# Is This a Good Tank



## marine666 (Dec 7, 2009)

Hi everyone I'm new to the forum and was looking for abit of advice. I was Thinking about buying the Aquamarine 900 complete with Marisys marine system, is this a good tank looking to set up a reef system. If anyone heard anything about these or is using this set up it would be great to hear your thoughts. thanks colin


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

It is a good starter tank for smaller fish and low-light corals. It works out to be a 46 gallon Bowfront. It comes with 2x 36w and 2x 24 watt T5 lighting, an overflow box, heater, a stand and a wet/dry filter. This is where I would draw the line. It appears easy enough to convert that wet/dry into a rudimentary sump, if you take all the media out of the compartments. You could get away with running just carbon in one of those compartments, but I personally would empty those compartments and use that for a refugium.

If you want to upgrade to harder to care for corals, you will need stronger lighting. 

Fish selection will be limited to smaller fish, such as clowns, blennies, gobies, chromis and dwarf angels. If you want anything larger, such as tangs, triggers, most lionfish, larger angels, etc, you will need to buy a larger tank.


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## marine666 (Dec 7, 2009)

Thanks for your reply, I might look at getting a bigger tank then and not use a biofilter, the lfs told me a biofilter was the best way to keep your levels steady, but i though it would keep the nitrates about 5-10 ppm. thanks again


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

marine666 said:


> Thanks for your reply, I might look at getting a bigger tank then and not use a biofilter, the lfs told me a biofilter was the best way to keep your levels steady, but i though it would keep the nitrates about 5-10 ppm. thanks again


Good decision. I is nearly impossible to keep Nitrates low when using a filter designed to introduce Nitrates into the aquarium. (i.e a biofilter)


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## chrlesdikkenson (Dec 23, 2009)

I really think it's great system for marine life.part from excellent filtration performance, the surface skimmer with return flow module is self priming thanks to the integrated peristaltic pump, thus ensuring if power is lost the filter does not overflow and automatically restarts when electricity is resumed.


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

chrlesdikkenson said:


> I really think it's great system for marine life.part from excellent filtration performance, the surface skimmer with return flow module is self priming thanks to the integrated peristaltic pump, thus ensuring if power is lost the filter does not overflow and automatically restarts when electricity is resumed.


The surface skimmer is a nice feature, but this is standard fare on a marine tank with a sump. Having an overflow is not a feature that gives an advantage over other systems when it comes to filtration theory.

At the end of the day, the system would be highly effective if it were not for the biomedia. Simply removing the biomedia and adding a skimmer would result in a tremendous improvement.

Given the time constraints of the Christmas season, I am going to provide a link that goes into great details on why I feel so strongly about this particular topic:

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...-filtration-101-how-differs-freshwater-31955/


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

It looks like this filtration system has a skimmer incorporated. I don't know how well it skims, or how easy it is to remove from the unit. I would think that this is a lower quality skimmer, and an upgrade would be necassary to properly remove DOC's from the aquarium.

But I agree with Pasfur, get rid of all the filter media and run it specifically with a quality skimmer.


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

This is interesting. I clicked on the link posted by Wake above. Here is a direct quote from the manufacturer web site:
"The water which does not flow into the Protein Skimmer moves across the Drip Tray where it is then channelled down through the various layers of filter media. Three layers of filter wool remove the larger particles of waste before the water is filtered through a tightly woven Activated Carbon Pad, where finer particles are trapped along with any dissolved organics like smells or discolourations. The water then travels through the Bio Balls where the beneficial bacteria colonise and break down the Ammonia and Nitrite into Nitrate which is less toxic and easily removed with regular aquarium maintenance."

It is interesting that the manufacturer acknowledges the flaws of their own equipment. They acknowledge that the water splits, with some of the water not being skimmed, and instead being directed to the overflow. They also acknowledge that Nitrate is "less toxic" than ammonia and nitrite, but still needs to be removed in some way. 

The entire filter is an outdated design left over from a failed history in marine aquarium care. This unit has no place in today's hobby.


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## marine666 (Dec 7, 2009)

Thanks for all your comments, whatever i decide to do about a tank i'll get some pic's on, and no doudt i'll be asking some more question's,


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