Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Wet/Dry Filter

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  caferacermike 
#1 ·
Well, just when I thought I had something figured out...you know. I am really confused about the whole wet/dry filter thing. Actually, I guess I'm looking for opinions on whether or not it is needed. I get so aggravated because reading up on all this is a doulbe edged sword. You need the knowledge, but 10 people tell you 10 different things. I am finding that it's better to just get an overall opinion of several people.

I hope I'm not making this harder than it has to be. I just want as few mistakes as possible. Thanks everyone!
 
#2 ·
As always it is very important to tell us what is the setup? This will become a topic very soon. It is a crapshoot to give any advice without knowing what it is for.

As far as wet/dry's are they good? Wel lthey offer a place for a skimmer to run. It is accepted that using bioballs is nitrate factory. Best to leave them out. So wet dry or empty tank for a sump? Empty tank with a built in fuge is a better way to go. However I will state that I run a very nice wetdry, instead of bioballs I have loads of liverock rubble. It is an excellent place to grow micro pods. So the option of not having a sump or fuge at all? I'm against it for larger tanks. I feel that a sump or wet/dry or even a seperate fuge is the best way to oxygenate hte water. Oxygenating the water will push out bad molecules and replace tehm with good ones. As the water falls Ammonia gases can be released from the water and replaced by O2. This is a very good thing. As far as no sump? Where will your skimmer go? Sump skimmers are hundreds of times better than any HOT skimmer available. To my knowledge there is only one real HOT skimemr that is worht a darn. That is the AquaC as you can buy an optional overflow that sits inside the tank only skimming topwater. All skimmers that dangle a pump 6" in the tank or use a riser tube like Prizm are guaranteed junk. Yes I know the flame war I just started but the whole entire purpose of skimming is to remove the organic wastes that naturally float to the surface. How are you going to do that with the pump in the BOTTOM of the tank? that is why overlfows help tremendously and make sump skimmers work that much better.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top