Filter Question

[Krugar]

I'm having a heck of a time with this one...

One day I'd like to move to a reef tank, but getting all the gear at once is difficult to get through the financial steering comittee (my wife)

Thus far I have an 85G tank with a Filtstar XP2 (230Gph) canister. I'd like to add a fluidizing bed to this mix, but I'm having problems finding one desinged to sit under the tank inside the pine stand, instead of behind it.

I was thinking of the Rainbow lifeguard #300, but I can't seem to connect to thier website to read more about it.

Ideally I'd like to split the return from my canister, add a tap for flow control prior to the fluidizing bed, and avoid using a powerhead.

Any opinions / suggestions? Anyone try this?

Thanks in advance!

[Kenzy]

Actually I would recommend against spending money on a f/b filter altogether. Odds are you will use for a couple of months and then put on a shelf where it will then collect dust until you toss it in the garbage.

Your money would be better spent investing in a good skimmer (seaclone, skilter, prism, bakpack are too small for an 85g tank) like a Turbo 1000 Hang-on back. There are others as well, but I haven't heard many complaints about the Turbo.

By the sounds of things your tank is tight against a wall, which may mean that you will need to pull it out a bit. Or do a complete tear down and have the tank drilled for a sump set up. A sump isn't necesary but is a nice option to have and later on you may wish for one.
Both my tanks have sumps so I'm a little biased towards them. ;)

The difference between a fish only(FO) tank and a reef tank are really not that much. A reef requires higher water quality and stonger lighting and that's really about it. It's how these are achieved that give people head aches. A good skimmer will go a long way for water quality, add to that some live rock (LR) and todays trend of Deep Sand Beds (DSB) and that takes care of all filteration. Next bump up your lighting to either Very High Output (VHO) flourescent lighting, power compacts (PC) flourescents and/or metal halide (MH) and you have a reef tank. This is a bit over simplified but you get the picture.

Hope this helps.

[Greg Moore]

I bough a SeaStorm for my reef. Well built, solid unit, and like the reply above suggests, it doesn't need to be nearly as solid as it is, the dust on it is thick though..

Seemed like a good idea, had diatom problems due to the silica sand, it plugged too easily and it needed a ton of water pressure to run..

Save the bucks for a fluidized and use on it a better skimmer.....

Greg Moore

[Dman]

I agree with the above posts so far, save your money and get a skimmer, over skim. big skimmer, more skimmer than you could possibly ever use, Did I mention to get a skimmer :>

Derek
:spin:

[ajx22]

...Moving thread to the GET A BIG skimmer forum!

;) :laugh: Just kidding!!

All joking aside...the negative responses re the FB filters are unfortunately true. They 'look' cool...but sadly don't work that well.

As mentioned a few times...skimming is the key along with religous water changes.

Good luck...