Help with tank please.

[rzande1]

Well I started with a Magnum hot with the eheim filter media. I added a protein skimmer and well....10 gallons of water on the floor later i took that off. I was then suggested a wet dry system. I installed that and well after much noise and annoyance I turned that off and removed it. I am now sitting back at my reliable canister. I am looking at a good filter but I dont want something that is loud as hell and just stupid. I want a filter with some good bio load and something that isnt loud. Something that wont blow my entire sand bed to one side of the tank. (yes i built a long difuser and it still blew it all away to one side which drove me crazy). I have questions about eheim wet dry and their pro canister. I know the canister is quiet. What about their wet dry? What do I all need with it?
Tank is a 55 gallon.

 

[acrylic51]

Sounds like your wet/dry, sump system needs a little tweaking if it's noisey......As far as your sand bed getting blown around your returns could use some help as well....Any pics to try to trouble shoot?

 

[rzande1]

Well i would put up pics but I already took out my entire wet dry system. It was just driving my family crazy. It was noisy to the point you could hear the thing upstairs. For the return I had to pvc pipe running along the tank with two lines cut into it. It was just crazy. I mean it was noisy not from the return pump but from the intake skimmer box. The sand was annoying and the sound was like drilling a hole into my head lol. I have just spent so much money on pump or box etc. I flushed the entire system today and removed it. It is now sitting in my basement lol. I just want something that is easy to use, quiet, and effective.

 

[acrylic51]

Easy, quiet and effective would have been a sump design system.....HOB filtration can work, but is very limited and restrictive, and if you look at in over the long haul, not really cost effective.....The big issue with noise is design and tweaking......Very seldom do you find something right out of a box that works exactly like it's suppose to or something that you don't put a little twist to to make it fit your application......

 

[windmill]

Sounds like you and I have a similar objective rzande.
I have a 55 gal that sits in my room. I want to upgrade to a sump to remove all that crap in the display and improve filtration, but not willing to sacrifice anything positive with my current set-up. I too have a H.O.T. magnum in conjunction with a Prizm skimmer. The Prizm is set to a timer with the lights because it's loud as hell, and the only thing to be heard at night is a very slight hum from the magnum and sometimes a mild splashing sound if the level is low.
I'll be doing some experiementation with my new 20 gal sump soon and will start a thread with my progess.

 

[acrylic51]

Running a skimmer on a timer is useless to a point IMO.....A skimmer should and needs to be run 24/7....There is stuff in the water column that needs to be addressed constantly.....And being that the Prizm isn't the most effective skimmer on the market IMO your adding unneeded load on it when you ask it to perform.....

 

[rzande1]

I had a protein skimmer. I think it was a prizm. Well whatever happened it overbubbled and sent water everywhere. It was fine one moment and just went nuts and we discovered it after the water level was down and water going through rug, floor, and ceiling tiles. This whole wet dry system was supossed to avoid this whole problem. It didnt. All it is doing is cause more and more problems that are getting more and more expensive. I want something that will work. Not something that is just like the equivalent to burning money. I could have used that 700 dollars worth of equipment for something way more fun than a stupid system that doesnt even work well.

 

[windmill]

You gotta keep an eye on your equipment dude, especially skimmers. When set-up right, they work flawlessly for extended periods of time, when incorrect....well, you now know what can happen.
Think out your projects from every angle. Eliminate all possibilities for failure. But most of all, do it how you want to. Unless, of course, that goes directly against the directions. I'm assuming you're a smart feller with common sense, you graduated high school and have a basic understanding of fluids and the physics associated with them. Plumbing is terrifying, for me atleast, but when done proper nothing should go wrong.
You might just be better off with a canister or hang-on filtration. That's simpler and easier, which seems like the direction you want to go. Sumps and wet/drys involve a drilled tank or an overflow and a pump. There's some extra stuff involved with these set-ups and if something goes wrong, it's usually messier.

 

[rzande1]

Well that is the thing. My wet dry didnt leak. I had the skimmer box (which was huge compared to my tank I think) and that was just noisy. I understand the water level goes up and down but still it was terribly noisy. The pump didnt leak with my plumbing (i pvc pipe everything) but it did blow my entire sand bed around. I am wondering if that was just stupid advice from my lfs. 700 gallon per hour pump for a 55? WTH was I thinking to believe them. The return I had to custom build. I did to their specs and thought It was good....until the sand bed thing. I am not so anxious to drill my tank. Anyway I had the protein skimmer working for weeks. This happened when I was out of the house. It was impossible for my wet dry to overflow the way I setup the system. The funniest part was watching the tank level go up and down with that wet dry system.

 

[rzande1]

Has anyone had any experience with the eheim wet/dry system? Do you know if it is a good system?

 

[f14peter]

Just curious, but how long was the noisy wet/dry running?
I just competed a freshwater system/leak test, and the MegaFlow overflow had fluctuating water level which made a fair amount of noise in the sump. However, it did settle down a bit and an inquirery here suggested that over a short period of time and tweaking the plumbing a bit, it quiets down.

 

[rzande1]

I was running it for a month and nothing I did could make it shut up. The skimmer box was just noisy. I adjusted the level etc etc etc. No luck.

 

[acrylic51]

First issue is the water level shouldn't have been fluctuating up and down and that tells you the air/water ratio wasn't correct, and could have possibly fixed or solved with the use of a dursostand pipe or stockman modification..........
2nd issue is the skimmer, and it was hit on briefly that all equipment should be checked daily and on a new system you just don't fire and go bout your business....There is alot of tweaking you have to do after it's running to make those fine adjustments and all......Take a look at my thread on my 240......I've spent way to much money on some of the best equipment out there and guess what???? It doesn't just fall into place you have to work the equipment and modify at times.......Take a moment and review my thread......These guys with quiet, reliable systems just didn't go to the store and buy it......they researched, modified and tweaked, till they got it acceptable......If your looking for a box of fixes you can buy off the shelf this isn't the hobby!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't mean to preach, alot of these issues could easily be solved by coming to this board or any other board and just posting the issue, and you'd get 50 answers or solutions to the problems.......This is one of the friendliest boards around IMO.
As far as the skimmer issue, alot of people will tell you to research any investment 100 times before the purchase, and they would have advised greatly against the purchase of the Prism skimmer.....they are unreliable IMO and quite a few of others, and they need constant tweaking.......I had a chance to help a person running a small operation with these skimmers, and they are just pathetic IMO......They could be tweaked several times a day.....You could get them running good, and come back 3-4 hrs later and they had already started to overskim.........they just aren't reliable, and for it to overflow and soak the carpet, and such just shows, there wasn't a check done on a new system........
Again new systems have to monitored till you are confident with them and tweaking is part of the game......I've been flow testig my system for the past 2 weeks with just freshwater and I'm not pushing daisies when it comes to flow....I can push easily 2200gph through my sump with no microbubbles, and you think I'm not going to have sleepless nights, and days doing constant checks on flow, pumps, water levels, and such???!!!!!!

NAH............Then there's the beast of the MRC skimmer.........You can hear that thing sucking air a mile away, and that needs constant attention while breaking in.........
Again this just isn't one of those hobbies you go to the store put the kit together and everything works peachy, and we walk away from it and say neat!!!!!!! This is a hands on, attention to detail hobby, always pushing and testing your abilities and limits.........

 

[rzande1]

Yea I really need to figure out what I am going to do with this tank. I wanna get it going very nicely but time is the issue. AKA long days. I am thinking that maybe I will get into this hobby later in life. I mean I have had fresh fish for almost all my life and I have not had this kind of problem. I wanted to get into salt water for a long time and well I did but I think maybe I did at the wrong time. I mean I am even still in my parents house. Have not got my own place yet so it is interesting. I mean eventually down the line I will have my own place and get a rather large tank for myself. Maybe 200+. No I was constantly adjusting my equipment to try and fix it. I guess I didnt know what I was doing.

 

[rustyj]

Go to GARF.ORG and see what they are doing and have been doing since the 1970's. A plenum, with clean up crew and lots of water circulation and LR will take care of all of those issues and IT IS VERY INEXPENSIVE. I have had me 55 Gal with plenum and hang on skimmer ONLY for a year now and use hermis and snails to keep the sand an glass clean along with some macro algae. I have not have to really clean the glass for months now and havent had an outbreak of filmentous algae for a long time. Good luck.