what to put in a wet dry besides bio balls

[gman]

I am currently planning out my wet dry for the 90 gal i am building, and im trying to figure out what to put in there to improve overall water quality for my fish. I am using a ~4 gal bio chamber, and i have laid out the rest of the sump so that i have 2 - 7"x5"x12" sections for other media. I was thinking of putting plants in one, but I dont know what types are best for this application (i will not have any in the main tank because the fish always uproot them. The other section have no idea what to put in it. What do you guys have in your wet drys?

 

[cougar579]

I have blue air filter media followed by thousands of cut up straws, then I have filter floss for the polishing of the water. I also have cannister filters in conjuction with my wet drys. If you are going to have plants in your sump make sure to get plenty of lighting.

 

[Oddball]

Get a few bags of nylon scrubbing pads. Bio-balls have 160 sq/ft of surface area for bacteria to cling to. The same volume of 10 for $1 scrubbing pads has 370 sq/ft of surface area.

 

[sharp tooth]

if you add plants to ur sump desighn then they will need lots of light granted.
but remember the bacteria you are wanting in the filter to make it work much prefers the dark and dosent like it bright. this is why i have a seperate small tank filled with plants above my tank.

 

[chuckae4xj]

I use quilt batting in mine. The stuff they put in the middle of the quilt, incase someone did not know that. Get it at walmart in the fabric section and it is cheap. One trip gets me enough for a very long time. I just cut it up into the size pieces I need. Replace it once a week when I do water changes. I collects quite abit if debris. So it is doing what I intended it to do.

 

[Zesty]

^I do the exact same thing. I don't know how big the roll was but it was not much more than $5 and I've had it since the beginning of last year so I feel it's a good investment.

It is surprisingly resilient and you can wash/rinse it out quite a few times.

 

[jcashion]

I'm cycling my new sump, an dI'm using bioballs, and thinking about putting some nylon scrubbing pads, too. I saw tha the other day and thought it was an awesome idea. I'll probably try the quilt batting, too.

 

[gasser]

The only problem with the scrubbing pads is the potential to clog. Just keep them clean, take them out from time to time and shake them out in old tank water to get the debris out of them. Just make sure they don't dry out or get exposed to tap water.

Good luck.

Jeff

 

[twk1]

In my sump i have a heater to keep my temperature stable, a thermometer, a return pump, bioballs, and a stocking filled with crushed coral to help buffer the ph.