Filter hints please

Hey I am seeing a lot different ways to get a filter to work on the forums and was curious what were the types used by any of you guys and which one works best.
If this tank goes well from now on,i want a 4 by 2 by 2,so any help with filter information would be great.
Thanks.

There are so many ways as you say mitchl,but just remember the basics and you will be fine.

The most important part of any filtration is firstly pre filtering.

This is (mechanical)non-biological part of the filtration a part from a protein skimmer if one is used.

Most of the old schools bio filtering fell down and many filters still fail by not catching the particles that block the media including the porus aspect of the live rock in the aquarium over along time.

From there you need to make things work in the same cycle as the nitrite cycle, rotting matter becomes ammonia via bacteria in the water and on some media surface areas.

Nitrite is oxidised from the original varied forms of ammonia by the equally varied bacteria and later on slightly higher forms as well once the 3 to 6 month maturing is complete.

The bacteria and other bio communities oxidising nitrite need a lot of surface area, oxygen and time to oxidise this substance into nitrate.

Live rock does not have as much surface area as you would hope, so an extensive area of shell grit or similar, (make sure it is calcium based media), is needed for the bio community to exist in to grow and reduce according to the amount of load put onto the community at any given time, thus enabling your bio filter to carry virtually any sized load to attain continual stability with your aquariums water.

Nitrate can not normally be produced if there is no nitrite to convert!

Bio balls, shell grit,etc do not produce nitrate just by being there, the area normally has a build up of rubbish (detritus ) due to poor pre filtering measures.
At least a level of 100 micron pre filtering should be applied as the water leaves the aquarium or better to keep these areas from becoming a dirty dead spot.

A dead spot is an area of low to no oxygen (eg-deep sand bed, plenum, nitrate reactor,etc) that can produce sulphur gas and nitrates in abundance to the detriment of the aquarium if it is not provided with clean pre filtered water.

Nitrate oxidising-with in live rock or better still an external clean dead spot, the bacteria existing there will very slowly convert nitrate to nitrogen and a water disturbance for gas exchange will sperate the nitrogen into the atmosphere.

As a gas expert told me years ago, this is best done via water being cascaded over a surface of some kind to make a splashing motioned to take in oxygen, balance carbon dioxides and release nitrogen, the nitrite cycle is complete.

If a protein skimmer is keeping the bubbles suspended in the water for as long as possible, as they were originally designed to do, than this cancels out most gas exchange potential of skimmers.

Plus the function of bubbles rising is supposed to create current to circulate the surface water with some gas exchange ahceived to a degree,than turned over in your tank via the current this action makes,that does not happen in your skimmer to any great degree.

A skimmer that is not very large and not of a high volume is no competition to the function of cascaded water,do not count on a skimmer for anything other than its main function, removing water soluable organics/waste,which is are advantages to your aquarium,but it is not up to par with a well made dry section on gas exchange!

The two things that make or break bio filtering is firstly as i typed,pre filtering and most are not aware and others that are aware have forgotten I suppose, that the ocean works on the principal of 1 mile of reef to at least 100 miles of phytoplankton rich ocean and other simple functions to process that reefs waste.

A natural system could have a skimmer where the water leaves the tank after the first essential pre filter cleaned twice a week ,than into a large shallow algae environment with maybe blue and white mixed LEDs in fluro tub replacements or T5s over it switched on from 2 hours before your aquarium lights go off and than on 2 hours after your aquarium lights switch on -from there extensive clean dead spots with your water run over them,try to have four feet of something like a deep sand bed to one foot of aquarium,this is a very slow process,so it has to be massive in area,not depth-than a water cascaded area to do gas exchange,to your sump area where the power haed is and back to the tank.

This is a sound system,but if the bio load may vary or you are not experienced with marines,you most certainly need a long and slow wet section of shell grit or similar after the cascaded water,nothing can compete on it's level,if clean, with this part of a bio filtering with nitrite oxidising to nitrate except a fluidised bed,a wet section is far simpler to use and rely on.

That’s the natural process you need to copy, mostly,to get an amazing marine/reef aquarium at home.

Pardon my typing,i tend to not check it.

Talk about putting it all out there
Thanks for all that,if i can work this out my next filter will be awsome