Scrap the wet/dry?

[cmor1701d]

My package deal from the lfs included an Acqua Clear Aquatics 125 trickle filter with bio balls.
I removed all the course aragonite and replaced it with Southdown (5"-6"). LR is in and cycling through the sand storm.

Tonight I removed the bio balls from the wet/dry. The sound from the baffle (square box with holes drilled through it) was so loud I removed that too.

So now I have this 1" diameter stream of water dropping about 6" into the left side of the wet/dry where the bio balls were. It's quieter than having the baffle in there, but still very noisy.

Any ideas on quieting this thing down?
Insert a 1" pvc pipe with holes drilled near the bottom and filled with some of the bio balls?
Scrap the wet/dry completely and just buy a 20 gal tank to use as a sump? That would also give me the room to put a PS in the sump.

Does anyone actually use a sterilizer? Should I remove it from the plumbing?

Should I replace the fluorescent bulbs? With what?

125 gal FOwLR (2/15/03)
DSB 5"-6"
Acqua Clear Aquatics 125 trickle filter without bio balls
2 Hagen 802 powerheads
4 - 30w fluorescents (FW30T8-AR-TS)
Rio 2500 pump in sump (Mag7 ordered as standby replacement)
300w heater in the sump.
25w Coralife UV sterilizer (connected but not in use)
50 lbs of base rock
95 lbs of LR
1400VA UPS

 

[fishfreek]

So now I have this 1" diameter stream of water dropping about 6" into the left side of the wet/dry where the bio balls were. It's quieter than having the baffle in there, but still very noisy.

Any ideas on quieting this thing down?

Extend the drain pipe down till its at water level or below water level. This will make it near silent.

A wet/dry with no bioballs is in effect a sump.

Depending on how you have that UV unit connected and what the wattage is of the UV bulb and how fast the water flows over the bulb it may be more effective in a differnt plumbing setup.

Please describe how you have this in the system.

Should I replace the fluorescent bulbs? With what?

Kind of depends what you want in the tank. If your going to go with just fish for a while then keep the bulbs. If your wanting to move to corals sooner than later then a lighting upgrade would be in order.

 

[Guest]

IF you are getting the slurping noise from the overflow, try putting one bio-ball over the return pipe inside the outside box. I did this and it is working great...I am going to end up using PVC (Much more quiet) to run the return on mine when I hook up my UV light.

 

[cmor1701d]

fishfreek: The UV is 25w and is in-line on one of the two returns from the sump pump

timbo2: Thanks, i'll try that right after I get some 1" pvc and extend the drain pipe. I though the overflow's were to noisy until I removed the bio balls. Can't even here the overflow gurgle anymore .

 

[fishfreek]

Whats the flow rate going thru that 25W unit?

Is there a chart on the box with suggested flow rates?

My guess is that the flow rate might be to quick for the UV to be effective.

 

[cmor1701d]

LFS set up the tank and took most of the boxes. It's a Coralife 25w, suggested flow rates are 5-2,500 gph.

So, based on your posts I'm going to assume that I should this turn unit on at some point. How long into the cycle should that be? Right now I just have the LR in the tank and every time I use the turkey baster on the LR I have another sand storm. It clears quite a bit by the time I get home from work, only to kick up again after another round blasting. Gee this is fun 8) .
Can't wait till the tank is clear enough to aquascape and then for empty tank syndrome to kick in

 

[Anemoneman]

every time I use the turkey baster on the LR I have another sand storm

Don't bother until the tank is cycled, or at least only do one or two rocks at a time. The sand won't stabilize until a good population of bacteria is established. After that you won't be able to get any sand to stay in the water column, it will settle immediately.

 

[fishfreek]

Well 5-2,500GPH is a bit of a wide range. In a websearch I turned up a few flow rate ranges but one that is mose close to yours was 500-2500GPH.

With that said you will see more effective results from it at the lower end of that range.

Also there is no need to turn it on till after the cycle because it will in effect destory any and all bactera and parasite that flows thru it. Kind of counter active when your trying to cycle.