Filtration

Intro

Filtration is one of the most important aspects in keeping creatures in an aquarium healthy.

Filtration here means the methods used to "clean" the aquarium water and process the various pollutants and waste products that build up in any closed system. Without good filtration the inhabitants will not thrive and may die.

In the early days of Marine fish keeping methods from freshwater tanks were used - undergravel filters, canister filters etc. These still appear in some older books on fish keeping. As a better understanding of filtration methods was gained the trickle filter became the standard method and is still used today. During the last decade further advances have been made in the understanding of Marine systems and the benefits of "live" rock, "live" sand and the importance of protein skimming are now well understood.

Today most successful Marine tanks are filtered with "live" rock, "live" sand and protein skimming. Our tank uses these methods.

Protein Skimmers

There are many different types but manufacturers - and shops - tend to overstimate their capacity. So if a skimmer is rated for a 100 gallon tank it will probably only be sufficient for a 50 gallon tank