Need Help

[snowdancer]

Hello. ok MY son bought me this tank in Fl. its a 120 gal 48 x 24 x 24 with two over flows in center. and it came with this i dont know what it is or how to hook it up any info . my 1st Big tank i got a 45 now not drilled. BTW i got lights and chiller with tank too all works.
Mark

 

[jdragunas]

i don't quite understand your question... what are you wondering how to hook up? you said it came with this, but what is "this"? :notsure:

 

[snowdancer]

oops forgot to put pic on there we go lol

 

[jdragunas]

ok, the doohickey that came with it is a wet/dry filter. It'll sit under your tank. The two hoses attach to the two inputs on the top of the filter, and then to the tank. (can't really tell you how without good pictures of the back-side of the tank). Underneath that, and above the white egg-crate would be bio-balls. These are little blue balls that have a lot of surface area. Normally below the egg crate would be a large block sponge to keep particles from passing through to the next area which is where the return pump goes.
hope this helps!

 

[snowdancer]

Ok that helps. now i got a few more pics and some ?. How big of of pump do i need one didnt come with it and do i need two pumps becouse i got two overflows with 4 holes . forgot to add the wet / dry is 30 long 11 wide 16 tall. thanks
Mark

 

[ginarox]

hi mark,, i wish i could help, i am very new with this too,,, i just wanted to ask what part of arkansas are you from...i am from the nw part of arkansas....have a great day...

 

[snowdancer]

Hi . I in NE in jonesboro not many into salt water here and no LFS beside ***** which i wont go into.

 

[jdragunas]

as far as the pump size, i'm not sure. You have to measure the gph (gallons per hour) of the tubes down to the filter, and then get a pump that is the same rating... check out the equipment forum, they might have a better idea.

 

[reefrank]

Same tank that I have.
You only need one pump, tee it off and from the tee go to your inputs to your tank, you want a pump that puts out approximately 1200 gph, my pump outputs 1400 gph. Your choice on the brand, I won't even get into the brand battle here.
Dump the bio balls if your going with a reef tank, in place of the bio balls put live rock rubble (small rocks). Also if your going with a reef you will need to upgrade your lights.
Another good thing to do is place some pumps in the tank to get good water movement. I have four additional pumps connected to a wavemaker, so I get different flow from different directions at different times.
Hope this helps

 

[snowdancer]

Cool that helps. so if i just put in live rock and some live sand where the balls go ill be good to go. or would it be better to just skip the wet dry and set the old 45 gal up as a filter. i know i would have to put in the baffles but thanking it would give me better fillter and some head room for back flow incase of power outages we have lots here

thanks
Mark

 

[jdragunas]

the wet/dry has a lot of room for back flow incase of power outages. In your picture, the right side of the filter will be less than 1/2 full at all times.
There's really no way to put in sand, as the bottom of the filter is completely open... If you put sand in there, it will creep over to the other side, get into your return pump and screw it all up. You're best off with just LR rubble and/or bio balls.. I don't understand why people don't like the bio balls... they accomplish exactly the same thing as LR, and they actually have more surface area than LR. If you're going to go with some sort of rock, i would get the manufactured lava rock from your lfs. Those are so porous, they're better than normal LR. If you cycle your tank with that, you'll be fine. You could add some cured LR to speed the process along too.