Discussion - Why are...

[Reefscape]

....the common wet/dry filters concidered, generally, as a bad device to use on a marine system? have you run one before? if so, what was your experience? did it actually do the job, or only partly, or not at all?

If there was an aspect of marine equiptment that you could revolutionize, what would it be? why would you seek to revolutionize that chosen aspect? How would you make it better?

What has been your complete and utter waste of money purchase? Why was it a waste? was it because it did not do what it stated? did you just not get value for money?

 

[archer772]

Wet/Dry filters- Well I have never run one myself but have done some reading on them and talked to many people that have run them and this is what I have found out. The wet/dry filter is the best filtration out there for what it does as in converting ammonia to nitrite to nitrate but that is where it stops as in it doesnt convert trates to nitrogen. I understand that DSB's and large pieces of LR can finish the cycle and that is done by haveing a oxygen void area to finish the cycle of converting nitrates to harmless nitrogen. When wet/drys are maintained properly they are excelent filtration methods but the problem I see with them is most people dont maintain them and end up fighting higher nitrate levels and that is the only reason I dont recomend them.

Waist of money- I have wasted alot of cash on sub par lighting and skimmers because I thought those lights are bright they will work WRONG!!! and skimmers there is no need to spend $200-$500 dollars on a bubble making device once again WRONG!!! I wish I would have listened to the more seasoned reefers because that would have saved me probably $500 and a lot of headaches and that is on a 4 foot 65 gallon tank and when I did get the correct lighting and skimmer I got them used for a great price like a ASM G-2 for $100 a Ice Cap T-5 setup for about $150 and then MH system for about $150. I still have both the T-5 and MH because I may switch back to the T-5's but right now I like the looks of the shimmer lines I get with the MH's

 

[Amphiprion]

I did about 14 years ago. I then set up a smaller tank that has nothing but live rock and noted similar results. Also, the tank with the wet/dry filter had considerably more nitrate, whereas the smaller tank that housed more fish and was fed more heavily had no detectable levels. I removed the wet/dry filter and noted no spikes in nitrogenous compounds (other than the already present nitrate), added a bit more rock a little later, and noticed that nitrates had fallen. While that doesn't always work out so nicely and straightforward for everybody, it was a no-brainer in my situation.

 

[thincat]

I was a freshy and cut my teeth on wet/dry flilters. They worked and were very good at what they were intended to do. When I went SW my unit came with a wet/dry and I thought that tec haddened gone very far. A friend in Washingto told me to ditch the wet/dry and the sponges and that is what I did and all my readings are 0.
Different set of rules.