Maintaining a wet-dry

[Brian G]

The title pretty much says it all, I was planning on making a DIY wet-dry in a ? 50gal. ish rubbermaid bin as a sump for my 140gal. plywood tank build. My plan is a complete DIY tank, overflow, sump, wet-dry ect. I was thinking of trying something like the three tiered drawer system, I have seen a few times on this DIY section, it looks effective and simple. I was wondering what I need to do for up-keep of my wet-dry and how often? Do I want to leave the sump and wet-dry alone to let the beneficial bacteria grow? how will this work for smell? Any info will help out alot since I am new to this whole system, am just used to my smaller tanks with HOB filters.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Brian G]

anybody?

 

[davcheng]

If its not covered its probably not going to smell great. And maintenance on your wet dry will probably depend on size and personal preference.

 

[Bassinkorea]

DIY wet-dry in a ? 50gal. ish rubbermaid bin as a sump
I was thinking of trying something like the three tiered drawer system

Great topic. I have an almost exact sump and wet/dry that has been running for only a week so far, so I'll be watching this thread for any tips and ideas.

So far it's running great, a little noisy, but no smells.

 

[kallmond]

I think you almost have to enclose/cover it. Not just for the smell, but also for evaporation, heat control, humidity in your house, mold/mildew inside your cabinet/around the sump, and noise control.

From what I understand most people clean their sump every 6 months or so just to remove the big stuff and make sure everything keeps flowing.

I read 1 account of a guy who found a fish he'd been 'missing' for almost 2 months when he cleaned his sump for the first time in 18 months.

 

[bullwinkle]

I read 1 account of a guy who found a fish he'd been 'missing' for almost 2 months when he cleaned his sump for the first time in 18 months.

was it alive

 

[West1]

I think you almost have to enclose/cover it. Not just for the smell, but also for evaporation, heat control, humidity in your house, mold/mildew inside your cabinet/around the sump, and noise control.

From what I understand most people clean their sump every 6 months or so just to remove the big stuff and make sure everything keeps flowing.

I read 1 account of a guy who found a fish he'd been 'missing' for almost 2 months when he cleaned his sump for the first time in 18 months.

I have a DIY sump out of a 60gl and I have it open. It does not smell what so ever and it makes no noise at all. Nor do I have mold/mildew anywhere around or in my stand. I do get the evaporation tho (Ive had this running for I think 2years now).

I get no noise due to my sump is a lil different. It is a Sump/Grow out tank.
A little over 1/3 of the sump has bio balls etc... the rest is open and has a Razorback Musk and a 4" Flagtail.... with some plants and 2 sponge filters for more BB.

My pump is a quiet1 (I think it is 1k GPH or so) and I get mad current thru it. It also helps grow out the fish a lil faster with the exercise

As for maintenance, I maybe..... clean it out once every 8months or so (since adding the sponge filters I do get crap floating around if I take them out).

My sump works pretty darn good for me and my 300gl

 

[Cakilla]

Great post I have been wondering the same thing I will be using a wet dry system when I get my bigger tank going

 

[West1]

Here is a pic of my DIY sump. To the left is the media...

The sump has not been cleaned in maybe 5-6 months in this pic. Most of the junk gets stuck in the filter sock, filter sponge on top of the bioballs or in the sponge that devides the sump/grow out tank on the bottom

 

[kallmond]

I have a DIY sump out of a 60gl and I have it open. It does not smell what so ever and it makes no noise at all. Nor do I have mold/mildew anywhere around or in my stand. I do get the evaporation tho (Ive had this running for I think 2years now).

Good to know about the smell and mold/mildew. My pump was a cheapo pond pump and is really loud.

And yea, that guy's fish was alive, I think he said it had grown an inch or two. I googled "Sump Cleaning" or something like that before responding and it was a post on one of the forums that came up.