Some advice needed

scottbeanerfish · Mar 14, 2024

Hi everyone, I have a swfo 92 gal Oceanic corner tank ,2 pipe overflow has a sponge filter with a float to a Amiracle wet /dry trickle filter w/ plastic bio balls, have a simplicity 120 DC protein skimmer in the sump, then the second pipe for return with a 450 gph pump. Have one power head in the tank for more movement.currently have a hippo tang, melanarus wrasse, porcupine puffer, percula clown, falco hawkfish, and a yellowtail damsel.I recently installed a 200 gpd RODI system for my water changes, because of diatoms tanking over my tank, and also high Nitrate levels. Started doing frequent water changes , tank looks great now. My question is , should I ditch the filtration system?.. is there a better alternative? thanks in advance

JC1977 · Mar 14, 2024

scottbeanerfish said:
Hi everyone, I have a swfo 92 gal Oceanic corner tank ,2 pipe overflow has a sponge filter with a float to a Amiracle wet /dry trickle filter w/ plastic bio balls, have a simplicity 120 DC protein skimmer in the sump, then the second pipe for return with a 450 gph pump. Have one power head in the tank for more movement.currently have a hippo tang, melanarus wrasse, porcupine puffer, percula clown, falco hawkfish, and a yellowtail damsel.I recently installed a 200 gpd RODI system for my water changes, because of diatoms tanking over my tank, and also high Nitrate levels. Started doing frequent water changes , tank looks great now. My question is , should I ditch the filtration system?.. is there a better alternative? thanks in advance

A wer/dry would work the problem is in the way it was originally designed. Water drains from the tank directly through the bio balls and the problem is over time lots of detritus uneaten food etc accumulates. This leads to what people refer to as the “nitrate factory”. If you could plumb your sump so the dirty water from tank was fed through a separate mechanical filter first such as a filter sock and then tee off your return so clean water is fed over the bio balls your filtration would function much better. Having said that and running a large FOWLR myself I would opt for a standard sump if that’s an option for you. A standard sump gives a lot more real estate to work with and you could use one of the various bio medias in lieu of the trickle filter. I like Siporax but there’s tons of options.

scottbeanerfish · Mar 14, 2024

JC1977 said:
A wer/dry would work the problem is in the way it was originally designed. Water drains from the tank directly through the bio balls and the problem is over time lots of detritus uneaten food etc accumulates. This leads to what people refer to as the “nitrate factory”. If you could plumb your sump so the dirty water from tank was fed through a separate mechanical filter first such as a filter sock and then tee off your return so clean water is fed over the bio balls your filtration would function much better. Having said that and running a large FOWLR myself I would opt for a standard sump if that’s an option for you. A standard sump gives a lot more real estate to work with and you could use one of the various bio medias in lieu of the trickle filter. I like Siporax but there’s tons of options.

Sounds like a plan.. is there a type of filter that is small enough to pipe inline above the wet /dry? I have limited space as you can see from the pics. I do have floss above the bio balls, or… could I reduce the chamber in which the balls are in and add a row of socks before the bio balls?

JC1977 · Mar 14, 2024

scottbeanerfish said:
Sounds like a plan.. is there a type of filter that is small enough to pipe inline above the wet /dry? I have limited space as you can see from the pics. I do have floss above the bio balls, or… could I reduce the chamber in which the balls are in and add a row of socks before the bio balls?

I suppose you could try cut a section out of the bio chamber lid and retro fit a sock holder but like you said your sump has limited space. I wouldn’t try to add any mechanical filtration above the sump. If it plugs up there’s no where for it to bypass to except your floor. This is IMO the other big reason why wet/dry filters fell out of favor is they usually leave very little space for anything else. Depending on the available space inside your stand you could grab a standard glass aquarium and mount a filter sock off of that and have olenty of space for a bigger skimmer and bio media. Just an option.