Hey Stringer,

In your reading, look up the Emperor 400 filter. It was shown to me by a guy
who has been doing this for years. He manages a shop and has two on his
100+ gallon tank with all his corals, etc for sale. It looked great. After
doing lots of reading I picked up two for my 90g and they're great. It's
all I use for any filtration for now.

After several months now, I'm thinking of adding a skimmer just so I won't
have to clean green algae off the glass as often (I have MH lights that feed
the green algae for now until the corraline picks up); but as far as current
water quality, coral and fish health, the Emperor 400 is awesome. Don't do
a canister on a reef tank. Don't do underwater gravel filter on the reef
tank either. Keep reading and you'll see those opinions throughout.

B


"StringerBell" wrote in message
...
hi,
First of all---thanks for all the response Ive received on the NG. You
have
been VERY helpfull and patient.
But I am SO frustrated.
Here is my situation:
Back in the 80`s, my wife and I enjoyed a great 45 gallon marine tank. It
ran on a cannister filter, and an undergravel filter with powerheads.
Without me being a real scientist type, the tank STILL did great for about
5
years until a summer vacation power-outage disaster.Let`s just say that
the
only thing we found alive was the Snowflake Moray.
Now, 20 years later my wife gave me a great 65 gallon tank and wants it to
be a Marine tank like the old days.
I have gotten so much conflicting advice on filters from my local pet
shops that my head is literally swimming.
From what I have seen on the internet---it seems the preffered method to
have a marine aquarium these days is to use Live Rock (in collaboration
with a protein skimmer)as the filtration system. This sounds very
intriguing to me, but is SO outside my paradigm for a fish tank!---
What usually provides the water current in these systems? Hidden
powerheads? Or do Skimmers provide some water Current? Does the rock work
so well that the water quality is high and appears clear?
This Live-Rock angle seems like the right thing to try. What are some
pitfalls?
Please direct me to FAQs, etc.

thanks for your time and patience