Could I get ride of the wet/dry and just use LR

[mini mee]

Hello everyone

This is my question could I eliminate my w/d
and just use my live rock and skimmer to keep the tank healthy?

Here are the specs of my tank.
30gal tall, 450 gph wet dry pump and 120 gph inside tank circulation I have a wave maker and I was using it at first but 2 pumps like 120 gph seemed to be blasting every thing and did not give me the grass swaying in the breeze look,all the corals closed up.I only have one pump being pulsed off and on every other minute.
40 lbs L/R
Back pack2 skimmer with bio bail and diy wet dry and sump
5w per gal of light
ammonia 0
alk 3.5 meg/L
cal 450, good coraline growth not spectacular but good I dose b- ionic and tropic marine bio calcium.
1 yellow tang that is feeding off live rock
and various macro.
1 gobby
1 pepermint shrimp
assorted snails and blue legged crabs
corals- torch,young,shrooms and tree

I feed spray dried marine phytoplankton and a pinch of brine sparingly.
5 gal water change a week or approx 10 every 2 weeks.

what I would like to do is get rid of the wet/dry
wait a while then take out the bio bail in the back pak 2
When I am done all I want to keep is the sump and of coarse the Tank, could this be done with this system ?
I don't have a sand bed just crushed coral subtrate I would have used sand but had not heard of sand without silica till after the tank was up and running for 4 months oops

Maybe I could add sand but how well would that work this far down the line.
Do you think I need to up grade the skimmer first before removing the wet /dry? or maybe add more live rock if so how much?

Thanks in advance
mini mee

[mini mee]

Maybe this is info overload here is the condensed version
#1 with the way the system is set up could I get ride of the wet dry?
#2 or would I need more live rock to do this?
#3 or would you think I would be better off whith a live sand bed before I get ride of the bio bail and wet/dry?

thanks
mini mee

[FishDaddy]

mini mee,
You should do just fine without the bio-balls as you have enough live rock to do the job. The Bak Pak skimmer is ok for this size tank as well.
How deep is your crushed coral? Your tank would benefit from a 4+" sandbed. If you only have a thin layer you could just add sand on top. The less disturbance to your system the better. I'd give some time between adding the sandbed and removing the bioballs. Here are some excellent articles and links that pretty well cover all there is to know about sandbeds: http://www.reefkeepers.org/faq/cache/33.html http://sites.netscape.net/douglxyzzy/sandbed.html
Also, you might want to put your tank specs in our "Tank Specs" section so you won't have to repost the info.
HTH
Dick

MM I see a couple options you can try.
#1 keep the present live rock and slowly add about 60 lbs of aragonite sand then add some live sand and or reef sand booster stuff from Indo Pacific Sea farms or Inland Aaquatics.
Sand cultures from local reefers who'll share will help. Remove the CC in sections and replace with aragonite.
#2 add another 20 lbs of live rock and keep the present CC substrate. In either case maybe a manifold to split up the return water flow would help even it out. Try pointing the power heads at the ends of the tank at an angle so the water is bounce onto corals rather than right at it. In either case you could eliminate the bioballs or media from the sump.
#3 Go ahead and get a bigger tank and set it up better from the start, after planning it out carefully

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[Peter_]

The only problem with removing the round bio media from your wet-dry unit is that people will always say that you got no balls!

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I'm no scrub...I let my ATS do all the work!

[mini mee]

Thanks guys for the response
doug and FishDaddy I will consider the options.

Peter
But as Dr Evil would say I still have my "giant laser"

Mini Mee