LF2 200/240 Wet/Dry Filter

[ddaquaria]

Anyone ever used the LF2 Wet/Dry Filter on a freshwater tank? I'm trying to see if I can take advantage of the extra hook ups that it has.

Here is a picture:

[bethesdaboy]

Not sure what you are asking here man, what advantage?

[Zulaab]

Many people have wet/dry's on freshwater tanks.. The one in the picture looks like a saltwater wet/dry. No need to go that far. If you can get Pro/Clear wet/dry's. They are the BOMB.. I have one and my mom runs my old one.. they do an awesome job at it.

[ddaquaria]

i just picked this filter up for a bill. I'm just trying to figure out the most efficient way to use it since I'm so use to my proclears. Looks like I need to have my pumps running externally for one...

[Zulaab]

If possible. Remove all of the Saltwater stuff.. I would fill it with water at your kitchen sink and see where water always covers so you know where to put your heater. Then look at where water needs to come out and I would run two connectors together into one (with a splitter and then put a valve on it so you can shut it off and then put the pump after that.. this way in case the pump fails you can remove it from the system without a ton of water being emptied out of the tank.

[Matt in Houston]

I have a CPR CR3000 wet dry on my discus tank...its been great so far...and its very quiet. I hear people complain about how loud their wetdry is...this giant thing of mine sound about like a biowheel HOB filter and thats just because of the over flow box....the wet dry itself is virtually silent when you close the stand doors.

Good luck with your setup...I do like wet drys.

[ddaquaria]

Not sure what you are asking here man, what advantage?

Part of my question is what the heck am I connecting to all these bulkheads.

I just figured out that 2 would go to external pumps, but I can't figure out the other 3 bulkheads.

[schance]

for the tubing connection near the cylindars with filter media. it is meant to a have a pump pushing water through them. the 2 on the very bottom should be connected to your main pump or pumps and the one inbetween those 2 is for accesories ie a uv sterilizer, protein skimmer, our could prom be used as auto top off. and last obviously the 2 top ones are for the water going into filter

make sense?

[ddaquaria]

Now that makes more sense. The bulkhead at the water line could be an auto topoff, and the other 2 smaller bulkheads could be for the UV Sterilizer and Protein Skimmer. That makes a little more sense now to me. Next step is to figure out how I can use the cylinders to make a CO2 Reactor.

[ddaquaria]

Any recommendations for 2 external pumps?

[schance]

i am not abig fan of external personally but for internal its mag drive all the way.

[Zulaab]

As I said earlier.. if you go external I would combine the two exhausts and bind into one bigger hose. Like 1/2 x 1/2 x 3/4 then connect the 3/4 to your pump. Put a shut off valve before the pump so you dont have to dry up your wet/dry in case you need to change pumps. Like schance said. I dont like externals myself, I would use a MAG and go internal. In that case I would hook a hose from one external connecter to the other so it just flows right back into the sump again.

Running CO2 with a wet/dry is not smart... reason is in a wet/dry you have a massive water to air contact, and it will drive your CO2 right out of the water. So to do it you have add a TON of CO2 to your system and now your in danger as soon as you stop water flow because the large amount of CO2 is now stuck in the water coloum. Wet/dry's and nicely planted tanks.. dont mix.

[ddaquaria]

First I'll start where I disagree. Planted tanks and wet/dry actually do very well but you have to plan it out. This is the primary reason that I built a reactor versus using a diffuser. They is total contact betwen the water and co2. And the reactor makes it more effecient. Also, you don,t run the wet dry at full oxygen saturation. I lower or raise the durso in order to better control the filtration flow and you also use mag 7 or mag 9.5 in order to reduce flow into the tank. I've been very successful with this route in both of my 90s.

From my phone
D

[ddaquaria]

Anyone using external pumps and likes them? Let me know which ones you recommend. The reason I'm looking at 2 pumps is that each pump will be operating it's own overflow area. And the usage of 2 pumps allows for a backup.