a smallish tank like yours. Regular water changes will easily handle the nutrient export of a tank that size. In fact, I'd increase the size of the water change before I'd invest in a skimmer. Way better to save your $$$ for the eventual upgrade where the skimmer you might buy for your current tank will be woefully undersized. Then you have a undersized skimmer on a shelf in a box and get to buy a larger one for the new system.

jm.02