HOB Filter needed?

CookieJar · 03/29/2006, 02:16 PM

I'm considering removing my Aquaclear 70 HOB filter and wonder if removing it makes sense.
The current situation is I have a 55 gal tank w/ 4 gal HOB refugium and a coralife skimmer. The Aquaclear 70 HOB filter came with the tank when I bought it (tank was 1-2 years old) and has nothing more than 2 sponges that do the filtering- no carbon or anything else. The reason I'm thinking about removing the HOB filter is the refugium has lots of copepods and with the appx. 100 lbs. of live rock in the tank and the copepods there I'm afraid that the filter is doing more harm than good by filtering the copepods and killing them.
I have a mandarin dragonet, which has been in the tank for 1+ year and has been healthy, so it's not like he's starving, but I'm now questioning the benefit of keeping the filter. All parameters are stable:
1.025 sg
8.2 pH on average
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
15 nitrate (stable at this #- I can't get lower)
Tank contents:
2 clowns, 1 blenny, 1 damselfish, 1 dragonet
3 shrimps, various hermits/ snails and mostly soft corals

In essense, does anyone see a problem with me removing the HOB and seeing what happens?

texas1977 · 03/29/2006, 03:48 PM

I removed my penguin and saw no ill effects. Some recommend removing one of the wheels at a time to try to reduce a mini cycle. I just removed mine all at once.

03/29/2006, 02:16 PM	#1
CookieJar Premium Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Mountain View, CA Posts: 545	HOB Filter needed? I'm considering removing my Aquaclear 70 HOB filter and wonder if removing it makes sense. The current situation is I have a 55 gal tank w/ 4 gal HOB refugium and a coralife skimmer. The Aquaclear 70 HOB filter came with the tank when I bought it (tank was 1-2 years old) and has nothing more than 2 sponges that do the filtering- no carbon or anything else. The reason I'm thinking about removing the HOB filter is the refugium has lots of copepods and with the appx. 100 lbs. of live rock in the tank and the copepods there I'm afraid that the filter is doing more harm than good by filtering the copepods and killing them. I have a mandarin dragonet, which has been in the tank for 1+ year and has been healthy, so it's not like he's starving, but I'm now questioning the benefit of keeping the filter. All parameters are stable: 1.025 sg 8.2 pH on average 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 15 nitrate (stable at this #- I can't get lower) Tank contents: 2 clowns, 1 blenny, 1 damselfish, 1 dragonet 3 shrimps, various hermits/ snails and mostly soft corals In essense, does anyone see a problem with me removing the HOB and seeing what happens?

03/29/2006, 03:48 PM	#2
texas1977 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Dallas Posts: 199	I removed my penguin and saw no ill effects. Some recommend removing one of the wheels at a time to try to reduce a mini cycle. I just removed mine all at once.