# [Wet Thumb Forum]-To Wet\Dry or not to Wet\Dry



## tazcrash69 (Oct 24, 2005)

OK, I'm still in the reading, and planning phase. 
Originally I was going to set up with a hang on back Wet\Dry filter







(new from when I wanted to set up a reef tank). I'm a bit old school, and a huge believer of the Bio-filtration. (Besides, nitrates are good for plants, right?) But now I'm wondering if a Fluval 304 with the spray bar way below the water line will be better to serve my purposes. 
On the Wet\Dry filter's pluses are; great Bio filtration, easy to maintain, lets me keep the heater out of the tank, and it was a cool toy I got for Christmas, 
On the Minuses, I'm worried about the Co2 loss, and low water circulation (I know this can be supplemented with a power head or two).
For the Fluval on the pluses; high flow rate, great mechanical filtration, 
On the Minuses: low Bio Filtration, harder to maintain, It's about 10 years old.

If anyone can please add to these two lists, or give me a good opinion on why I should go one way or the other, I'd really appreciate it. 
Thanks,


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i would just use the fluval. the bio filtration of the wet/dry is almost pointless. all it does is had all the bio balls that increase surface area. plants have tons of surface area, plus they suck up all the nitrates and things like that anyways. 

just my openion. if you sell the wet/dry filter on ebay, you could make enough money to buy a new fluval 304.

mechanical filtration is really all you need in a planted tank. you can use carbon at times to take out chemicals if you need.


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## imported_shalu (Feb 13, 2004)

I have used a commercial wet/dry for 2.5 years, love it. No junk equipment in the tank. Never need to worry about O2/aeration at night even with high fish load. Expensive fish are protected even if you completely mess up your plants. No maintanance. I have not washed the bioballs even once during all this time, no worry of clogging. Rinsing the prefilter sponge is far easier than opening canister and cleaning it. The wet/dry part does NOT cause much CO2 loss, read here


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

hmmm. that was interesting. i guess what really makes a difference is rather the wet/dry filter has a lid or if it's exposed to the air in the room. thanks shalu.



> Expensive fish are protected even if you completely mess up your plants.


could you explain this part?


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## tazcrash69 (Oct 24, 2005)

Thanks for the article.
Russell: I think he means that if your plants die off you will stil have your biological filtration.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

ok, that's what i was thinking, but i wanted to be sure.

i'm glad to hear that about wet/dry not losing much co2.

i was sorry to hear that the eheim spray bar loses so much. i will have to tell a couple friends.


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## tazcrash69 (Oct 24, 2005)

I was really surprised by the report, but it makes sense. The Co2 residing in the air space of the bio chamber reaches an equilibrium with the Co2 in the water. At least now I know I have to build a cover for the bio chamber, and not to pump air into the bio chamber.

The spray bars would probably be OK if placed low in the water column.


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

> Originally posted by TazCrash69:
> The spray bars would probably be OK if placed low in the water column.


IME, the direction of the spraybar is a factor also. My spraybar is about an inch above my substrate pointed into my back glass. I recently was able to cut my bubble rate by about 25% by changing it from a 45 degree angle to closer to a 22 degree angle.


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