Mud Sump or Wet/Dry Filter
- Thread starter b-town
- Start date
sly
Active Member
IMO most hang on filters are not good enough for a reef tank. If your tank has an overflow then you would be much better off with a sump system. A wet/dry is simply a portion of the sump which houses plastic or ceramic balls which house bacteria which breaks down ammonia from your tank. These balls are in a chamber where tank water spills over them continuously. They stay wet but are also dry in that they are not submerged under water. This allows the high oxygen loving bacteria to flourish.
A sump is the container that the whole filter sits in. In it you can put a skimmer, wet/dry and main system pump. Some people put mud in the bottom of their sumps to help grow a different type of bacteria which consumes nitrates. These systems are designed to create low oxygen areas where these bacteria can flourish. The two systems are not really comparable... they are complementing ways of keeping a tank clean.
Another option is to hook up a refugium to your tank. This is a seperate tank that shares the water of your main tank. In it many people put plants and other delicate creatures which serve to filter the water even more. I use a simple 10 gallon tank as my refugium and in it I put some mud (sea mud), mangroves and cheato algae. All of these things help in keeping the tank clean. The algae absorbs phosphates and nitrates and in turn produces food for my fish to eat when I harvest it from the refugium.
A sump is the container that the whole filter sits in. In it you can put a skimmer, wet/dry and main system pump. Some people put mud in the bottom of their sumps to help grow a different type of bacteria which consumes nitrates. These systems are designed to create low oxygen areas where these bacteria can flourish. The two systems are not really comparable... they are complementing ways of keeping a tank clean.
Another option is to hook up a refugium to your tank. This is a seperate tank that shares the water of your main tank. In it many people put plants and other delicate creatures which serve to filter the water even more. I use a simple 10 gallon tank as my refugium and in it I put some mud (sea mud), mangroves and cheato algae. All of these things help in keeping the tank clean. The algae absorbs phosphates and nitrates and in turn produces food for my fish to eat when I harvest it from the refugium.
sly
Active Member
If you don't have a sump then you would be better off to get one... you can put mud in it later on. You need to SERIOUSLY upgrade your filtration before you are going to be able to house that many fish. IMO 7 medium sized fish and 4 corals is way too much for a 55 gallon tank. I have 2 small clowns and 4 medium fish in my 72gallon tank and that's pushing it...
When you start putting fish in this tank do it slowly. Add maybe one at a time and give your tank about a month for it to adjust. You have to grow your biological system to match the waste that your fish put in it. It takes the bacteria colony that does this some time to adjust to the new demand on the system. The bacteria take about a month to colonize.
When you add your fish do regular water tests. Check your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. If your ammonia level starts to rise then don't add any more fish until it drops back down to 0ppm. If you get to where you have constant ammonia showing then you have too many fish and not enough filtration. Nitrates are an indication of your water quality. If they start to rise then again stop adding fish. Do a water change to bring it down to 0ppm and wait. If it starts to rise again then you need more live rock or some macro algae to consume it.
Having an aquarium means creating a biological equallibrium. Adding your fish will encourage the bacteria to grow which will then allow you to add more fish... If you start showing levels on your water paremeters then you are not in balance...
Does your tank have an overflow? If not then adding a sump will not be easy unless you plan on drilling holes in the glass...
When you start putting fish in this tank do it slowly. Add maybe one at a time and give your tank about a month for it to adjust. You have to grow your biological system to match the waste that your fish put in it. It takes the bacteria colony that does this some time to adjust to the new demand on the system. The bacteria take about a month to colonize.
When you add your fish do regular water tests. Check your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. If your ammonia level starts to rise then don't add any more fish until it drops back down to 0ppm. If you get to where you have constant ammonia showing then you have too many fish and not enough filtration. Nitrates are an indication of your water quality. If they start to rise then again stop adding fish. Do a water change to bring it down to 0ppm and wait. If it starts to rise again then you need more live rock or some macro algae to consume it.
Having an aquarium means creating a biological equallibrium. Adding your fish will encourage the bacteria to grow which will then allow you to add more fish... If you start showing levels on your water paremeters then you are not in balance...
Does your tank have an overflow? If not then adding a sump will not be easy unless you plan on drilling holes in the glass...
b-town
Member
Yes, I let my tank cycle for 4 weeks and then added one fish a week. I have three 1" fish right now. I used this tank for 4 yrs as a cichlid tank and moved on to Saltwater. Water test: Ph 8.1, Amm 0, Sp Gr 1.024, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate always 15-20. They never go down or up. But I do have CC bottom and no live rock. I'm moving next month and going to start over with live rock & sand. Same tank, skimmer, Power H, light (Coralife Double strip 48). Just need to pick the right filter setup. I have no holes in the tank. I was told to use a sump by Pro Clear Aquatics or CPR system with the Siphon overflow box, and that would be all I needed. Is that good, is there any neg to the siphon overflow box????
Thanks
Thanks