New Filtration Setup - Thoughts?

[ReefStable]

Alright, here is the filter setup I am planning, and the reasons why. I am curious is anybody has thoughts on anything I may have missed.

1 - The starting point is that all return water will flow through a filter roller. (200 micron)
2 - There is a protein skimmer before the return.
3 - A pump will feed a Chaeto Reactor at about 500gph
4 - The reactor will feed into a UV filter to sterilize bacteria and algae in the water. Roughly 4 foot UV.
5 - Carbon reactor after the UV filter to remove DOCs from the macro algae that may reduce hard coral growth. Bonus is that it catches everything else too. (Combination of bitominous and ROX 0.8 carbon)
6 - Added chamber for GFO as needed (typically will be empty or run more carbon)
7 - Water is returned to the sump before the skimmer.

Some other thoughts are:
1: filling the base of the sump with live rock and/or a deep sand bed.
2: remote deep sand bed
3: sulfer reactor

What are the general thoughts? Am I missing anything? Are any of these extra items more important than I am thinking?

Current Setup:
1- NO Filter socks or rollers...
2- Protein Skimmer
3- Carbon filter as needed

 

[VintageReefer]

What corals will be kept in this tank ?

Why not have a cryptic zone filled with live rock and natural sponge to remove doc

 

[ReefStable]

What corals will be kept in this tank ?

Why not have a cryptic zone filled with live rock and natural sponge to remove doc

It's on a coral farm so... All kinds.
I thought about a cryptic zone as well, do those clear algae DOCs (Sugar based)?
I just wanted to ensure to remove as much as possible before the water re-enters the tank. And carbon is a very easy way to ensure that.

 

[twentyleagues]

For the majority of my reef life I have run a large fuge. I get that it may not be quantifiable how much doc interferes with the growth of stoney corals basically if its happening in our system but, I have not had issues in the past with their growth. Of course, I am just a hobbyist not a coral farm. I guess also having a large bin of just live rock in line to the return pump from the fuge may have had some effect on the doc also, there were a lot of sponges growing there. I have always shied away from using carbon in my systems I have seen too many hlle tangs and other fish and I know certain carbons can be possible to cause it.

Maybe had I not had a large fuge or knew the doc levels and acted on it I would have had to cut my sps more often then just once a month? Or maybe the sponge filled live rock bin did the job without me knowing at the time.

Obviously I am not saying the science behind doc is wrong or neither are you for trying to eliminate it. Just my observation from my experience, and I am not a scientist I have no idea how to test how much doc is being added by my fuge.

 

[VintageReefer]

I believe it is unclear exactly what types of doc the sponge consumes.

I have been filtering sps and lps reefs over 10 years this way…skimmer, scrubber, cryptic zone, and chemipure elite changed out every 2 months.

I have no need for water changes with this method and all for reef.

Seems to work rather well with minimum efffort. The scrubber will outperform a algae reactor for nutrient reduction and I’ve never had a problem from buildup of sugar doc. The water in this system is 90% the same water I used to fill the tank 10 - 11 years ago. I’ve changed out maybe 15g tops due to various maintenance reasons.

I’ve rebuilt and redone the tank completely a few times over the years, and I keep the water, sand, rocks, and same filtration methods. I change out the coral to accomplish new visions / direction.

This time (started 2 years ago) I’m making a lps dominant tank but I do have some sticks I’m growing out. But the sticks are new additions over the last 4 months

 

[Schulks]

I had never heard of DOC until now and I am struggling to find info or understand it. Is it just some kind of unwanted organic build up that can occur and we have some idea that it can inhibit growth rates?

 

[twentyleagues]

I believe it is unclear exactly what types of doc the sponge consumes.

I have been filtering sps and lps reefs over 10 years this way…skimmer, scrubber, cryptic zone, and chemipure elite changed out every 2 months.

I have no need for water changes with this method and all for reef.

Seems to work rather well with minimum efffort. The scrubber will outperform a algae reactor for nutrient reduction and I’ve never had a problem from buildup of sugar doc. The water in this system is 90% the same water I used to fill the tank 10 - 11 years ago. I’ve changed out maybe 15g tops due to various maintenance reasons.

I’ve rebuilt and redone the tank completely a few times over the years, and I keep the water, sand, rocks, and same filtration methods. I change out the coral to accomplish new visions / direction.

This time (started 2 years ago) I’m making a lps dominant tank but I do have some sticks I’m growing out. But the sticks are new additions over the last 4 months

My cryptic zone was a complete accident years ago. Now I am trying to incorporate it on purpose.

 

[twentyleagues]

I had never heard of DOC until now and I am struggling to find info or understand it. Is it just some kind of unwanted organic build up that can occur and we have some idea that it can inhibit growth rates?

Doc is dissolved organic carbon. It can come from many different sources. But in this case it is a byproduct of macro algae doing its job. Water changes, skimmers and live sponges will remove it to some extent also corals will ingest it.

 

[ReefStable]

The problem is, I won't have any way to prove if the DOC filtering helps or not. I'm mostly doing it just to give that little bonus for the reef. Plus, by putting everything in line it makes less pumps to clutter things.

The DOC seems to only affect stoney coral, and if the coral and algae are not next to each other, it would likely only slow growth. But it's hard to say how much and if anything else is contributing.

To be clear, I've never had a problem, but it seems like an easy way to get a little more if that's all it takes.