# New saltwater tank



## Perceval (Jan 11, 2010)

We are having a custom in-wall 90 gallon bow-front tank made. It is 40" wide, 30" tall and 20" deep. It will have 4 holes drilled in the bottom.

We are had a 30 gallon fresh water tank for years, but we are brand new to saltwater. I have been working with the company that is building the tank and they recommended going fish only to start, which definitely sounded like the way to go. They recommended, and we have purchased, a Nu-Clear 533 25 micron canister filter followed by a Nu-Clear 547 biological filter with bio balls. This is in parallel with a UV filter. We have received the filtration system and the tank should be here in another 4 weeks or so.

After doing quite a bit more research, we are interested in using live rock, but I have been told that the filtration system we have would not work well with live rock. I have spent a fair amount of time online trying to determine what makes a filtration system compatible or non-compatible with live rock and haven't really found much information. 

We need something that is as safe as possible to get into and relatively low maintenance. We have no desire to get into coral any time in the near future. 

Any thoughts on how we could best integrate live rock into the system we have or what filtration changes would be needed to support a fish only with live rock tank?

Thanks


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## eagleANTH (Jun 26, 2009)

ditch the can filter... the live rock is a natural filter and the wet dry will also assist you in the filtration process. The canister filter also holds in nitrates which may cause a problem down the road. Best possible setup would be a sump with some Macro algae and a skimmer. That way you are pulling your nitrates and other assorted gunk out with the skimmer and macro. At the same time the Macro will suck up needed nutrients for micro algae which will minimize your chances for a major nuisance algae problem. Also I am not sure if you have worked with a canister filter before but they are a real pain to maintenance, they have gaskets that have to be on just right and free of all debris which are plentiful in any aquarium. also if and when it fails you can end up emptying the tank on the floor. this is just my .02 but i am sure there will be others to post as well.


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## Perceval (Jan 11, 2010)

From what I am finding, the canister filter is not necessarily incompatible with live rock, but is not really needed if the live rock is functioning properly and the canister can be somewhat of a maintenance pain. Even though we've had a fresh water tank for years, it is amazing how much there is to learn moving to saltwater. 
Thanks for the feedback.


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## joejoe1055 (Nov 23, 2009)

you can keep the canister filter on, just keep it cleaned out, lack of cleaning them will add to a nitrate problem in future
maybe just run something like carbon in it

starting fisk only would be great, if u plan on doing reef later, just try get fish that would work in a reef system as well example: clownfish, a tang, grammas, dottybacks, gobies


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## Imaexpat2 (Jun 17, 2009)

> After doing quite a bit more research, we are interested in using live rock, but I have been told that the filtration system we have would not work well with live rock. I have spent a fair amount of time online trying to determine what makes a filtration system compatible or non-compatible with live rock and haven't really found much information.


The reason you cant find any incompatability information is becuase there aint any. Dont know who told you there was but I wouldnt listen to any more advice from them. Live rock is highly desirable as a componet for the filtrations system, in fact its actually prefered whether its a FOWLR or Reef Tank. Some use Live Rock exclusively. While this can work in very lightly stocked tanks with generous amounts of Live Rock I am not yet sold on this being the sole and only way to go for a number of reasons. It will however contribute to a very healthy system that should be a breeze to maintain.

Bio-Balls s%&! They are more trouble than they are worth in my opinion. Snatch them from your canister and replace with Live Rock Rubble, but still continue to monitor your nitrates closely in the tank. The Bio Balls work great for a while but once they get coated in gunk quickly lead to high nitrate issues as you will also experience if you slack on maintaining your canister filter.



> Any thoughts on how we could best integrate live rock into the system we have or what filtration changes would be needed to support a fish only with live rock tank?



Yeah, just pick out some nice interesting pieces of pourous live rock and add it to the tanks aquascape and call it done. Personally I think you would have been better served with a sump type filtration system. But that is something you can later add at a more convienent time if you so desire. The sump system would be far superior to any other type in my experience.


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