sump or wet/dry help

[joey02]

I have a 92gal corner bowfront that has a fluval 405 plumbed into it threw two holes in the bottom of the tank. I figuered since its already drilled and has the bulkheads ect. already on it, i might as well remove the 405 and build a wet/dry or sump. Im leaning more towards a wet/dry right now though. My question is, can it be done with the current input/output tubes? i was thinking that if i losed power in my house, the tank would drain all over the floor. How can i adjust the input tube to make sure this wouldnt happen?

 

[terd ferguson]

You need your intake tube closer to the top of the water. In the event of a power failure, water will continue to drain into the sump until it the intake is out of the water. How high to put the tube will depend on a few factors. Like, how big is your sump going to be? And, how much space is left over in your sump when it is operating normally?

Water will also drain back into your sump through the return line in the event of a power failure. You'll need to take this into consideration as well. Generally speaking, the closer to the top of the tank your intake and returns, the less water you'll have going into your sump (and overflowing) in a power outage.

With your tubes the way they are now and with a sump/wet/dry, you're looking at probably 60 gallons or more in your floor.

 

[joey02]

thats what i thought i needed to do. luckly the out put tube is adjustable. I will order the same type of tube the output has for the input so i can adjust them as needed. What should my GPH be for a wet/dry? I was thinking about getting a pump rated in between 500-900 gph.

 

[terd ferguson]

thats what i thought i needed to do. luckly the out put tube is adjustable. I will order the same type of tube the output has for the input so i can adjust them as needed. What should my GPH be for a wet/dry? I was thinking about getting a pump rated in between 500-900 gph.

I like 10x turnover or more, but I have heavy stocking and even heavier feeding.

 

[BushFishRox]

personally I would just stick with a canister on that tank. IMO it isnt big enough for a wet/dry, wet/drys arent that great at mechanical filtration (really they suck lol) and you dont have room in the stand for a wet/dry and a canister.

For a wet/dry you really dont need more then 3x turn over

 

[joey02]

personally I would just stick with a canister on that tank. IMO it isnt big enough for a wet/dry, wet/drys arent that great at mechanical filtration (really they suck lol) and you dont have room in the stand for a wet/dry and a canister.

For a wet/dry you really dont need more then 3x turn over

The is a divider inside the tank stand that divides the stand in half, but i was going to remove it and reinforce the rest of the stand with 2X6's. so i would have the foot print of the tank to work with for room for a wet/dry.
I was going to use a 20-30gal tank for the wet/dry and one of those storage containers with 4-5 drawers on top of each other. I was looking at the Mag-drive pumps for the pump i would use also.

The top drawer would have in it a course foam for basic mechanical(like the sponge in the 405), the second drawer would have poly-wool for fine mechanical, then the last 2-3 drawers would have all bio-max(I was planning on using 10 liters or more. I could also store my heater in the tank below as well. Im not sure if this is called a wet/dry or not, but its the style i wanted to go with. I figuered this would be better than a canister filter.

what do you guys think?

 

[BushFishRox]

that will work but since wet/drys take the water off the surface all the waste and what not will sink to the bottom of the tank. If it wasnt a corner tank then you could do a Wet/Dry with a HOB but you dont have space for it I dont think...

 

[rallysman]

10x is just plain overkill when using a wet/dry. I've never needed more than 3x. Hell, I run about 2.5x on my 265 and it has quite a few bruisers. For the stand pipes google duroso stand pipe.

And if your sump has bad mechanical filtration, you're doing it wrong

 

[BushFishRox]

10x is just plain overkill when using a wet/dry. I've never needed more than 3x. Hell, I run about 2.5x on my 265 and it has quite a few bruisers. For the stand pipes google duroso stand pipe.

And if your sump has bad mechanical filtration, you're doing it wrong

what I meant by that is that it it just takes water from the surface, so the poop and what not stays in the tank...

oh ya, make sure when you take the divider out of the stand that the tank is empty or close to it, because particle board doesnt really flex it snaps since it is mainly made up of glue...

 

[rallysman]

what I meant by that is that it it just takes water from the surface, so the poop and what not stays in the tank...

You can make an intake for a wet/dry pull water from the bottom. You can also just put a small powerhead in the bottom of the tank to keep it from settling.