Tropical Fish Forums

[dr_fosg8]

I am thinking of setting up a marine tank using my 25 gallon eclipse system.

I have been doing a lot of reading through the basics and beginners forum and have seen a lot people say that mechanical filtration will eventually become a big nitrate problem.

I am confused as to why this is. Anybody know why this happens?

Would doing regular rinsing of the media in some old tankwater take care of this problem as in a freshwater tank?

[SLACkra]

it will become a nitrate factory if detritus is left to build up on it and just rots. cleaning it regularly would remove the detritus and can be used as a form of nutrient exportation.

peronally I wouldn't use an eclipse system for a marine tank I had an eclipse as my first marine and it wasn't that great. if you do go with the eclipse definatly add a couple powerheads to get the water movement up. also I modded mine so I could fit a HOB skimmer in, my prism which at the time worked rather well but I wouldn't advise buying one.

andrew

[wittd]

In saltwater, you don't need to rinse in tankwater, actually shouldn't. The purpose of doing this in freshwater is to preseve the denitrifying bacteria. This is not what you want hapening in a marine filter. The only use for a filter is mechanical in marine tanks, no biological filtration. The bio filter should be the substrate and live rock. I recommend an aquaclear with only the mechanical filtration pad. It also helps to add some filter floss under the pad. Change the floss and rinse the pad at least once a week. I know Dale went a little more in depth into this issue in a recent post for some more information.

[dr_fosg8]

Thanks for the replies.

The eclipse wouldn't be my first choice either but since I already have it, and there is a power compact conversion for the lighting I thought it would be usable for a FOWLR setup. Is this setup doable for this?

As far as the bio-filtration only being the live rock and sandbed, would I want to remove the bio-wheel from the eclipse?

So the mechanical filtration is OK to have so long as it gets rinsed out in some fresh water? Nooooo problem I do not like having a poo filled filter! It takes sooooo little time to do this.

I am jumping the gun a little with this question seeing how the tank is still housing a pair of bolivian rams and some tetras but...the LFS's around me don't have a huge selection of marine fish. Would a single firefish and ocellaris clown be too much for a 25 gallon? What do you recommend?

Thanks people

[wittd]

Those are both calm and fairly small fish. I don't think that would be at all overstocked.

[SLACkra]

as long as you kept up the water changes to keep the nitrates under control you could probably have a pair of clowns(amphiprion ocellaris/percula would be most suited or skunk clowns as they stay relatively small) and a pair of fire fish. however you will most likely also have more problems with algae. why not go with a clown, a fire fish and some sortof herbavorious blenny? always a good idea to have fish that will contribute to keeping the tank clean!

andrew

[dr_fosg8]

That would be nice to have the 3 fish! I wasn't sure if that would be too much. Have any info on the bio-wheel in the eclipse? Should it be removed?

[SLACkra]

I removed mine, no point to it the live rock does its job. I completely hacked out that section too to install the skimmer!

andrew

[dr_fosg8]

Thanks for the advice folks. I will post again with some pics when I get the tank set up.