Sump or Wetdry

[nasotang00]

I have read a few post regarding to the above one being better or one being a nitrate factory. For a 55 gallon reef with some fish, already have a back pak2 skimmer and a magnum 350 (which is what i want to replace with the wet dry/sump) which one would do the best. I am looking at the Amiracle sl150 wet dry w/bio balls. I am working with limited space in the stand also. I don't have the height in the stand to get a different skimmer so all the waste in the sump/wetdry won't get skimmed there. The back pak is a hang on at the tank. Any advice on what to do???

 

[noogiefish]

i don't know what type of stand you have, but i have a berlin xl skimmer working off my wet/dry under my tank in a standard height stand, and it fits nicely. they have replaced the contact height of tall skimmers with a triple pass system. of course, this presumes you WANT to have a skimmer off your sump or wet/dry.

 

[sonny]

A sump and a wet/dry are really the same thing, except the wet/dry has bioballs in it. It is a box under the tank, where water drains to, and is pumped back to the main tank. In a reef, the latest trend is to not use bioballs, since they cannot reduce waste to the final component, which is nitrogen gas. Live rock and sand will take care of that completely. A sump will benefit you by adding water capacity to your system, and give you a place to put your heater and other gadgets like ph monitor probes, etc. The skimmer doesn't have to go in your sump if you don't want it to, but it is a perfect place for the skimmer, since it gets it out of sight. Also, The skimmer is removing waste from the water, not from the bottom of the tank or the sump. It removes stuff that you can't really see. Good maintenance should include occasional "storms" with a power head or turkey baster to blow out detritus from around the rocks, which can be removed by mechanical filtration, or by siphoning. A good cleanup crew will help remove detritus too. A sump would be a good addition to your setup, but might not make your system perform much better if you put in a very small sump. It would only add some water movement from the return pump, and will help oxygenate the water as it falls from the tank to the sump. A power head can take up less space in the tank than the overflow you'll need to drain water from the tank, and move the same amount of water in the tank. You probably already have powerhead(s) in your tank. If you're not going to put anything in the sump, there's not much point in having one. A refugium might be worth looking into.
Good luck,
Sonny

 

[nasotang00]

Well, I really need to get rid of that Magnum 350. That seems to be the main culprit on high nitrates + I am tired of having to clean and change the media weekly. It gets very timely and costly to do so. I currently have 4 powerheads in the tank as it stands now. 1 Hagen 802, 2 Hagen 402, and a Rio 1700. The real reason I want to put in a wet dry or sump is to add capacity as well as I still need some good filtration. also, an easier and safer way to change and add water. I can fit something around 24" x 10" x 16 in the stand. I do have a decent cleaner crew as well as a good amount of live rock but after about 4 days of the magnum being on there is tons of "crap" that has be sucked into it. if this were to be sucked down into a wetdry or sump would it create the same kind of nitrate problem that would happen in a canister filter??
Thanks all

 

[johnnysalt]

Sonny answered your question about nitrates IF you'll be using bioballs.
My suggestion: Don't use bio-balls for his reason stated above, and build a sump out of the longest/largest tank you can fit in your stand....and hang your skimmer on it. Use your 1700 as the return. According to Rio, you should get around 350-400gph if it's down in the sump. You can also either add a refugium section in your sump or in a separate tank to house caulerpa that will help to lower your nitrates. Check out my diagram below for how I made mine out of a 30g tank! Email me if you want! Let us know what you decide!

 

[sonny]

Sounds to me like you need to do some serious siphoning of detritus from your tank. If the magnum is getting clogged that quickly, you must have a lot of detritus. Get one of the power heads and blow it out of the whole tank--under the rocks, etc. Then turn off all of the power heads and wait for it to settle (probably a couple of hours). Do a large water change (25% or more) and siphon out the junk that has settled. You would not really add capacity to the tank by adding a wet dry. The nitrates would continue to go up without some way of reducing them. That could be more frequent water changes, or a deep sand bed of some sort. I think your best bet (for the least amount of disturbance to the tank) would be to add a refugium, and have a dsb in that. If it is at least 1/3 of the area of the main tank, and 24x10 is plenty, it should be sufficient to reduce nitrates over a period of time. The flow through it shouldn't be very fast. One power head pumping should be plenty. That would add more filtration (live sand), and a nitrate reducer. If you add a light (cheap light like a cool white fluorescent <$20) and some caulerpa, that would be very beneficial. You could do that with an aquarium under the stand.
Sonny

 

[nasotang00]

Thanks for all the replies. This should help.
Please see my other post regarding the
Acrylic Creations overflow if you can also advise..