Why go with a wet dry filter?

[tepei22]

I know there are quite a few guys here that are big on wet dry filters and I was hoping to get some feedback as to why. Is it easier to clean and maintain? Better filtration overall compared to a canister or HOB? Any drawbacks at all? (besides maybe fry going into the overflow?) I'll be fousing on trophs and fronts for the most part.

I'm about to start ordering some tanks for a new fish room and am thinking about using wet dry filters just because I'm kind of tired of seeing canister tubing and sponge filters (would like to have some beautiful show tanks!) although I must say, they have done a fantastic job! Anyhow, if I do go the wet dry route, how many gallons per hr should be cycled for a 180 or 210 gallon tank? Thanks for your thoughts guys!

[eklikewhoa]

Plus all the cool guys are doing it.

Honestly I've seen everyone run mostly canister and HOB before and it never was a problem.

[tepei22]

Hey eklikewhoa,
I was told that maintenance is much easier on a wet dry though, no? I guess a lot of people will also have one canister filter just to clean up and polish the tank a bit more too since the overflow will not pick up some of the waste and 'floating' debris in the tank. I know a troph tank could be done with just sponge filters and a HOB failter but I was looking to set up a couple of really beautifu show display tanks.
If one was to let the Tropheus spit the fry in the tank, how often would you lose fry to the overflow box and into the sump?
By the way, I thought you had such a cool Ilangi tank a while back. Not sure if you still have them but that was a really cool set up!

[eklikewhoa]

guess I was hoping others would chime in and offer some help but I guessed wrong.

I personally prefer wet/dry over all others but always feel a bit more content with a wet/dry + eheim canister combo set up.

The wet/dry dry provides a great deal of oxygenation through the trickle part which is hard to compare for the other methods. The overflow part which in a way helps break surface which removes protein build up you see on other tanks that are overfed/overstocked which would be easy to do when it comes to tropheus tanks. Also turnover rate is much more efficient when it's compared to canisters since it is easily tailored through choice of return pump up to the rate of the overflow.

Cleaning is easy since the filter pad is easily accessible but then again not as efficient compared to a good canister which is why I started off by saying that I like the W/D + Canister combo but being easy to clean you can clean more often to obtain the clean water look. I rely on the W/D for oxygenation/aerobic bacteria and turn to the canister for bio-filtration and try to leave it at that since cleaning a canister but it does do a damn good job of polishing if needed. Most of my tanks were over filtered and received ocd type frequent water changes so water clarity wasn't much of concern.

With turnover rate for a wet/dry you can get away with going for about 5-10x turnover. I suggest to get the largest overflow you can to leave you with room for error or wiggle room so that the overflow is never over worked or pushed to the limit. Then add on the canisters to aid in that so you aren't relying completely on one filter to handle everything. For your size tank I would at least go with a pro-clear 300-400 and a nice eheim 2262 and stuff the canister full of bio media and coarse sponges.

You could get great water clarity with just a large wet/dry set up alone cause eventually that tank volume would get through the system and get it clean. If you decide to go with a wet/dry only I suggest a few circulation pumps to help circulate dead spots so that water doesn't go stagnant and aid the W/D in filtering the water.

With the fry and overflow problem, I kept heavy rock work in my tanks and most of the time when they spit the fry tend to stick closely to the rock work and when they got to the size/age that they would go exploring without the fear of being eaten by the adult colony they were smart enough and strong enough not to get engulfed by the overflow so I rarely had to remove fry. On occasion, yes but rarely but they would be stopped at the rear overflow section since I used HOB overflows and there was a pre-filter back there to keep them from going down the tube but since the rate was high it was like a tsunami back there and if not caught in time they'd just die and get broken down so I wouldn't know the difference. I let all my Trophs spit and rear their fry naturally so I didn't know any better but if you get paranoid you can get the plastic cross-stitching grids/sheets from the hobby store and line the overflow grates with it but you would have to keep an eye on it from becoming clogged with sediment so it doesn't reduce drainage.

Another thing I like about Wet/Dry or Sumps is you can put most of your equipment in there to keep the display portion of the tank free of clutter like Heaters/probes/thermometers/Top-offs/etc. Could even double as a fuge/planted nitrate filter. Also any chemical media needed to be added or removed or used can be done through the sump which has easy access.

To help disguise any equipment like plumbing from canisters you could always use Krylon Fushion to paint with and blend with your background color which is safe once completely dry/cure.


Thank you for the compliment! I'm a tech junky so I was more in to the equipment/hardware involved in the setup more so than the actual fish. LoL.

[eklikewhoa]

I parted with the Ilangi awhile back trying to rebuild another variant that I personally preferred over them due to their elegance and subtle looks which really magnified in awesomeness when viewed as a large group.

[SunnyHouTX]

+1 to what ek said, except I would set up a canister for pure
mechanical filtration. I have a wet/dry under each of my tanks and usually don't touch them for about 6 months for a good cleaning. But I do change the filter pad on the drip tray as needed when they clog up. I know of ppl who don't run any sponge or pads in their wet/drys at all so their service interval is even longer.

Sent from my Nexus S

[eklikewhoa]

Servicing the 2262 was a pita for me compared to the drip trays so I always opted to run coarse sponge and only bio for canisters. With this set up I never really had to touch the canisters and only swap out the filter pad in the wet/dry.

Everyone has their preferrence though so the more imput you get the more ways you can decide from.

[SunnyHouTX]

That is a very good point. I don't use floss/fine pads in my canisters any more for that very reason. In my 2262 I have ceramic rings at the very bottom, then a layer of crushed coral and finally a little bit of bio bale. The rings and coral pretty much catch almost all particles floating around, but most are taken out on the water change. My FX5 is set up with crushed coral as well along with the coarse sponge on the outside.

Sent from my Nexus S

[eklikewhoa]

I ran two 2262's on my 125g and both only had the coarse sponge on bottom eheim ehfisubstrat pro the rest of the way and another coarse sponge up top before the pump.

The wet/dry I ran fine padding for the drip tray, recirculating pump to keep the bioballs continously cycling if the return pump was off and mangroves before the return on a reverse photo period to try and help nitrate removal and to try and increase oxygen during the lights out hopefully negating any reverse effects of algae growth in the display.

[tepei22]

Thanks so much for the info eklikewhoa! I appreciate it. I've been keeping cichlids since 1990 but have never had a wet dry filter. I've always used canisters, HOB and sponge filters. Now that I am building a smaller, scaled down fish room, I've decided to make my tanks more of a display rather than purely for breeding (mostly fronts and trophs right now) which I have a lot of fun with. With my baby girl taking up more time, I know I won't have as much time to take care of all my tanks (currently have 14 large aquariums ranging from 100-300 gal) and plus I'm going to try and make it more of a sitting room for me and people visiting to relax in. One other question...as far as noise goes, I know eheim canisters are pretty quiet but how much noise does a wet dry make?

[SunnyHouTX]

The noisiest part of a wet/dry is the overflow. If you quieten it down and dampen vibrations in the return pump, you can't hear a thing.

Sent from my Nexus S

[tepei22]

Thanks SunnyHouTx! I'll keep that in mind as it would be nice to have a quieter fishroom. That might be tough though if you still have some growout tanks with sponge filters.

[SunnyHouTX]

Yeah, the bubbles make more noise for sure. I think the only real sound I hear is a little trickle coming from water in the hoses

Sent from my Nexus S

[thedude]

Good string. Adding some blue giants friday and know I'm going to need to up filtration. Have an fx5 and the biggest RENA canister along with a couple of emperor 400s on my 210 now and was trying to decide between adding another fx5 or going to WD. This has me leaning to the WD. Pro clear prices do look pretty good. Anybody ever hear something bad about them?