Wet/Dry?
- Thread starter elkhntr
- Start date
brenner_jeff
Member
A wet / dry filter will more or less acta as a system for cultivating bacteria. It works by tanking a material, wether bio-balls or sintered glass that has alot of surface area for growing bacteria. That is the wet section. The dry is the adition of oxygen, sometimes through a spray bar to the material. Thsi helps keep the bacteria healthy and growing. THe bacteria are what you want. They will take care of your amonia and nitrites, however this can be accomplishes through a deep sand bed and live rock. It is really your call. I prefer to have alot of live rock, as to me it looks better. However I also had on hand a Ehiem 2227 wet/dry so now I use both. I have a 55g tank with 60 lbs or live rock, a 4" sand bed and the filter, needless to say I dont have amonia problems.
brenner_jeff
Member
I cant advise you as to the shark because I have never had one, but I really do suggest some LR, If your not going to use much of it go with the wet/dry. I recomend the ehiem 2227, I was happy with it. It runs around $200
surfnturf
Member
Sharks are one of the most difficult animals to keep alive in aquaria. They need vast amounts of room, a 125 might be fine for a short time if you get a small specimen, but the animal will outgrow the tank very quickly. If you are new to the hobby, visit a good store and see if there are smaller fish that catch your eye. If you have your heart set on the shark, be prepared to make some major investments in both a (much) larger tank and top of the line equipment, as well as a huge amount of time reading and asking questions. I wish you the best of luck. Read all you can.
brenner_jeff
Member
I think the Ehiem 2229 is rated to 160 gallons, I dont know if I have seen a single wet dry for that large, You might need multiple units.
ocellaris_keeper
Active Member
Be careful of the Live Rock. Your shark needs a smooth surface and all of your tank to swim in. Although they these animals like sand beds to swim in and are prone to getting scratched on rough surfaces.
surfnturf
Member
You might not want to put the canister filter on the tank unless you only use it for chemical or biological media. If you trap detritus in the canister, it will be a constant source of nitrates. Protein skimmers do a great job of getting floating debris out of the water, without converting it to nitrate. As ocellaris_keeper
pointed out, you should not use the LR in the tank, use it in your sump/refugium with a good light on it. There it will be able to do it's job and won't damage your shark.
pointed out, you should not use the LR in the tank, use it in your sump/refugium with a good light on it. There it will be able to do it's job and won't damage your shark.
shadow678
Member
I've seen several people with the same misconception of canister filters "producing" nitrates, this is simply not true. If regular maintenance(cleaning prefilters) is done on a canister filter, any biological material large enough to still be breaking down is removed, thus eliminating a source of further cycling chemicals. As with ANY biofiltration, nitrates are produced at one point or another. You can utilize a canister filter and a DSB and never have nitrates show in your tank. A DSB or a nitrate reduction chamber are the only 2 "natural" forms of nitrate removal in a tank If neither of these are present on your tank, then no matter what kind of alternate filtering you have, you will have to do regular water changes to remove the nitrate buildup, it will simply be a matter of how often.
slick
Active Member
A dsb stands for Deep Sand Bed it consists of 4 to 6 inches of fine grain agronite sand sold at fish stores. I too looked into getting a shark but my lfs guy yold me I would be best with like a 300 g tank if I wanted to keep it for any length of time. Also LR in a shark tank is a no no. To many sharp edges.
melbournefl
Member
Sharks grow, I mean REALLY big, and since they *must* swim at all times to force water through their gills they need room to move constantly. Now this is only my opinion but I'd say your tank just isn't big enough. If the shark survives then you'll need to find a new home for it in a couple of years and, unfortunately, most public aquariums are not accepting shark donations it means you must be prepared for the purchase of a much larger tank. My new friend Joe just build a 1,650 tank in his basement to be home to 3 sharks so that might tell you what the requirements are!
At any rate, what ever you may decide, good luck to you and your swimming friends!
Later,
Paul
At any rate, what ever you may decide, good luck to you and your swimming friends!
Later,
Paul
jim27
Member
Originally posted by surfnturf
Sharks are one of the most difficult animals to keep alive in aquaria.
That statment is false, some sharks are VERY easy to keep and are very tolorent of poor water conditions. My bamboo sharks lived in 100ppm nitrate for two weeks with no problem, they're known to tolorate even higher levels with know ill effects.
Originally posted by MelbourneFLSharks grow, I mean REALLY big, and since they *must* swim at all times to force water through their gills they need room to move constantly
Thats true for requiem sharks but is false for the species Elkhntr wants. Bamboos are bottom dwellers and are very good at pumping water over their gills. Even sharks like leopards don't need to be in constant motion to breath.