Marine Fish - Filtration?

Question

Whats the difference between Chemical and Bio-logical filtration and what do you need to tackle both these?

Will an external filter, living rock and a good skimmer sort this out??

Answer 1

There are three types of filtration, and you do need to address all three.

The first is mechanical filtration, which you don't list. This is where you use a physical barrier (foam, floss) to trap particles in the water.

The second is biological - this makes use of bacteria in the substrate, live rock, and on the filter media which convert the ammonia produced by the organisms in the tank (ammonia is a toxic product of their wastes and uneaten food) into nitrite (which is also toxic), then into nitrate (which is non-toxic in moderate amounts).

Chemical filtration is used to remove a variety of chemical - metals, medications, phosphate from tap water, and chemicals produced by some corals and anemones or boxfish as toxins for protection or to reduce competition. This includes thins like activated carbon, zeolite, polyfilter, and the resin pads used to remove phosphate.

If you have an external filter, that will take care of the mechanical, also the chemical if you use carbon (it's usually not necessary to use it all the time, but this can depend on your tank inhabitants). And since some bacteria will live on the media, it will provide some biological filtration as well.

The majority of the biological filtration will come from the live rock and substrate, however.

You may want to have your tap water tested for nitrate and phosphate, however. If you have significant amounts of these, you may need to use reverse osmosis water (available at Super Walmarts or Target as Culligan water for $0.33 per gallon) or buy a phosphate pad for your filter, otherwise you might have problems with algae in the tank.

You can take a look at the articles in this link for more information about the types and equipment/media used for marine filtration (and lots of other good info too!): http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marsetupindex2.htm

Answer 2

GO NATURAL
Biological filtration is done with live rock and live sand and all the other micriscopic critters suspended in the water.
Mechanical filtration is done with a GOOD protein skimmer, Crabs, Snails, Seastars, Filter feeding inverts and so on.
STAY AWAY FROM ANY CHEMICALS except those found in NATURAL sea water or carbon to eliminate the smell from your skimmer.
External filters (Hang on, Canister, Biowheels...) WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME NITRATE FACTORIES which you DON"T WANT.
Do it naturally and your Nitrate will turn to Nitrogen and evap out of your tank= amonia to 0ppm= nitrite to 0ppm= nitrate to 0ppm= Nitrogen in your livingroom= Clean healthy COMPLETE nitrogen cycle which you will never have with a external filter hooked to your system.
I have 3 saltwater tanks going at the moment, 1x 75gal. REEF tank, 1X 75gal. fish tank and 1x 30gal. seahorse/pipefish tank and am planning a 250gal in wall Reef tank.
I have used in the past a lot of different filter systems and I will NEVER go back to ANY external filter system including wet-dry.

Answer 3

they're extra at possibility of differences in water high quality .marine fish must be in a saltwater environment and not all seas have the comparable mineral makeup so offering a synthetic environment is extra stable fairly for non close by species

Answer 4

yes a skimmer i feel is needed some people don't biological filtration is going to be the live rock and live sand in the tank and the external filter will have your activated carbon to remove chloramines nitries and nitrate. check out this site someone just posted and i thought it gas very good info. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/feature/images/image002.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/feature/index.php&h=561&w=500&sz=37&hl=en&start=33&tbnid=4WgDuZ90aWUXwM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=119&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlive%2Brock%2Bgreen%2Bworms%26start%3D20%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
also go to www.wetwebmedia.com that is a great site with almost endless ammount of info on it.