Need help with Wet Dry Trickle filter info!

[MitchellRuley]

I have just started my saltwater aquarium. I have a 30 gal. with only live rock right now. I have a wet dry trickle filter, and I have a problem with it. I have tried contacting the company, but they will not get back to me, so I thought I'd join a forum! Everything is going great except the power of the suction on my filter. I have to keep restarting the suction of the U-tube in the filter. After about 3 or 4 days the power of the U-tube gets down to a trickle. This is going to be extremely inconvenient when I start adding fish to my tank. Please help with any comments!

 

[Bifferwine]

Hello and welcome to the site!

I wouldn't use it at all. They do not work well in saltwater tanks and can even make your water quality worse.

In a small tank like a 30 gallon, you really do not need any filters. You can maintain good water quality as long as you have a sufficient amount of live rock (1 to 2 lbs per gallon) and you keep up with regular water changes (10 to 20% weekly).

 

[FishyReef]

Sounds to me like something is getting blocked or slowing down your flow. Do you have a sponge in your HOB overflow over the entrance to the tube that flows to the sump/trickle filter? Did you use a new hose or old hose to hook up the HOB overflow to the trickle filter? What is your return pump rated for? I also have an HOB overflow and mine will slow down if my return pump isn't running very fast (for example, I have a ball valve on it and occasionally have to turn it down if it starts to run really fast, and once I turn it down and slow the flow the return line then my siphon in my u-tube slows considerably). My siphon will also slow considerably if I don't rinse the sponge in my HOB overflow or sock filter in the my sump at least weekly.

As for the wet-dry trickle aspect of your filter - I presume you have a sponge filter where the water comes out and then bioballs? If so, I'd remove the bioballs and replace with live rock rubble - just remove a handful or so every few days and replace. And you might want to ditch the sponge filter pad - it could be slowing it down and will get dirty fast. Do you have a protein skimmer?

One final option is that there is an automatic pump that you can buy that will restart your siphon automatically if it fails - I don't know what they are called but my LFS told me they run around $15. You might want to look into something like that.

 

[Amba]

+1 to biff, I would ditch it altogether

 

[RockStacker]

Everyone else above has already commented on the trickle filter so I won't comment on it some more.

The loss of siphon on the U-tube could be due to insufficient water flow going through it.
If water is flowing slowly through the U-Tube, air bubbles can collect at the top of the tube and are not flushed out by the water flow. Eventually a big enough air pocket develops and could break the siphon.

You could remedy the situation by increasing the flow through the U-Tube. You can do this by getting a bigger return pump, or dialing up the pump if it is configured to have adjustable flow.
If you do up-size your pump, make sure you do not get one that ends up being too powerful and overwhelms your overflow line.

A pump that is too strong can be adjusted if you set up a Tee connection with ball valves at the initial exit line of the return pump. One end of the Tee goes up to the tank, and the other end exits back to the sump (or wet/dry) to divert excess water.