Help me with making 55g a wet/dry

[cichlaguapote]

The short 180g I'm getting soon needs a filter. I could go canister but I'm thinking making the 55g a wet/dry is a better idea.

I'm totally lost though.

A. Number of chambers or compartments I should need on this 55g? Don't need a refuge., want to use pot scrubbers and egg crate to divide it.

B. Do we just maintain water levels in the wet/dry by how much water is in it to start/how much gets lost by condensation and replace when low?

C. For pumps I was thinking Quiet One 4000, flows 1017gph a peice, and I think rallysman uses this same pumps? Enough flow with these pumps? I'm assuming two.

C. Part 2 Tank is not drilled and don't want to drill it. So need some good overflow boxes. Thoughts on this hang on overflow? http://cgi.ebay.com/Hang-On-Overflo...ryZ46310QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem Doesn't list gph but if each flows 1200gph then I should be ok right?

D. This is better than going with something like a Fluval FX5 or other canister right?

E. I've heard you should clean the pre-filters in the overflow box every few days to make sure it's flowing full capacity. Good idea?

F. Can I run just regular heaters in the wet/dry to keep them out of the tank?

Thanks for all the help in advance. Alot of questions I know. Suggestions/changes always welcome.

 

[JustLooking]

Here is the one i made from a 20gal,its going on a 75,
it has a quiet one thats rated for 780 I think,so ya might wanna go higher
I also made the overflows

 

[rallysman]

Did you see the thread I made on mine? You're right that I use the 4000s, and they're awesome. I'll dig the thread on my 55g sump out if you havent seen it. I made it in 2 hours and it works flawlessly on a 300 gallon tank. (Wet/drys for me only turn the tank over 3x per hour, any more is wasted energy IMO)

 

[cichlaguapote]

Rallys I saw your thread but it's hard for me to see how everything is setup chamber wise/media wise with it in the stand. So better off with a sump? How does that change from my plans for a wet/dry? If you could describe how your sump is setup with what where it would help immensly.

Justlooking: Looks good. Where'd you get the black pvc?

 

[gomezladdams]

As for the prefilters I made a stack of them from 50micron cloth,change them as they start to clog.When theyre all dirty I toss them in the washing machine.

 

[cichlaguapote]

As for the prefilters I made a stack of them from 50micron cloth,change them as they start to clog.When theyre all dirty I toss them in the washing machine.

Great idea. Where is that available? LFS?

 

[rallysman]

Rallys I saw your thread but it's hard for me to see how everything is setup chamber wise/media wise with it in the stand. So better off with a sump? How does that change from my plans for a wet/dry? If you could describe how your sump is setup with what where it would help immensly.

Justlooking: Looks good. Where'd you get the black pvc?

I interchange sump and wet/dry. I only have 1 chamber. I'll draw it up on paint or something so you can see how it works and compare that to the pix.

ETA: The pic attached is how mine is set up. The downward arrows are going onto the drip plate and the the upward is the return pump. It's VERY simple, but works well

 

[cichlaguapote]

Actually that's really simple few questions though.

Do you use anything besides pot scrubbers on the drip plate? Looks like something on top of the scrubbers but not sure.

Does it always stay at that water level in the sump?

Could I use the same model pumps as you on a 180g and be ok or have to recalculate because of smaller tank than you?

That pic helped alot.

 

[rallysman]

i use polyester quilt batting on top of the drip plate for a pre filter. Under that is a mix of pot scrubbers, bioballs, and lava rock. You can use whatever you want though. The water level will fluctuate as it evaporates. The level will stay constant in the tank, the level that will change will be in the sump. You could use 2 4000 pumps, and as long as the overflows are rated higher than the pumps you'll have no problems.
I actually dont have the drip plate or prefilter shown in the pic, but it just sits on the bio media which is actually lower in the tank. That's just a really generic pic.

 

[cichlaguapote]

But that help me to realize how your eggcrate was setup in the other real pictures. So from the two I put it together and realized that's how it went.

Rallys, you really helped me alot. I actually wanted a system like yours since it's the same size sump, the cheaper pumps that you said were good, etc but was having problems figuring it out so I think that's what I'll try. Started out tonight with little idea of how to do this and now I think I understand. I owe ya.