Tonga Branch - Sub par biological filtration?

[Smite]

I was planning on going 100% tonga branch on my 100g sps Dom tank I'm piecing together. Someone brought up that due to it being extremely dense it lacks surface area for beneficial bacteria.


I see some amazing sps tanks with tonga branch scapes on Google image. Are they packing the sump with a different rock? I won't have the room in the sump I plan to use, and rather keep my sump clean and simple.

 

[Infantryman_15]

I heard that about branching tonga also, marine pure sells these awesome ceramic bio filtration plates, they don't take up a lot of room and look super clean in the sump. Also their 1 inch plate equals up to about 100 lbs of live rock so you don't need a lot of it. I actually got my lfs to switch to it in their sump and now they are doing a bare bottom no rock tank for frags

 

[SAKTEK]

I was planning on going 100% tonga branch on my 100g sps Dom tank I'm piecing together. Someone brought up that due to it being extremely dense it lacks surface area for beneficial bacteria.


I see some amazing sps tanks with tonga branch scapes on Google image. Are they packing the sump with a different rock? I won't have the room in the sump I plan to use, and rather keep my sump clean and simple.

I did mine with all Tonga branch and Tonga shelf, I too thought about not having enough surface space for bacteria, and what I did was use Seachem's The Matrix, based on a lot of reviews, that seemed like the best route to go. I still haven't added any coral though, only time will tell. HTH!!!


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[Smite]

That sounds awesome & thanks for the heads up. Problem solved, if it doesn't seem to be keeping up I'll order a plate or too.

 

[Smite]

I did mine with all Tonga branch and Tonga shelf, I too thought about not having enough surface space for bacteria, and what I did was use Seachem's The Matrix, based on a lot of reviews, that seemed like the best route to go. I still haven't added any coral though, only time will tell. HTH!!!


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Nice. I'll look for your build thread and follow along! I used matrix in a reactor in my 66 and it worked great

 

[Spinner]

I set up a 55 gallon holding tank for my corals when building my 750 gallon system years ago. The tank had no extra live rock at all only a skimmer and high flow so the only bio was the rock corals were attached on and their coral skeletons. The holding tank was set up for several months and corals did great.....while not set up long term it showed me lots of live rock is not needed for coral health.

 

[Fly5150]

I read a lot of reviews about the marine pure plates. I was going to pick up 1 8x8x4 for my 100 frag tank but saw a lot of feedback about them leaching aluminum into the water. Not to say regular rock won't but it's not worth the risk to me.

As for the tonga...my tank isn't quite thriving yet, but I have about 50 pounds in my 175 and it seems to be doing fine.


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[turbonut]

I read a lot of reviews about the marine pure plates. I was going to pick up 1 8x8x4 for my 100 frag tank but saw a lot of feedback about them leaching aluminum into the water. Not to say regular rock won't but it's not worth the risk to me.

As for the tonga...my tank isn't quite thriving yet, but I have about 50 pounds in my 175 and it seems to be doing fine.


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It wasn't a lot of reviews it was just one thread that went on and on. Anywho Cera media is ran by a bunch of reef keepers with great results. I run 2 8x4 blocks in my system now granted my system isn't stocked yet it's in final cycle but I've seen plenty of gorgeous sps tanks that run Cera media with no I'll affects. Only time will tell I suppose.


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[Fly5150]

It wasn't a lot of reviews it was just one thread that went on and on. Anywho Cera media is ran by a bunch of reef keepers with great results. I run 2 8x4 blocks in my system now granted my system isn't stocked yet it's in final cycle but I've seen plenty of gorgeous sps tanks that run Cera media with no I'll affects. Only time will tell I suppose.


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Oh I didn't read multiple threads about this? Lol. Like I said, it's not worth the risk for me so I went with rock. I don't need any additional help killing all my corals.


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[Zoarder]

Oh I didn't read multiple threads about this? Lol. Like I said, it's not worth the risk for me so I went with rock. I don't need any additional help killing all my corals.


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Because you can do that all by yourself! hahaha jk I've used that stuff in all my tanks, no issues here...

 

[Fly5150]

Because you can do that all by yourself! hahaha jk I've used that stuff in all my tanks, no issues here...

Exactly.


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[solitude127]

There was a review on BRS youtube channel about the different types of Rocks and IIRC, they said the more dense rock is actually better. I tried finding it but I haven't had any luck.
One way to think about porous rock..... what happens when it's completely saturated? Old tank syndrome?

 

[newtothis]

There was a review on BRS youtube channel about the different types of Rocks and IIRC, they said the more dense rock is actually better. I tried finding it but I haven't had any luck.
One way to think about porous rock..... what happens when it's completely saturated? Old tank syndrome?

spoken like a wise TOTM reefer.

 

[Zoarder]

There was a review on BRS youtube channel about the different types of Rocks and IIRC, they said the more dense rock is actually better. I tried finding it but I haven't had any luck.
One way to think about porous rock..... what happens when it's completely saturated? Old tank syndrome?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtbsCPlBnQg

 

[Zoarder]

There was a review on BRS youtube channel about the different types of Rocks and IIRC, they said the more dense rock is actually better. I tried finding it but I haven't had any luck.
One way to think about porous rock..... what happens when it's completely saturated? Old tank syndrome?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weuOniZN2Jo