New Wet/Dry filter issues, questions. please help

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dlwn88

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jan 12, 2011
Messages
163
Location
Newport News, VA
Hey guys,

I figured I did all the required research but I've been running into some issues, thus me asking some new questions.

Recently just got a wet/dry filter for my 40g saltwater tank. I have an 400gph overflow HOB and a 700gph return, with head it's right at 400 +/- 10 according to the sheet provided with the pump. I'm doing this mainly to improve filtration as well as prevent a lot of stuff hanging on the back, like my power filter and skimmer. Didn't take off my power filter because I know the pad contains beneficial bacteria and I don't want my tank to crash...but could I just move the filter pad from the power filter to the wet/dry and remove the power filter, would this work without harming my bio filter?

The water is too low on the return side to add my heater, wasn't expecting that. I'm a n00b on setting this up but I was able to do it successfully, creating a sihpon for the hob overflow and getting everything running with no problems. The water level matches with the water level sticker that was placed on the wet/dry which is 4 inches high or so, however, the last few days I've noticed it creeping down, because when you have evaporation it lowers there, right? If so, I'd imagine that if I left for 4 days I'd come back to the return pump and skimmer running dry. Is there a way I can prevent this from happening or raise the water level so that could'nt happen as easily?

Also, if the power goes out, I'd imagine the siphon for the hob overflow would stop, and in that case once power is returned wouldn't the return just pump all the water up to the tank until it runs dry? These types of things are making me wonder if I should have just purchased a canister, maintenance would be more difficult but I wouldn't have to worry about a lot of other things.

Sorry for asking too many questions, I just want to do this right to get the best quality water for my fish.

This is what it looks like, best photo I could find.
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Thanks for your help in advance guys. Any additional advice would be great.
 
Should I continue to use bioballs or add live rock instead? It's been suggested to me that I add live rock but I'm not sure the water stays high enough in that compartment to sumerge a live rock, unless it was somewhat flat.
 
You can continue to use bio balls if you want, you just have to be more careful and rinse them (with tank water) every so often to avoid having a buildup of material causing water issues. Everyone has their own opinions. I don't want to use them but I can give you a phone number to a LFS that swears by them.

The only thing I can think of to raise the water level is to adjust the return pump to be slower (with a ball valve). That would cause the water level to be higher but you don't want to go too far and have an issue with overflow (or having too much water in the sump area in case of a power outage).
 
How exactly do I pull off a water change using this? I'm guessing I'd slowly have to remove water and add new water, because if I did it all wat once the water in the tank wouldn't be high enough to flow into the overflow box, I'd imagine there has to be an easier way then to have to turn off and reconfig the wet/dry after every water change.
 
That is a good question that I will need to know at some point as well when I go to a sump setup... the last time I had a wet dry I would turn off the return pump, drain out of the display, refill in the display and then turn the pump back on... but there must be a better way.
 
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