Shoudl I change my wet dry filter

M

maddv

AC Members
Feb 3, 2007
32
0
0
Hi I have a 72 G Bowfront. I have an Amiracle wet dry filter with a regular Overflow Box. Since the flow doesnt seem to strong & good, I was planning to buy a CPR Over flow box. The LFS guy told me that Wet Dry are too much hassle and that I shoudl consider to replace this with a Eheim Wet/Dry Canister Filter. I tried reading stuff t o know which is better and got no where. Can some body advice if I should just add a CPR CS90 or CPR 102 overflow or shoudl I replace this with an Eheim Wet/Dry Canister Filter
Your advice will be greatly appreciated
Thanks
 
What type of setup do you have - is it a fish only, or do you also have corals and other inverts?

For any reef (corals and other inverts, and only a few fish) or lightly stocked fish only tank, I would recommend that you stick with live rock (with a deep live sand bed, if you like...) and a sump/refugium, and not use ANY wet/dry filter or cannister filter at all. If you have a high bio-load fish-only setup, I would stick with the wet/dry filter (and a good skimmer!).

Hennie
 
I have a FOWLR - 1 Aquamedic TurboFlotor Hang On Skimmer - this is workring OK, Another Remora Skimmer(this is not working very well as the RIo went down and i am using a different power head which is just not skimming)
- An Amiracle Wet Dry with hang on overflow
2 Clown, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Fire Fish, 1 Gramma and 2 Skunk Cleaner Shrimps - 30 pds base rock, around 2o pds live rock with sand base
The water parameters are OK as I hhave an RO/DI unit - But the flow of water seems to be weak and the Overflow siphon stops very often and I have to suck it up for now - That is become too painful as I travel a lot and cant expect my wife to do this close watching.
 
You need to upgrade the return pump to increase the flow... the overflow just get's the water out of the tank. There's an overflow box you can get that hasn't had a single reported siphon break since they started: http://www.lifereef.com/siphon.html

As for the filtration... really all you need to be running is a 1lb of rock per gallon 20x turnover rate from powerheads, and a decent skimmer... Pretty much any filter using media will need to be cleaned often, or else it will become a nitrate factory... same goes for your wet dry. Personally I would add about 40 ilbs of base rock to your tank then start slowly removing your bio-balls from the wet dry...
 
Hey Thanks for your attention to my nore. So now that I have to buy this overflow box- shoudl I even consider the CPR Overflow 90 or something - which says it comes with an airlifter pump to remove trapped air - Or should I just buy this one you are recommending - both seem to be the same price - just want to make sure what will be the best -
 
The one withless shipping price then :) How big is your tank?
 
Link said:
"Tubeless" designs are one of the poorest designs ever to come on the market. They are prone to bubble accumulation in the siphon "wall", micro-bubbles in the tank (caused by the needed powerhead to keep air out of the siphon "wall", flooding of the tank caused by the powerhead failing to come on, sump flooding if not set up right, etc.
Click to expand...

Link said:
In the 18 years that the Lifereef Prefilter Box has been sold not one has failed to re-start when the power comes back on!
Click to expand...

IMO, that decides it right there... might be good to look up some third-party reviews, but what they have on the site would be enough for me... Though, personally I think a drilled aquarium is the best route, however, that would be very inconvenient for someone with a tank already set up.
 
It is a 72 G Bowfront SW. Based on advice from dorkfish - I am going to buy a LifeReef prefilter box. Dont know if this will resolve my problem. The Overflow box I have with my A Miracle Wet Dry looks very much like the LifeReef - Just one more confirmation before i can bite the bullet
 
maddv said:
... I am going to buy a LifeReef prefilter box. Dont know if this will resolve my problem.
Click to expand...
Well, if your problem is just a lack of flow in the tank, why don't you just add one or two powerheads?

As for the LifeReef overflow box, it looks to be solidly constructed, and is of a design used quite successfully for many years. I just don't believe their advertisement that in 18 years no-one has experiences any problems with ANY of their units. I have personally used a similar design for a DIY overflow box (using tubes), but changed it after a year for a tubeless DIY box (with air extracting powerhead...) as the tubed one could not handle the flow to my sump, and I had difficulty in starting the syphon after cleaning the tubes. I successfully used this for another year or two until I upgraded my tank to a weir-type overflow, which is what I'm still using some 7 years later.

If you want to replace the wet/dry with a proper sump, and if you don't want to drill your tank, the LifeReef would work fine. I would opt for one of the coloured models, as algae growth inside the clear tubes tend to block flow after a few months.

Hennie
 
Hi I added a power head - with that the circulation increased and siphon iwas back and is just working great. I switched off the power and switched it back. Siphon starts up no issues. Everything suddenly seems to be just perfect. Only problem is that when I feed the water gets pushed around a lot making it difficult for fish to feed. I intend to switch off the power head when feeding. Does this sound OK. Or will I be wrong to assume that with this my problem is over,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom