Sump or wet/dry, which one and why?

Im gonna be starting a 125g fowlr soon and was wondering which would be better, a sump with additional live rock or an oversized wet/dry.

 

Wet/dry would be better IMO. There simply is no bacterial filter that's more efficient and easy to maintain than a wet/dry filter. Think of it this way. You have to keep the filter media in your sump clean somehow, so you can either choose to pull out rock and clean it somehow or pull out bio-balls and just rinse them somehow. The downside is that if you do decide to go reef in the future, you won't have the best filtering option.

 

My buddy offered me a trigger systems sump thats 30x12x14, comes with a reef octopus skimmer and a reactor (forgot which reactor) for $250. IMO it seems a lil small, but a $200 protein skimmer Plus a reactor kinda make it worth it...

 

Well I was trying to decide which one to use, after my buddy offered me his setup I know I wanted it. But then id like to have the added bio of a wet/dry. So I figured why not both. So what ive come up with is having the wet/dry gravity feed my sump. Ill use a 20h for the homemade wet/dry, with a bulk head on the bottom. I came up with a sketch on paint, no laughing! Lol

 

Heres my sketch, of course not to scale.

 

Anyone have any opinions?

 

IMO I think you would be overdoing your sump for a fish only tank. A wet/dry is the best option for a fish only tank although I have not run saltwater tanks for a couple years but use them for my large FW predator tanks. You should be able to make one sump that would hold everything you need for a fish only tank.

From you drawing if you decide to keep both setups I would add the mechanical filtration (your filter sock and or some filter floss) before the BBs. I personally have never pulled my BBs or rock while my tank is running....It would be a daunting task to say the least. However if you were to not have any mechanical filtration before the BBs you run the risk of clogging your BBs eventually and having to pull them to be cleaned. I run my hose into filter floss bag then into my filter sock then to the drip tray. This way my filter sock last longer between cleanings and my BBs do not get clogged with excess junk.

In theory you do not need anymore than 4gallons of BBs for your tank. That amount of BBs would not take up all that much room in a sump leaving you with plenty of room for all the rest of your equipment.

 

Knowing me, ill probably convert it to a reef one day. So a fuge on a fowlr tank doesn't add any benefits? I just like the idea of giving algae the perfect environment to thrive somewhere other than my display tank.

 

If you plan to go with a reef eventually, you should do the sump. If you don't do the wet dry too that is ok a sump and good skimmer will be fine to keep a fowlr tank clean. Others have had both and later removed the wet dry part when they go full blown reef. this looks like it could be an option for you cause how you have it drawn you could just make your drain go right into your sump in the future and take the wet/dry out.

A fuge in a fowlr tank, with a powerful skimmer is great. People do this all the time and then later down the road they have a tank that is ready to become a reef. You can also run a reef tank with a wet dry filter alone but from all the reading it seems that to maintain the effectiveness of the wet/dry requires more work then a fuge with macro and live rock/ skimmer combo.

Heidi

 

Well im gonna try and build it to my blue print, hopefully it works.