should I get wet dry or a hang on filter

[newreef06]

Im new to this hobby. I was at my LFS and I was asking about the different filters. I have a 55 Gl tank. The owner said don't get a canister filter or wet dry. Buy a Emporor 400. Thats the 2 bio wheels that hang on the back on the tank.He also said if you have live sand power heads and live rock you don't need a filter. Is that true. Also whats the differance between a wet dry filter a sump and a refigum. The last one isnt spelled right. Can someone help. You guys have been a great help so far

Scott

 

[scrmbld33]

if your going to have live rock, the bacteria in the rock is you biological filter, you dont want a wet dry,

i have seen canister filters on tanks with rock only with the boiballs or bio media taken out

a sump is usually just a tub or tank below to put equipment (filter socks skimmer heater etc) or to add more water for tank volume

a refugium is kinda of like a 2nd tank tied in to your system that uses macro algae/live rock/live sand to help export nutrients

 

[kingtoad]

Live Sand and Live Rock offer a great bio filter but I still think it's important to have filter. I use a sponge filter that I connect to the tube that takes water down to my Sump. I'm sure hang-on filters like the Emperor 400 do a great job but I personally wouldn't use them because I like the idea of having a clean tank with less hardware. So, I have a sump, and in the sump is where I place my heater, and my skimmer. A skimmer is also a very important peice of machinery to have in an aquarium.

 

[orionsmamma]

Do you have a skimmer? Skip the wet/dry, skip the hang on filters, and get yourself a good skimmer (and I suggest you stay away from the seaclone brand skimmer, which is probably the only one your LFS stocks).

 

[newreef06]

I have a red sea deluxe skimmer. Should I get a better one. Its not even opened yet. I got it new off of ebay

 

[bertoni]

I would ditch the Red Sea and look at the CoraLife SuperSkimmers or the AquaC Remora for hang-ons. The Red Sea skimmers don't get very many good reviews.

I would avoid the canister and wet-dry filters. Sometimes they lead to increased nitrate levels in the tank, and they're also unnecessary maintenance, IMO.

 

[cdentii1]

A skimmer is the single most important piece of equipment you will buy for your tank I have owned the Prizum Pro series (a Paper weight at its best) Aqua C Urchin Pro (Same as a Remora however for in sump worked ok but not that well) Berlin turbo, There are many CoraLife haters out there as well however I never owned one. A few quality skimmers are... ASM, Aqua C EV series, Deltac, ETTS just to name a few. Yes they do cost more however you will eventually end up getting one anyway as these really do work. Check for your self ask any aquarist whom owns or has owned both as they will be able to give you a unbiased opinion.
Just my .02

 

[wooden_reefer]

Re: should I get wet dry or a hang on filter

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6946988#post6946988 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by newreef06
Im new to this hobby. I was at my LFS and I was asking about the different filters. I have a 55 Gl tank. The owner said don't get a canister filter or wet dry. Buy a Emporor 400. Thats the 2 bio wheels that hang on the back on the tank.He also said if you have live sand power heads and live rock you don't need a filter. Is that true. Also whats the differance between a wet dry filter a sump and a refigum. The last one isnt spelled right. Can someone help. You guys have been a great help so far

Scott

A wet-dry is strictly a nitrification filter. It maximizes O2 content to promote nitrification. It is easy to understand when one accept that the lung is more efficient than the gill, as less mass needs to be moved, as O2 is dissolved closer to the point of use. The reason why we drown is to a great part why wet-dry is more efficient in nitrification than entirely submerged systems. Insects go further and this is why they seldom suffocate. Nitrification is aerobic.

In addition, the process of dripping onto filter medium reduces flow around the medium and induces flow thru the medium. This phenomenon has to do with surface tension.

Denitrification, on the other hand, requires anaerobic condition so it does not take place in a wet-dry. This leads many people to wrongly state that wet-dry "generates nitrate" or that wet-dry is a nitrate factory. This is not true. As long as denitrification happens elsewhere, a wet-dry is good where bioload is high, as in a FO tank with many large fish. A typical reef tank does not need a wet-dry.

Sump and refs are setups, not a filter per se. Long subject matters.