Wet/Dry to Sump conversion (yes another)

[Greg Depo]

So I currently have a 50g bowfront tank with a koller Craft wet/dry filter (RP90). The tank has been set up for about 10 months. I used about 10 lbs of cured live rock and 35lbs of base rock. I have 5 fish, an anemone and recently a few corals. The water parimeters are all good and overall the tank seems stable. However I've struggled with algea since the beginning and Ive been reading that wet/dry isn't the way to go if I want to establish a Coral tank, which has always been the goal.

Soo after researching I'm interested in converting to a sump. This way I could install a better protien skimmer and any other equipment under the stand. My question is one, how evasive would a change be from the wet/dry (bio ball fun) to a sump setup? Two, Can it be done and not cause issues to the livestock? And third, is there a good guide to this conversion. I'm curious what will will act as the biological filter once the bio balls are removed.

I'm obviously new to the hobby but I really enjoy it and have found so much quality information on reef2reef. Thanks everyone.

 

[Peace River]

You are already asking good questions. As far as biological filtration, how much live rock/live sand do you have in the tank?

 

[Greg Depo]

You are already asking good questions. As far as biological filtration, how much live rock/live sand do you have in the tank?

I started with like 10 lbs of live rock and 35 of base. I was thinking that I could seed the rest. Not entirely sure how much that has occurred in the base rock. Would I have to add more live rock to be able to move to a sump?

 

[Auquanut]

I started out with a wet/dry filter on my 125. Hated it! I always had problems with high nitrates, and maintenance was a chore. I replaced it with a sump after only three months. I started with a combo of probably 5o/5o live rock and base rock. About a 2 inch sand bed. When I made the change, the corals seemed to improve almost immediately. No noticeable adverse effect.

While I started with a higher ratio of live rock than you, your system has been running longer than mine was when I made the change. I think you probably have enough beneficial bacteria in the tank to make the change. I would feed lightly for a while and keep a close eye on tank parameters.

I may have just gotten lucky, so you may want to get more info/opinions before taking the jump.

Before

After

 

[Peace River]

I started with like 10 lbs of live rock and 35 of base. I was thinking that I could seed the rest. Not entirely sure how much that has occurred in the base rock. Would I have to add more live rock to be able to move to a sump?

There is some biological filtration occurring in the wet/dry so when you pull that offline then will you be replacing that somewhere either with live rock in the tank or some type of biological filtration in the sump?

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I am one of the few that like wet drys, but I also like the canned chicken spread from Underwood that come with extra beak and claw. I still have my first one from like 1984. Never had that koller so not exactly sure what media it has in it.

. @Auquanut had problems because he mixed colors of the balls. The ratio of blue to black was way off. I would do 50/50 or 1 section blue, 1 black.

You will be fine like everyone mentioned. Keep that filter you take off though. Never know when it may come in handy. Also, No reason if you are worried you can’t drop some of the media from the koller in the sump and remove them slowly.

 

[Auquanut]

Keep that filter you take off though. Never know when it may come in handy.

Absolutely right. I still have the old wet/dry filter. May come in handy in a pinch, or I might be able to chop it up and convert it into a sump someday.

. @Auquanut had problems because he mixed colors of the balls.

You're kidding about the balls right? There's a difference?

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Absolutely right. I still have the old wet/dry filter. May come in handy in a pinch, or I might be able to chop it up and convert it into a sump someday.


You're kidding about the balls right? There's a difference?

I was just being goofy.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

I currently have a wet/dry and been thinking to convert it to a full blow sump. I’m following this thread since I’m still not sure if I should (i am struggling with some algae) I’m not using bioballs tho I’m using live rock on the wet/dry.