Refugium vs wet/dry?? Please Help

Hey all, I am still pretty new to the hobby & could use some advice.. I was given a 60gal aquarium for Christmas & have been doing some research on equipment, setup, etc. The tank came with a decent sized wet/dry filter, but after reading several threads, it seems like a refugium would be better for a reef tank, is this true?

Also I was given a UV sterilizer, I read a post on here that it would kill copepods/amphipods etc if I choose to have them in the tank, so should I not use it?

Thanks ;D

 

I use a wet/dry and it works great. The only thing I have in mine is 2 socks and a protein skimmer.

I'm not sure about the UV, I've never had one.

Good luck!

 

A wet dry is more than suffecient for filtration. Make sure you have good biological media in the sump as well as a skimmer. You can use bio balls but I prefer live rock. I would stay away from a refugium until you get some more experience in the hobby. If your gonna go full reef then a UV sterilizer can be detrimental to things that need to thrive to make a succesfull reef but I have heard of people using them. Fish only tanks are more suited for sterilizers.

 

The trickle filter certainly does work; however, it works best with a FO tank that has no live rock. With sufficient LR in a reef tank, the wet/dry becomes redundant; your bio-filter is controlled by the amount of ammonia being produced in your system.

The UV does not sterilize the water, it sterilizes bacteriums so they can't reproduce. For something as large as a pod, the exposure time would have to be astronomical. You might blind the few that get pulled into the light, but you won't kill them.

 

Well said.

 

+2, what these 2 said

Wet/dry are old school, and rarely used or recommended for a reef tank.

OH, and welcome to 3Reef!

 

My sump is a trickle style and I crushed up live rock in place of bio balls with a skimmer and external pump and my params are always solid. Am I missing something here or confusing a wet dry as a sump?

 

Having the bio-media in place does no harm as long as the prefilter is properly maintained. Question is, would your system be any less stable had you started without it? Considering the amount of LR in your DT, probably not.

 

Nailed it again.

 

Great, thank you all for your input, this helps a lot