wet/dry filter?

[JohnnyOneBeat]

I want to build a wet/dry filter for my 90 gallon saltwater tank. I have all the plans in my mind but the one thing i don't know is what the flow rate minimum and maximum should be so that they are still effective. How many gallons per hour should be filtered? Is this only determined my guessing?

thanks for your time,
John

 

[justDIY]

there really isn't any practical limit either way

run as many gph as you need to achieve a good turnover of tank water through the filter, so that is recommended 10xfor saltwater = 900 gph

so something like a magdrive 12 would work nicely for you

obvisouly you want to make sure your filter is dry "enough" ... if water is flowing so fast through your biotower that very little air is getting in there then you are loosing filtration efficiency ... and need to make the area larger.

conversely, if the area were so large that pieces of biomedia were never getting wet, well, it would be a wasted capacity, but room for future expansion perhaps.

 

[JohnnyOneBeat]

thanks for your help I'll tell you how it goes.

John

 

[loganj]

A drip plate over the bio media will help solve the water distribution problem. Just make sure the drip plate can handle the flow.