Need Opinions on my Wet/Dry Sump Design

[guns286]

I think I came up with a simple, yet workable design for a Wet/Dry filter and sump. Maby someone can let me know if it looks ok and if it will work.

The filter part is an old Marineland Hex 5 tank that was given to me. The Catch/Sump part (bottom area) is a Rubbermaid container from Home Depot.

The individual chambers within the filter will be stackable and removable for cleaning, etc..

I will cut the top of the Rubbermaid container in half, so I can access the sump pump and chamber without moving the filter. I also want to put live rock and a submersable heater in the sump chamber.

 

[Innovator]

It's just a wet/dry with a make-shift biotower as you said...is this going on a huge tank or something? There is no need for a wet/dry if you are using live rock and do not intend to house a large fish load or predatory fish. I would also not use sponge material since it will just become a waste trap that will likely produce more work for you. Why not just use the rubbermaid sump and partition it via baffles?

 

[guns286]

No, its not for a large tank. I forgot to put in the demensions. The tank is a 30g high. The rubbermaid bin is 24" x 17", so its relativily small. The reason I added the tower is that I thought one of the points of the wet/dry system was to airate the water by letting it drip down. I've always used canister filters and am new to this type of filter system, so please bare with me. I wanted to add the live rock just as an extra biological filtration helper. As far as the sponge material, I was looking for something to help deaden the sound of the dripping water and that's all I could come up with. I actually planned on putting a CuddleFish in the tank so it will be a predator.
You seem to know more about this system then me, so any help would be appriciated. Thanks.

 

[Innovator]

Live Rock is better for biological filtration than the wet/dry unless you have a very large system. Unless a dwarf cuttle (still require at the very least a 40g breeder due to length), there are none that belong in anything less than 125g.

 

[guns286]

You are probably right about the cuttle. I was just going by what the dealer was telling me (30g is fine for one). I still want to do the SW tank. Although, I think I have to modify my design to incorperate a protein skimmer. I wanted to make it an "in-sump" skimmer. But, of course, I want to build it myself. I've looked at alot of DIY web sites and think I've come up with something. My question is, how tall does the skimmer have to be? It seems that the width of the tube is based on the gallons of the tank. But, one of the sites talked about the tube being 4' to 6' tall! This kind of defeats the purpose of hiding all of your equiptment under the tank. Based on the size of my stand, the tallest the tube can be is 20" (not including the collection cup). Based on the size of the tank, the tube will be 4" wide. So, will a 4" wide 20" tall skimmer work for a 30g tank?