Wet/Dry Filter

[Adam S]

i havea wet r fiter tat i am going to use with my new 120 and was wondering if i should keep the bio balls or just repae it with live rock ruble and ifi should replace i with live rock houldi take out the drip plate.

[slief]

If you use live rock, you will still want the drip plates to distribute the water evenly. I would use both balls and live rock. Thats what I did when I had my wetdry running.

The biggest long term issue is debris collecting on the balls, rocks and especially under them.

[Mounda]

Do you have live rock in your tank ? You could do without the whole wet dry with enough live rock.

[vdf8ball]

I'm building a 125 reef.......still buying equipment, no water in tank yet. I've done quite a bit of reading on the subject and have come to the conclusion that the bio balls over the long haul could be a problem. Several have ended up removing them so I decided not to use them in my system. I removed the drip plate and replaced it with a sock

[gdsmith56]

+1 to vdf8ball -- the common belief now is that bio-balls are nothing more than a nitrate factory for reef aquariums. Keep the drip plate or replace with a sock (mechanical filtration - you'll need to clean it daily) and then use either live rock or rubble. I personally have a little rubble with a few hefty size pieces in my 29g sump.

[Adam S]

im using it on a fowlr tank so it will have like rok in te tank as well so should i keep the bio balls or should i pu the live rock and filter pads

[vdf8ball]

My thinking is that you should have niether in you sump. JMPO

[Mounda]

As long as you have enough LR in your tank you do not need the bioballs. If you can't get your hands on the LR then keep the bioballs but that will only work for a FOWLR tank. The filter sock is a good addition if you have the time to clean it every 2-3 days because if you don't you'll run into the same problem as the bioballs.

[Adam S]

should i just take out the drip plate and the lid so i can fit in a protein skimmer or just keep it on with it dripping on te live rock anddo a hang on skimmer