# Questions for all you wet/dry owners



## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

I would like to get a wet/dry filter for a 90g fw because I like the fact that they are little mantinence, can put heaters in the sump, and oxygenate the water real good. I don't know anything about wet/dry's though







. Here are some questions I would liek answers to

1. can wet/drys be used with freshwater or are they made for saltwater?

2. Would I need to airrate my tank or will a wet/dry give the water enough oxygen?

3. Are they noisy or quiet? How noisy or quiet?

4. Where can I buy a complete set up for one online?
I am thinking about this one, but I don't see any tubing to return the water to the tank. Where can I get some tubing and fittings for it?

One last question. Why is the elbow pipe right above the filter L shaped?


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## piranha_sav (Feb 28, 2003)

what's up man,

yeah wet/dry's are great filters. Yes you can put a heater in the sump, makes the tank look better with no hanging heater. And yes, the water being pumped into the tank should give u enough oxygen and the overflow should create some surface aggitation. You can add a powerhead if u can see you're not getting enough oxygen. They can work with freshwater tanks and the noise is not as noisy as powerfilters. Do u have an overflow box? or drilled holes in ur tank? if u have a overflow box w/o a bulk head it can get a little waterfall noise and if u have drilled holes with a bulk head there is no noise. Check ebay for some good deals, i always see aquaclear aquatics and they work pretty good. GOod luck with ur w/d system, it works wonders and saves u headaches. PEace


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

I have an aquaclear aquatice wet/dry. Check ebay for great package deals which usually include everything you need to get up and running. To answer your questions:

1) Wet drys will work equally well on either salt of fresh water. Their filtering capabilities are second to none.

2) The simple fact that the water is trickling down in a waterfall like fashion will provide more airation then any powerhead can provide. With a wetdry, provided it is of proper rating for you tank, you will not have to worry about aeration.

3)I have found wet/dries never as quiet as canister filters. There will always be a constant trickle sound that usually can be quieted simply by having the wet dry in a cabinet. The overflow will make a annoying gurgle/sucking sound unless you do something about it. I constructed a "stand pipe" and that pretty much quieted it down. There is still that water tricle sound. Its slight, but audible.

4)I would suggest ebay as stated above.

~Dj


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

bgshortys said:


> 1. can wet/drys be used with freshwater or are they made for saltwater?
> 
> 2. Would I need to airrate my tank or will a wet/dry give the water enough oxygen?
> 
> ...


 1. they actually work better for freshwater, saltwater owner use live rock in sumps instead usually

2. wet dry is more then enough for circulation and oxygenation, the return is like having a powerhead

3. it depends on the pump you get, your flow rate, and plumbing
mine rather quiet, just get a good pump, make plumbing as short as possible (pvc is best)

4. they are expensive, eBay has good deals, and I make them as well

the ease of maintainence shouldnt be your primary reason, they offer superior filtration = better water for your fish should be the main reason


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

Sir Nathan XXI said:


> the ease of maintainence shouldnt be your primary reason, they offer superior filtration = better water for your fish should be the main reason


 Well said Nate.

~Dj


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

Thanks. I have a question about overflow siphons (or hang on prefilters).

Lets say I have a overflow siphon that siphons 600gph and a water pump that pumps about 700gph at 4' (I'm assuming that means thats how much water it can pump 4' high). anyway, will that pump be too big and pump the water too fast and eventually drain the sump? If so, can I get a overflow siphon that is 800gph and a 700GPH pump, or will too much water siphon out and eventually stop the siphon water flow?

Sorry for asking so many questions. I know nothing about siphon prefilters. If it is rated for 700GPH, will it constantly siphon 700GPH or can it siphon less and still work?


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

bgshortys said:


> Thanks. I have a question about overflow siphons (or hang on prefilters).
> 
> Lets say I have a overflow siphon that siphons 600gph and a water pump that pumps about 700gph at 4' (I'm assuming that means thats how much water it can pump 4' high). anyway, will that pump be too big and pump the water too fast and eventually drain the sump? If so, can I get a overflow siphon that is 800gph and a 700GPH pump, or will too much water siphon out and eventually stop the siphon water flow?
> 
> Sorry for asking so many questions. I know nothing about siphon prefilters. If it is rated for 700GPH, will it constantly siphon 700GPH or can it siphon less and still work?


 yes that means it pumps 700gph at 4ft of height

and yes the sump will drain and the tank will overflow if the siphon is slower than the pump

get an overflow at least a couple hundred faster than the pump, if the overflow gets dirty and clogs a little it slows it down

overflows list the max flow rate, they only run as fast as they have to, so if pumps shut off, they stop draining, think of it like a dam, water only flows over it if there is enough water to go over it


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

O.K. I have one last question. How do you do a water cange on a wet/dry with an overflow siphon. Won't the lower water level break the siphon flow or will the siphon just stop with water still in it? Do you have to shut the pump off every time you do a water change?


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## piranha_sav (Feb 28, 2003)

just turn the pump off and the overflow box should leave water on both sides at a certain level and air should not escape the siphon tube. Then when u replace the water, the siphon should start automatically with more water overflowing, make sense? dont worry about it man, the siphon should still be going and if not u can always start it again.


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

piranha_sav said:


> just turn the pump off and the overflow box should leave water on both sides at a certain level and air should not escape the siphon tube. Then when u replace the water, the siphon should start automatically with more water overflowing, make sense? dont worry about it man, the siphon should still be going and if not u can always start it again.


 exactly


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

I heard that some overflows are fail-safe and some break the siphon all the time. I want a fail-safe one (duh). Are there any certian brand names or products I should look at?

*Edit* Also, is the sponge filter in the overflow box enough mechanical filtration so the bio-balls don't get a whole bunch of muck on it. I don't want to end up with crap all over the bio-balls a year from now. If it's not enough filtration, what else can I use to trap the debres before entering the sump?


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

bgshortys said:


> I heard that some overflows are fail-safe and some break the siphon all the time. I want a fail-safe one (duh). Are there any certian brand names or products I should look at?
> 
> *Edit* Also, is the sponge filter in the overflow box enough mechanical filtration so the bio-balls don't get a whole bunch of muck on it. I don't want to end up with crap all over the bio-balls a year from now. If it's not enough filtration, what else can I use to trap the debres before entering the sump?


 sorry I didnt see this earlier

yes clean the sponge on the overflow every tank cleaning and its enough

the only way an overflow should lose siphon is if you dump the water out of it, as long as you dont take water out of them, they SHOULD maintain siphon once setup


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

Hey nate, do you get a trickling sound from your wetdry? Where the water is still in the pipe/tubing and hits the 90 degree elbow right before it enters the drip plate and enters actual wet/dry. Of the little noise that mine makes, this seems to what causes it. I wanted to know if I constructed a pvc conections from the overflow to the wet/dry that might lesson the noise instead of having this flexible hose.

To clarify, im not talking about the sucking sound of the overflow box, I already constructed dual standpipes to fit into the hang on overflow that silenced that sucking. Its just a constant waterfall noise. Thats all, but I wish that I could get rid of it. Any ideas?

~Dj


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

InSinUAsian said:


> Hey nate, do you get a trickling sound from your wetdry? Where the water is still in the pipe/tubing and hits the 90 degree elbow right before it enters the drip plate and enters actual wet/dry. Of the little noise that mine makes, this seems to what causes it. I wanted to know if I constructed a pvc conections from the overflow to the wet/dry that might lesson the noise instead of having this flexible hose.
> 
> To clarify, im not talking about the sucking sound of the overflow box, I already constructed dual standpipes to fit into the hang on overflow that silenced that sucking. Its just a constant waterfall noise. Thats all, but I wish that I could get rid of it. Any ideas?
> 
> ~Dj


I think the sound you have is from your drip plate and then going through your media, is your sumps water level up to the bottom of the media, if not that will cut down noise to put it right to the bottom of the media

I did think of a way to cut down some of the noise just yesterday, the idea is to install a drain trap (its S-shaped so if you drop jewelry in the sink its not lost) well my thinking is............if you put that in as close to the tank as possible it will reduce almost all gurgling from the overflows or noise coming through the overflows

the reason is water level closes off all airways in the trap that way there is no air able to pass which will reduces sound

I am going to make these for my tank soon, I have predrilled tank and I just put bulkheads in the overflow boxes and then filled them with bioballs with no stand pipe, so I do get some noise now

I used to have standpipes but they would clog every now and then and cause me problems say once every 50 days

with just a bulkhead there is no clogging, and bioballs add to bio media (got this idea from Knifeman)
so this trap idea will prove to be excellent for me as I do get noise from gurgling


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

this is an after thought

but to minimize sound in a plumbing system, avoid sharp turns like 90s, use a 45 or two if you can (as straight as possible, unless you want to put a trap in)

mine doesnt have a 90 prior to the drip tray because I have a straight piece going in, not an elbow


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

For the s shaped piping, are you talking about putting it as close to the aquarium (In my case right after the overflow siphon) or as close to the sump tank as possible?


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

bgshortys said:


> For the s shaped piping, are you talking about putting it as close to the aquarium (In my case right after the overflow siphon) or as close to the sump tank as possible?


 as close to the aquarium as possible

think of it like this, if you put it by the sump you will get all the noise on the way to the sump, if you put it as close to the exit of sound you wont get any traveling sound

I will make a PVC one tonight and show you a pic of what I mean, the S cannot be too large or it may not work right, you want it just deep enough to keep water in it


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

Sir Nathan XXI said:


> but to minimize sound in a plumbing system, avoid sharp turns like 90s, use a 45 or two if you can (as straight as possible, unless you want to put a trap in)


 I will give this a try this nate, thank you.

~Dj


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

Pics would be VERY helpful. If it's not to hard, can you post pics of the whole wet/dry system. Ive only seen 2 at the LFS but they were under the cabnit and I couldn't take a better look at them.


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

here is my idea of the silencer as I will call it. I havent tested it yet, but in theory it should work very well, I will be able to test it this weekend most likely or early next week. the pic isnt to scale either, but the shallower the rise you make is probably best, just make sure it is at least deep enough to to keep the horizontal peice submerged

and by the way I thought of this on my own, just in case somebody comes along calling me a copycat


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

So the Nate, do you have the same sound coming from this area of your wet/dry? I idea looks great. Just there might be a problem with clogging though or junk settleing there.

~Dj


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

I think if it does silence the noise, it will be worth it. You could always flush that area out once in a while if it does get clogged.

P.S. be shure to tel us how it works when you get it set up!


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

I plan to make that piece threaded in the end coming from the bulkhead and then have the end going into the sump just a slip fit with no glue so I can take it off and clean it occasionally

I will keep you guys updated


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## alvin (Jan 2, 2003)

Nate, where do you get supplies to make an acrylic wet/dry. I thought about trying to make one for fun to see if I could incorporate a wet/dry, UV sterilizer and canister filter all into one. I put up a post earlier of my test rig, (oceanclear post). I just wanted to try to design a complete "all in one filter" for larger tanks. You just lose so much head and pressure with all those connections, elbow's valves, etc. I would assume most people only get about 60% efficiency out of there pump. Also, it helps to use as much free energy as you can (good old gravity). So, basically the more water you cram into you overflow the higher the pressure at the bottom. I think it may be a real good idea to take out the pre-filter tube in the overflow, but it also might overflow the tower of the wet/dry if you have a filter media in it. I'll find out soon enough. Post how the s tube thing works out. I never thought of that. I'm going to design a system at work on my computer for all of my connections excluding the 25 micron filter, and see how much head I lose. I'm then going to compare that to the actual output. I bet I get 50% effciency tops. We'll see. John


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

I think you are in Ohio arent you?

I can tell you now you need special blades to work with acrylic I bought a $160 blade to cut it with

once you practice alot its not too hard, its kinda hard to make them perfect, and its pretty labor intensive to polish the edges and stuff, but if its for yourself who cares if the edges are perfect?

let me know location and I can help ya find the stuff


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## alvin (Jan 2, 2003)

I'm in cincinnati. I'm going to do the testing this weekend. May be surprising to see how much flow makes it through all the filtering.


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

I went to a new fish store yesterday about 45min away from my house. I think it is my new favorite store!! It's owned by a married couple that are in their 70's and both know what they are doing (from what I saw). Anyway, it's mostly for saltwater but they have some freshwater fish which includes red bellies. All of their systems are hooked up to wet/drys and he showed me almost every single one. I was real amazed at this (approx)120g bowfront reef tank that was hooked up to a tidepool II wet/dry with a spraybar return! He said he has had no problems with that filter since he installed it a while ago (about a year or so). I figured if it can handle that tank, it could handle a 90g freshwater. I'm leaning towards the tidepool II with an external pump. here is their website. The bowfront is the last pic on the bottom.


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

Well thanks for all of your help guys, but in the end, we decided to get a filstar xp3 canister filter for the 90g instead. It was mainly because of the price (more than double for a trickle filter). My dad changed his mind when he saw the model running on a 200g by itself at the LFS. Right now, I have it set up to my 33g to help get the bacteria growing inside before we move it. My 33 now has a power filter and a canister all hooked up to it...Its's kind of ghetto, but super filtered


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

update, I will have the silencer running at full speed within a few days, and I am using threaded couplings to attach it for ease of removing and cleaning

and I got my new wet dry running today its awesome, no more junk rubbermaid bin wet dry


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