New Wet/Dry Filter Opinions
- Thread starter bacffin
- Start date
trainfever
Active Member
If you have live rock,and you should, you are better off with a sump instaed of a wet/dry system. Just my opinion.
A
andretti
Guest
Wet/drys were all the rage years back, now thery're becoming less and less popular due to the fact that they produce excess nitrates. For fish only tanks, they're o.k., but if you plan on doing a reef, you need to dump the W/D and convert it to a sump with 1-2 pounds of live rock per gallon and a good protein skimmer. Like all the previous entries^^^suggest, use L/R and L/S.
bacffin
Member
I plan on getting both LS and about 50 lbs. of LR in addition to this filter system.
The Sealife unit is all self contained with a section for the return side including the protein skimmer, a section that overflows to the bio-balls and filter media, then a section for my pump back to the tank.
My lfs can't keep them in stock very long, so I thought it would be worth a try.
The Sealife unit is all self contained with a section for the return side including the protein skimmer, a section that overflows to the bio-balls and filter media, then a section for my pump back to the tank.
My lfs can't keep them in stock very long, so I thought it would be worth a try.
T
thomas712
Guest
Ah the learning curve gotta love it. I call it evolution meets the learing curve.
Face it, most of us are very lazy, many of us get real tired of doing maintanence on the tank. Examples:
Crushed coral substrate. Its alot of work to clean, vaccum and all to get the detritus out of the crushed coral. Then someons says sand, ok, so we change the substrate to sand or even bear bottom. No more vaccuming, no more moving rocks, no more up to your elbows in the water. Cool.
Wet/drys.. Used one for a couple of years myself, never had a nitrate problem because I kept after it with maintanence. Most folks however never cleaned the bio balls off every few months, over feed, didn't change the filter floss regularly, the list goes on. Or even if they did clean things regularly they then decide to add a fuge or just go with a plane ole sump.. No more cleaning bio balls, no more wet/dry maintanence, easier to maintain and less work in many cases.
My sump is the old wet/dry, no more bio balls, I do still occationally use filter floss, but alot less hassle, my future plan is to just add a plane open sump/tank that I can reach into without getting cut or stabed by all the little baffles in my old wet/dry and ease of reaching in to maintain the skimmer and pump.
Now if you are just starting the tank then use the wet/dry with bio balls and all, they are a great way to start a tank out, later as the learing curve sets in you may want to remove the bio balls and open it up as a plane ole sump..
You'll learn whats right for you.
There I go getting long winded again.
Thomas
Face it, most of us are very lazy, many of us get real tired of doing maintanence on the tank. Examples:
Crushed coral substrate. Its alot of work to clean, vaccum and all to get the detritus out of the crushed coral. Then someons says sand, ok, so we change the substrate to sand or even bear bottom. No more vaccuming, no more moving rocks, no more up to your elbows in the water. Cool.
Wet/drys.. Used one for a couple of years myself, never had a nitrate problem because I kept after it with maintanence. Most folks however never cleaned the bio balls off every few months, over feed, didn't change the filter floss regularly, the list goes on. Or even if they did clean things regularly they then decide to add a fuge or just go with a plane ole sump.. No more cleaning bio balls, no more wet/dry maintanence, easier to maintain and less work in many cases.
My sump is the old wet/dry, no more bio balls, I do still occationally use filter floss, but alot less hassle, my future plan is to just add a plane open sump/tank that I can reach into without getting cut or stabed by all the little baffles in my old wet/dry and ease of reaching in to maintain the skimmer and pump.
Now if you are just starting the tank then use the wet/dry with bio balls and all, they are a great way to start a tank out, later as the learing curve sets in you may want to remove the bio balls and open it up as a plane ole sump..
You'll learn whats right for you.
There I go getting long winded again.
Thomas
dmc888
Member
I would check online prices before buying from a lfs.
I have not found one with prices comparable with online.
Had my wetdry for 3 years no problems.
I clean it out every 2 weeks, and the balls every month.
It takes me about 5 minutes to clean it out.
My proclear is setup accessable where it is no hassle to clean the filters.
I also have added a fuge recently.
I have not found one with prices comparable with online.
Had my wetdry for 3 years no problems.
I clean it out every 2 weeks, and the balls every month.
It takes me about 5 minutes to clean it out.
My proclear is setup accessable where it is no hassle to clean the filters.
I also have added a fuge recently.
bacffin
Member
I do have another option. I have an Emperor 400 that was used for fresh water, but the lfs said that the Emperor would create a lot of salt deposits to be cleaned off all the time.
So what do you guys think, return the wet/dry and get a good skimmer like suggested by joker and use the Emperor...Or, keep the wet/dry/skimmer.
I'm starting to think my lfs is only out to make a sale...er, er, er
Thomas... Don't mind the long windedness here. Learning curve at 90 degrees right now :nervous:
Thanks, Bruce
So what do you guys think, return the wet/dry and get a good skimmer like suggested by joker and use the Emperor...Or, keep the wet/dry/skimmer.
I'm starting to think my lfs is only out to make a sale...er, er, er
Thomas... Don't mind the long windedness here. Learning curve at 90 degrees right now :nervous:
Thanks, Bruce
T
thomas712
Guest
My thinking is to go with a regular sump and good skimmer.
T
thomas712
Guest
Well that stuff that collects in the wet/dry could be.
Calcium deposits from precipitation events.
Detritus and other debris, like sand or small bits of gravel, snail shells, whatever...etc..
This could clog your pumps, lines, spraybars and depeding on what it is cause nitrates, so yeah I'd clean it.
When I add a refugium to my system I got rid of my bio balls as they were no longer needed, by reason of letting the sandbed in the fuge take the place of the bio balls and having the conversions take palce on/in the sandbed. I also use chaetomorpha algae.
There is no reason not to have a succesful reef with a wet/dry, they just take more maintanence. Use of filterfloss above the bio balls and cleaning of the bio balls in old tank water to help keep them clean of any detritus buildup. Mine never caused me any nitrate problems.
Thomas
Calcium deposits from precipitation events.
Detritus and other debris, like sand or small bits of gravel, snail shells, whatever...etc..
This could clog your pumps, lines, spraybars and depeding on what it is cause nitrates, so yeah I'd clean it.
When I add a refugium to my system I got rid of my bio balls as they were no longer needed, by reason of letting the sandbed in the fuge take the place of the bio balls and having the conversions take palce on/in the sandbed. I also use chaetomorpha algae.
There is no reason not to have a succesful reef with a wet/dry, they just take more maintanence. Use of filterfloss above the bio balls and cleaning of the bio balls in old tank water to help keep them clean of any detritus buildup. Mine never caused me any nitrate problems.
Thomas