question about bio pellets stripping tank

[swcc]

Originally Posted by nfored

I would be foolish imho to not us the rock I have in some place, cheap rock or not it serves a purpose. I also don't want to be the guy with he rock wall in the display. Which is why all the rock I have is in the sump, I have a look in mind for the rock in the display which is why its only going to be about 50lbs or so and will be modifying it to look right. With that said if there is no good external or hob protein skimmers then I guess I will make room. I might have to wait a bit and shell out extra for a space saver reef octopus.

Also not that I have a doubt as i dont, i know this skimmer sucks but in design its not a whole lot different then the reef octopus. I wonder could it be modded and if it was how would I know if its a good skimmer? if you

i mean if you didnt know which is which and you had two tanks one with a reefocto and one with a corallife how would you know that the RO was better? is it the way the bubbles look in the body? I have noticed pictures of "good" skimmers seem like solid white inside almost like diluted milk, where as mine looks like water mixed with bubbles. Also mine only occasionally fills up with stuff even before the heater malfunction.

I hear you on the rock wall...
you can run a minimalist aquascape without any need for the rock in the sump.... I only ever run minimalist aquascapes myself. the idea of 1.5 to 2 lbs rock per gal came about back when reefkeeping was starting out and protein skimmers were very inefficient compared to what we run have available today. My current tank is a med/high bioload 60 cube with a whopping 38lbs of rock. 50lbs in the display is plenty for a 75. I have kept tanks fully stocked, zero readable nitrate or PO4 with as little as 1/2 lb per gallon...there is no need for more with a good appropriate skimmer. If you want to stick with relic ideas of an overabundance of rock... ok... then get an external... the DNWB150 will be perfectly suited for your tank and that is fine. nothing wrong with an external but rock in sump= more bad than good. Lots of thread on here and other forums where they pulled the rock, sand, etc, out of their sump and benefited with lowered nutrient levels... People I know that run successful businesses setting up and maintaining aquariums professionally... they do not put rocks in their clients sumps or build walls of rock unless the client specifically wants one.
your skimmer is nothing like a reef octo or other appropriate sized skimmer... it does not have the capacity with the poor design, and tiny neck to be able to run enough air to appropriately skim your tank... if you attempt to run biopellets you will crash the tank with it.
the reason it looks like water in there is because it is... the pump draws little air and it is not designed in a way where you could modify it enough to ever handle enough air and water for what you want(a low nutrient tank).
Your in the filtration section.... read some skimmer threads... I suggest you start with Mojo's skimmer question and answers thread to learn more about skimmers... Mojo put together some good information there and added to it as the thread grew.