Suggestions on budget friendly filtration.

[salinity now]

After going through a reef tank crash where I lost several of my favorite fish and inverts, I realized I don't have enough filtration for my bio-load. I'm running a Fluval Aquaclear 110 which isn't much on a 75 gallon tank. Should I go with a canister filter or keep what I have and go with a good protein skimmer? I'm leaning towards the skimmer as I have miserable algae on my glass that I have to scrape hourly?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

A canister filter is almost the same as a hob filter, neither are great on saltwater tanks. They do provide mechanical filtration which keeps the water clean of debris, but they do nothing to export nutrients or dissolved organics. A skimmer working alongside a hob filter would be better, since you get the mechanical filtration and also export dissolved organics which would break down into nitrate later.

 

[hoffmeyerz]

So is this going to be a new tank starting from fresh after the crash or is the tank still running and why do you think your filtration was the issue? It's the live rock that houses the beneficial bacteria and other filter feeder organisms that runs the nitrogen cycle. Mechanical filtration will trap and remover debris and possibly add media to grow more bacteria. Canister and HOB filters can work as long as there's enough live rock in the tank and the sponges in them are kept clean.
I like skimmers and use a Lifereef skimmer on my 75gal. Skimmers won't directly keep algae down, it will help to remove dissolved organics and will help oxygenate the water.

 

[salinity now]

A canister filter is almost the same as a hob filter, neither are great on saltwater tanks. They do provide mechanical filtration which keeps the water clean of debris, but they do nothing to export nutrients or dissolved organics. A skimmer working alongside a hob filter would be better, since you get the mechanical filtration and also export dissolved organics which would break down into nitrate later.

Kinda what I thought. Got a skimmer in the pipeline.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

A canister filter is almost the same as a hob filter, neither are great on saltwater tanks. They do provide mechanical filtration which keeps the water clean of debris, but they do nothing to export nutrients or dissolved organics. A skimmer working alongside a hob filter would be better, since you get the mechanical filtration and also export dissolved organics which would break down into nitrate later.

THis is the exact set up I have, and it works great. I also have a canister which has a UV sterilizer running on the return. I pretty much just use the canister for rock rubble. Someone recently suggested that it might even qualify as a cryptic zone.