Along with the DE, I also run 120w of uv. I have a reef octopus 6000 ext running - but it produces nothing - not that its a bad skimmer - theres just nothing in the water for it to skim. I leave the skimmer running because it continually fills with baby trocus snails. I guess the skimmer catches the gamates and saves them from the DE filter. Every once in a while I fish them out and move them into the main display.
I have a Super clean system. I run bare-bottom on the display. The only rock in the system is in the display. No rock in the sump. No filter socks - no bio-balls. The only things in the sump are to dc pumps for the UV and skimmer and a sulphur denitrator.
I get very minimal deutritus - what I do get accumulates in two small spots which I vaccume out every week or two.
I have very little algae - but some - enough obviously to keep the trocus going. The algae I get is tiny spots on the glass - you have to look at an angle to see it. The trocus spend most of their time on the rocks not the glass. No coraline - a spot or two on the bottom of the tank.
DE takes out everything bigger than 1 micron and some stuff down to .4 microns. This means its taking out a algae , protozoans and a considerable portion of the bactera in the water. What it misses the UV takes care of.
I run a high load of fish - most of my tangs are in the 6" range. Lots of wrasses, damsels, chromis, etc. - many fish - I'm sure some would say too many.
I have a few assorted corals - maybe twenty or so - lps as I don't have the light yet to do SPS...3xAP700s are coming. And bubble tip nems - maybe twenty-thrity. Their numbers are continually increasing.
24x7 DE filteration has not hurt anything - No issue with silicates.
Common lore would say that DE would strip the water of important phytoplankton required for coral growth and that corals will starve and die.
That DE would produce silicates and cause diatom blooms.
That DE can't remove vibirio, ich, velevet, flukes and flatworms.
None of the "common lore" is correct. Ich and velvet resolve in days. I have no algae - my corals grow fine - my fish are fat and healthy - I only pre-dip - no quarantine. I rarely test for anything and overall my maintenece is less.
I have a Super clean system. I run bare-bottom on the display. The only rock in the system is in the display. No rock in the sump. No filter socks - no bio-balls. The only things in the sump are to dc pumps for the UV and skimmer and a sulphur denitrator.
I get very minimal deutritus - what I do get accumulates in two small spots which I vaccume out every week or two.
I have very little algae - but some - enough obviously to keep the trocus going. The algae I get is tiny spots on the glass - you have to look at an angle to see it. The trocus spend most of their time on the rocks not the glass. No coraline - a spot or two on the bottom of the tank.
DE takes out everything bigger than 1 micron and some stuff down to .4 microns. This means its taking out a algae , protozoans and a considerable portion of the bactera in the water. What it misses the UV takes care of.
I run a high load of fish - most of my tangs are in the 6" range. Lots of wrasses, damsels, chromis, etc. - many fish - I'm sure some would say too many.
I have a few assorted corals - maybe twenty or so - lps as I don't have the light yet to do SPS...3xAP700s are coming. And bubble tip nems - maybe twenty-thrity. Their numbers are continually increasing.
24x7 DE filteration has not hurt anything - No issue with silicates.
Common lore would say that DE would strip the water of important phytoplankton required for coral growth and that corals will starve and die.
That DE would produce silicates and cause diatom blooms.
That DE can't remove vibirio, ich, velevet, flukes and flatworms.
None of the "common lore" is correct. Ich and velvet resolve in days. I have no algae - my corals grow fine - my fish are fat and healthy - I only pre-dip - no quarantine. I rarely test for anything and overall my maintenece is less.