wet/dry or refugium or both? help please!!!!

[robzombay]

hi i have a 55 g tank no w/ 60 lb. live rock,around 10 fish ,some snails,etc. i have a cascade 1000 canister filter,200watt heater,75g protein skimmer.i keep getting mixed reviews about ,wet/drys,refugiums and sumps.i bought some kit on ebay to yurn any 10 g tank into a refugium. my tank has only been up for a month and everything seems ok except nitrites a little hi.should i just go and get a wet/dry and be done w/ it.but i hear that if you have live rock AND a wet /dry that your making them fight for the biological aspect of everything.than i hear about a" reugiums are the best way to go",what do i do.
im new at this hobby and i already spent alot of money and i want to get the right stuff. please help

rob

 

[melosu58]

Ok well let me move this to the proper forum. You`ll get better answers there. Good Luck

 

[tecwzrd]

Welcome to AA

Typically wet/drys use media to house bacteria which would cause your lr to have less bacteria but not keep it from having any.

1: I'd add another 20 lbs of base or lr to the tank which will provide all the bio-filtration you need.
2: remove all filter media from your cascade 1000 which will trap waste and build up your no3.
3: I see a ph in the photo but it looks like your tank could use a lot more circulation.
4: A 10 gal fuge sounds great. You only want about 200-300 GPH flowing through it.

Unless you have a heavy bio-load and/or fish that require pods I wouldn't bother with a fuge personally.

 

[melosu58]

I think the 10 gallon wet dry replacing the filter media with LR rubble is an excellent Idea.

 

[boxxmann]

i have a 20 gallon sump/refugium because i have mandarins in my tank. it helps w/ the copepod growth. i like refugiums because it is a sort of natural filtration. it also helps w/ the nitrates.