mech. filtration

[Andrew]

If I use a biowheel in my emperor HOB, will this compromise my bio filtration of live rock and sand? (Planning to remove the filter in a few months, when I plan on using DIY sump)

thank you,
andrew

[Richard]

Andrew, You'll probably get varying opinions on this. IMO the short answer is no. The real question to me is - Do you have enough live rock/sand as well as water circulation to support the bioload of your system? How much liverock you need to run without any additional biofiltration will vary based on the quality of rock you have, bioload, feeding regime etc. Using the biowheel just gives you some back up in case you don't, if you do - the biowheel won't be doing much of anything. I have heard people say that the biowheel will contribute to high nitrates much like bioballs in a wet dry filter however unlike bioballs the biowheel will not build up large amounts of detritus like bioballs tend to do overtime so this will not be a problem IMO. Also when you switch to using a sump keep the biowheel damp and then toss it in the sump for a couple of weeks - just in case.

Richard
CB Pets

[Andrew]

thanks for the tips.
I have 50+ pounds LR, 45 ish LS, bak pak skimmer, 2 pwr.heads (need to get more, and planning to stop in at CB soon), 2 clowns and 2 dozen polyps. Live rock is good stuff, all kinds of critters came in on it (from Tim). 40 gal. tank

I haven't been using mechanical filtration, and ammonia test recently a little high (don't remember exactly what it was), but other parameters looking good (maybe still cycling?) tank been up since mid april.

andrew

[Tim Marvin]

I'll second Richards advice.

[brewercm]

For what it's worth. I was using a wet/dry filter and an emporer 400 along with my rock and sand. I took out the bio balls from the wet/dry to use it as just sump but keep my emperor going. Haven't had any problems yet, all corals and fish are just fine.