filter replacement question

[cody57]

i would like to replace my existing wet/dry filter with two marineland 330's. i also have a remora-pro hot skimmer and about 125 lbs of live rock. my sand bed varies from 3" to 4 or 5"(about 40lbs are live sand). i have one good powerhead and one not-so-good(which i'd replace with a better one) for water movement. would it be safe to trade the wet/dry w/2 marine 330's? the hot filters would be less hassle and i'm tired of all the air bubbles the wet/dry keeps sending into my tank no matter how much i try try to fix it. the w/d is pretty old.

 

[reefnut]

What size is your tank? Removing the wetdry will remove a large part of your bio-filtration. Is there anyway to hook up the marineland 330's and leave your wetdry in place? If so you could hook them up and slowly remove the bio-balls from the wetdry allowing the marineland 330's to build up a bacteria colony before completely removing the wetdry.

 

[cody57]

my tank is a 120gal. i was thinking the same thing about removing the bacteria build-up. i may be wrong, but isnt there alot of bacteria in the 125lbs of live rock? i guess i could introduce one 330 and later add the other one later.

 

[reefnut]

Yes LR is a very good bio-filter. In fact if your tank is not heavily stocked you could probable get away with not having any additional filtration with 125# of LR. But again the bio-balls would have to be removed slowly so the bacteria on the LR could buildup to handle the extra load it would be processing.

 

[cody57]

i can remove the bio balls slowly, but i wanted to get rid of the bubbles injected by the wet/dry. i found the pwrhd and 330's alot cheaper over the internet, so it would take awhile b4 i got the new filters. how slow should i remove the balls(how many balls/day)? thanks.

 

[reefnut]

I not really sure how much maybe a like a handful a week. The wetdry releasing bubbles back into the tank really isn't normal. Have you tried to fix it?

 

[cody57]

yes, i tried a number of times. fisrt it would only do it when the water lvl was down due to evap., i'd add water and bubbles stopped(water level in wet/dry would cover pump). another time i saw a big bubble in the intake tube, removed the bubble, fine. the water level is fine, no bubble in tube. spunge in skimmer box is clean???? just getting tired of dealing w/it. microbubbles cant be good for fish either.