wet/dry speed?????

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danny

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 24, 2006
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uk
i just set up my 8*3*3(540gl i think ??) and have made my own wet/dry useing a 45gl
water butt filled with bio balls and sponges
it is gravity fed from the tank and then back up useing a swiming pool pump at 100 uk lpm
now my problem is (no math no science no knowledge) just porely based on looking at it
and it all seems a bit slow going to me so i was thinking of adding another pump to give me 200lpm
(this tank will have just one rtc at about 16-18 inc)
questions
1.is this set up fine and im being a bit dim
2.should i fit a second pump to the same butt
3.should i make a second wet dry and pump
4.if i fit a second pump to the same buttthat will give me 200lpm passing throw a 45gl water butt . is this to fast for a bio filter to work or is speed not an issue???????????
sorry about useing galons and liters
p.s. i am a n0obe and i was reading the thread (is it just me) so my next question is am i in for some stick
 
Currently you are turning your tank over about 3 times per hour. If it is lightly stocked it should be ok, but if its got a heavy bio load you might want to add a pump.

how many gallons of bio media do you have, and what are you using for bio media?
 
Just remember that flow rate is NOT a good measure for a wet/dry. You need to worry about 1) is there enough media, 2) does all the media get covered by dripping water, and 3) is the flow rate SLOW enough to allow air to touch the media. Faster flow rates can significantly REDUCE the efficiency of a wet/dry because they don't allow air to get to the bacteria (the dry part of wet/dry).

I am not saying that water movement is not important. I'm saying that you may want to improve water circulation using another filter or just a power head, depending on how you answered the questions above.
 
:iagree:

Pictures would help all the way around. We can answer better the more we know.

Sounds like you have a good start and as they always think around here "overbuilding never hurt a fish". :headbang2
 
I should have been more detailed.

I agree that you can't have a steady stream of water covering the bio media but what I want is for the water to have a chance to touch the air.

On my tanks that turn over a lot of times I have a return line that doesn't even go over the bio media, I just let it splash into the return sump.
 
the return from my pump is 1inc
and the gravity feed to the bio fillter is 2inc the whole of the butt is filled with bio balls and the top has sponges (coarse,medium,fine)
all the media and sponges are completely submergered in warter
the feed in is ajustable i thought it would work better that way (based upon my ehime pro 3)

return more water than my pumps can pump ????? im lost,,sorry
 
Dr Joe said:
:iagree:

Pictures would help all the way around. We can answer better the more we know.

Sounds like you have a good start and as they always think around here "overbuilding never hurt a fish". :headbang2
Click to expand...
thanks dr joe overbuild is the way i want to go
 
danny said:
all the media and sponges are completely submergered in warter
Click to expand...

OK, it sounds like you may have built a "wet/wet" filter instead of a wet/dry. In a wet/dry, the water trickles over the media (bio balls, sponges, pot scrubbers, what have you). This allows bacteria to get oxygen directly from the air, and hugely improves their efficiency. If all of your media is under water, then you have the equivalent of a gigantic aquaclear filter. Not a bad thing, by any means, but probably not the ideal way to set up a sump filter.
 
LoTech said:
OK, it sounds like you may have built a "wet/wet" filter instead of a wet/dry. In a wet/dry, the water trickles over the media (bio balls, sponges, pot scrubbers, what have you). This allows bacteria to get oxygen directly from the air, and hugely improves their efficiency. If all of your media is under water, then you have the equivalent of a gigantic aquaclear filter. Not a bad thing, by any means, but probably not the ideal way to set up a sump filter.
Click to expand...
yeah get the media out of the water
that will greatly improve your bio filtration
mike
 
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