help setting up a wet/dry

[lucas2]

Hi, I just bought a used 300 gallon tank off of craigs list. It came with a sump type wet/dry filter setup. I am new to this hobby and am unsure exactly how to set it up properly. I have been doing alot of reading on the net and have been trying to peice it together. Mine looks alot different than the pictures that I have seen on this site (great place by the way, I plan on spending many hours on here reading and learning ). Mine does not have a drip tray, but more of a filter sock that the water goes straight into. I put another peice of filter media under that for a little extra mechanical filtration, then in the next compartment I put a couple bags of ceramic discs. After reading on this site, I went to walmart and bought 20 pot scrubers and through them in there, but they are just floating on top. I was hoping that someone here might be familiar with this type of setup and could advise me as to the best way to set this thing up to maximize performance. I am doing fresh water and currently have about 30 african cichlids about an inch or two long. Please don't come down hard on me, I know that I cant possibly have it right, but am trying to get it. I will try to attach a picture. Thanks in advance.

 

[lucas2]

Forgot to mention that I also have what I guess you would call "prefilters" installed in the overflow boxes. Just filter media wrapped around the pvc. Dont know if this is OK or not, the guy I bought it from said that is the way he had it, so I did it.

 

[lucas2]

nobody ever seen one designed like this?

 

[Dr Joe]

Well first off

And Congratulations on getting your first (medium size) tank

Nice purchase.

If I read your post right you already have fish in it?

How did you cycle the filter?

A drip plate can always be added. It just distributes the dirty water over the filter media.

It's difficult to see exactly what you have going, how about a few more pix (straight on and from the sides).

From what I can see it looks like you've got it right so far.

The water is supposed to flow thru the pot scrubbers and I can't see exactly where the water flow is.

I'll wait for further pix.

Dr Joe

.

 

[lucas2]

I didn't neccesarily "cycle" the tank, I let it stand for a week or so with the heaters and filter running and some plants, then I added about 5 very small fish. Slowly over the last month, I have been slowly adding fish a couple at a time and everything seems to be OK. Starting to get a little cloudy, but from what I have read, that is to be expected. I plan on doing my first 20% water change this weekend. Sorry about the bad picture, it is really difficult to get a good shot of the whole thing because of the stand around it. Here are a bunch more from different angles. Notice the pot scrubbers floating in the center compartment, and the ceramic discs at the bottom and really nothing else in there other than the filter sock and small piece of blue media that I stuck under the divider to create another barrier. I am open to any advise as to set this thing up and make it work correctly.

 

[rallysman]

It looks like the water level is to high, there isnt enough bio media, and the drip plate is missing. Is there any leftover parts?

 

[lucas2]

water flow is down through the two return hoses, through the filter sock, through the slot at the bottom that is stuffed with the blue media, I stuck the ceramic discs right there in the flow. The pump is hooked to the base at the other side, so I dont think the scrubbers are getting much action as is, but I figure they cant really hurt. Any advise on holding these things down?

 

[lucas2]

It looks like the water level is to high, there isnt enough bio media, and the drip plate is missing. Is there any leftover parts?

No, no left over parts. I know I could construct a drip plate easy enough, if I eliminated the filter sock, and then could probly fill that whole compartment with scrubbers, but just don't know if thats what would be best. Thats why I am posting here. I know the water level is too high, But figured the extra water volume would be better for the fish while this thing is stabilizing and really isn't effecting operation, since I don't really have much going on here yet.

 

[rallysman]

No, no left over parts. I know I could construct a drip plate easy enough, if I eliminated the filter sock, and then could probly fill that whole compartment with scrubbers, but just don't know if thats what would be best. Thats why I am posting here. I know the water level is too high, But figured the extra water volume would be better for the fish while this thing is stabilizing and really isn't effecting operation, since I don't really have much going on here yet.

I didn't notice that the water flows under the first divider. That kind of goes against the wet/dry deal since the media has to be submerged. It's getting late, and I just confused the hell out of myself lol. I wouldn't get rid of the socks. They're awesome pre filters. You have the right idea with the extra media though.

 

[lucas2]

How much better does the wet/dry work over just having all media submerged? Also, any suggestions on how to get the scrubbers to sink? I was thinking that if I just kept throwing them in there, they would start to sink under the weight of those above them, but with the size of this thing, I think 60 gallons or so, I would need about 200 of those scrubbers, and it seems there should be a better way.