wet dry thought

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jsodwi

jsodwi

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Jul 9, 2005
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OK I'm using a 55g for my wet dry on my 300g. I already have 5g of bioballs should I add more. How big should I make the media area. I will also need an overflow for this. Any ideas would be great.
The filter is also going in my basement so I will be pumping up with elbows aprox. 18 feet of head. Thinking of going with a big pond pump.
Ideas thoughts critisism welcome
 
I would safely elevate the sump as high as possible to help out with the head pressure. From there get your head pressure. I like mag drive, I like to turn over the water between 3-5 times in a hour.
 
lees bio balls say 1 gallon treats 35 gallons of water if you go buy that you have enough to treat 175 gallons of water more balls wouldnt hurt i would add more if it were me i have no expierence with them but some guys on here swear by nilon pot scrubbers might be worth looking into them
 
Make sure you take pictures of this project!! search for DIY overflow and you can find some made out of PVC. You are going to need one hell of a pump, but filter maintenance should bea snap.
You've got me thinking about trying something similar. Hope everything works out well for you!!
 
Nic said:
lees bio balls say 1 gallon treats 35 gallons of water if you go buy that you have enough to treat 175 gallons of water more balls wouldnt hurt i would add more if it were me i have no expierence with them but some guys on here swear by nilon pot scrubbers might be worth looking into them
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I use both nylon stuff and bioballs. I would not use just nylon stuff alone since these are pretty dense and they would clog up easily on a big tank with heavy feedings. I hate cleaning the filter.... very messy.... muddy.... you know what I mean.

On my my set up, I have the bioballs at the bottom and nylon stuff on the top most layer. I clean out my filter every 8-12 mos. The nylon layer very 6-8 mos when they begin to clog up. This way I only need to clean out this layer when needed, but noth the whole thing. Nylon stuff is great more surface area and cheap too.

Also, my eggcrate at the bottom begin to bend and sag alot (every few months.... due thigh flow rate.... lots of media.... much weight), instead of changing it out ...... since I hate cleaning my filter and hardly do it, I put a few large pvc bulheads at the bottom to suport the eggcrate and the whole bioball tower.
 
Wow, 18 feet of head is pretty serious for most hobby pumps. You also need to decide if you want a check valve on the return right after the pump.

If you don't use a check valve, the water in all that return pipe will flow back to the sump whenever the pump is shut off, so you have to account for that.

If you do use a check valve, it will keep the water in the pipe whenever the pump stops. But that leaves a lot of heavy water is sitting still in the pipe, and the pump has to get it moving again when it starts up. I remember from my old farm days that some kinds of irrigation pumps had a very hard time getting that column of water flowing - so be sure you have a pump with a pretty high head.

Kirk
 
Thanks guys I was thinging of a pond pump that flows over 2200 gph @ a 6ft. head or something like that I was also thinking of trying to raise the sump a couple of feet higher.
 
jsodwi said:
Thanks guys I was thinging of a pond pump that flows over 2200 gph @ a 6ft. head or something like that I was also thinking of trying to raise the sump a couple of feet higher.
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I think you will find a pump rated at 2200gph at 6ft, will flow close to nothing at 18ft!! 18feet is pretty serious, I think you will struggle with any normal aquarium use pump and will have to go with something designed specifically for moving water at those head heights, maybe check out irrigation supplies etc?

Is there any way you can greatly reduce the head height? I think you will struggle to get it to work otherwise. If you do find a pump capable of pumping the amount of water you need at 18ft of head, it will probably cost you a fortune to run it!

PS.. one more thing, a stop valve would be a very good idea, once that pump has shut off, 18ft head of water is going to come blasting into your sump syphoning out of the main tank, I have visions of water exploding out of your sump all over the place! :(
 
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