Do i want a Wet/Dry or a Refugium?

Hi
i'm not really clear on the benifits of one or the other. i've seen people that have both set up in one and then i've seen where people only have one or the other.
Well i'm setting up a 55g and before i set it up i want to decide because once i put the sump or refugium under the tank, it won't come out from the front and the back is against a wall.
I'm taking my 29g reef tank and putting all of that into my 55g adding some sand and live rock to make up the difference as well as lighting.
I have a fluval 304, but i'm not sure if i still need that. I'm also getting a good deal on a Wet/Dry system with a Aqua C Urchin for a filter. But do i want that or do i want to build a Refugium? Can someone please explain the benifits of one over the other. Should i keep my fluval? I know for some reason DSB play into this, and i don't really have one. Once i get everything into the 55g it will probably be only like 2.5 inches of sand. t

thanks,
vinnie

 

I'll try to answer your questions but have little experience with wet/dry filters.
Generally your LR will be your main source of de-nitrification, but this can only take you to the nitrate stage of the cycle. This is typically the same stage a wet/dry take the breakdown of organics to. the main problem with a wet/dry is once the organics are broken down to Nitrate the system turns into a nitrate farm. This requires you to perform cleaning of the wet/dry for it to stop producing nitrate and return to a beneficial system again. Were as not having a wet/Dry simply requires a water change , that you do anyway.
A Fuge will take the nitrogen cycle one step further and give you an area were macro algae is consuming nitrates thus removing them from your system. Water changes are still required but to a lesser degree of urgency.

Hope this help
Jason

 

Jason - I must counter a couple statements bro - (oh oh - here comes Matt, Defender of Wet/drys vs. misinformation again ! arty-smi )

Wet/drys are not a 'nitrate farm' or 'nitrate factory' yada yada yada - wet/drys do not break down nitrates (quibble - unless some at the bottom are submerged and subjected to different bacteria I believe) - they do not produce them - they just don't break them down.

I have had a few wet/drys now.. (although I don't use them on coral tanks, but they rule for fish tanks) but my experience has been that they are low maintenance. I never had to clean the balls, I just replaced floss on the diffusion plate. I guess misguided fear of nitrate build up leads some to clean them but I think this is counter productive as you are probably killing bacteria that you want.

All you should have to do with the wet/dry is replace the floss on the plate, clean the sponge if you have one and do water changes.

But if you have a tank with corals (esp. demanding hard corals), go with the refugium, it makes more sense in that setup.

Edit - Last thought - Remember the big fish killer is ammonia, not nitrates. In my experience, canisters do not break down ammonia as fast as wet/drys.

 

So Matt, If someone was to get lazy and not replace the floss what would the eventual result be


(hehe)

 

Dirty floss.
I've never seen clogged balls. Ever.

But if someone is lazy, a dirty canister would be worse.

Husbandry is key.

 

But I have used a micron bag in my overflow. If I leaving it in the tank for more than 3 days I can actually notice a nitrate spike. Would this also not be true for a sponge or floss in a Wet/Dry?

I've never used a wet/dry so I'm basing all my theories on what I've read and seen through similar systems

J

 

So is what you're saying is that a wet/dry filter is not the best idea in a reef aquarium? and that i should not use my canister filter?
still trying to understand....

 

Correct. In my opinion, go with a kick butt skimmer, great light, sand and rock and maybe a refugium.

Hmm might be that it is a micron. I have had a sponge in my tetratec filter that I clean only once every few weeks and a sponge in my sump pump that I clean even less (thinking of removing it) and I've haven't detected nitrates in over a year or more.

Of course, nitrates left over from wet/drys, sponges, etc. floating around in the water column could be getting hammered out elsewhere such as the sand and rock. It's all pieces of a puzzle.

 

Sorry I guess I kinda took the thread sideways

I agree with Matt on the equipment list. For a while I left my fluval hooked up but all I had in it was Carbon and I would only run it once every couple of months.

J

 

I have both I have the wetdry which allows for oxygen exchange, houses the skimmer and the Uv light bot then drain into the refugium nice clean filtered water that then gets suched back up to the tank. Here is a pic with out the mangroves and stuff.