Need some advice!

[cga1233]

i just bought a 24 gallon Aquapod and im wondering on what are some things i should consider buy for filtration purposes... right now i have two sponges and bio balls, and 19 lbs of live rock, anything else i should think about?

ive heard people talking about protein skimmers and ive seen fish stores put plants into their filters? should i try this?

[cga1233]

nobody?

[nlgill13]

Live sand and live rock should be able to handle the bio-load of a standard aquarium. I have little experience with bio balls, but from what I know they are nitrate factories.

[zhewitt04]

+1^ A skimmer would really help too. I would invest in one if I were you.

[DragonWarriorPo]

If you are going to keep a reef aquarium, you need liverock. Don't use bioballs because they trap detritus and cause your nitrates to be high, which is fine for fish only, but not with corals. You can also use a hang on refugium for chaeto or other macro algae to use as nutrient transport to get rid of nitrates and phosphates.
You don't necessarily need sand. many people run tanks with no sand and helps keep ntirates down because sand also acts to trap detritus.
It's hard to get a quality nano protein skimmer, so it's up to you if you want to spend money on that. Many people run a healthy nano system without skimmers as long as you do weekly water changes and use a refugium.
Use activated carbon if you can. It will keep your water clear and clean.
Invest in a good clean up crew (copepods, amphipods, snails, worms).

[troyman]

i have aquapod i have the remora hang on back skimmer and mp10 vortech pump for water movement also hooked maxijet 1200 for return chamber i do 5 gal a week water changes everything does fine