Wet/Dry to Sump Conversion

jon770

jon770

Member
I have a Wet/Dry right now and it's REALLY cluttered with all the pumps I have stuffed in there (Return, Skimmer, UV) and I was thinking about just taking out the bio balls and making it a sump. I have a 75 Gallon with about 60 pounds of LS and 50 pounds of LR and I'm slowly adding more of both as I can afford it. Is that enough rock + sand to just pull out the bio balls and run only the protein skimmer?
How much live rock do I need to successfully maintain my tank? Personally, I don't like the look of a huge pile of rocks in the tank, so I want to keep the pounds low. If I increase the amount of rocks AND keep the wet/dry, will it just make my filtration that much better and allow me to increase my bioload? Just curious...
Oh, and here is a pic I 'borrowed' which is pretty similar to the Wet/Dry I have right now. Do I just pull out the bio-balls on the left and throw my skimmer in its place? It's that easy???
 
thangbom

thangbom

Active Member
well if it's sump only that u want then yes. all u need to do is slowly over time remove the bio-balls and dats it.. all a sump is a 2nd place to store water that u can cram in equipment... but about the rock and ls.. im no expert on that stuff so u probaly want to get other ppls advice but imho i think 50 of LR and a 2.5'' SB can probaly do it for your size tank.... but depending on bio-load..u may need more... ohh yeah.. if u have a skimmer it help bio-load out a lot... soo...
 
jon770

jon770

Member
Thanks...
So how many bio-balls should I take out at a time (not a number...a percentage) and how much time should I let pass before I take more out?
Will it be beneficial to add some LS and/or LR (rubble) to the bottom of the sump in the section where the skimmer will be? Will I need a light on that?
 
thangbom

thangbom

Active Member
take out 25% bi weekly.. i think thats perdy safe.. it give a decent amount of time for the bacteria colony in the LR to grow and accomidate the load..
 
jon770

jon770

Member
The only space the UV takes up is the pump...which is not much. The UV itself is mounted inside my stand. I have the UV because I already went through an ick WIPEOUT and got it for extra security.
 
bailey52

bailey52

Member
Its a good move removing the BIO balls not only for more space, but if you are using a DSB, the bio balls will keep your nitrates very high
 
A

andretti

Guest
Yep, bio balls are just nitrate factories. If you've got a good supply of L/R & L/S your tank will actually be better off without the balls.
 
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