Wet Dry and Fluidized Bed Filter?!!

CuriousAboutCichlids

Feeder Fish
May 16, 2018
1
0
1
46
Central Florida
Hey ya'll,
So I have read, and read, and read, watched hundreds of videos about the pros and cons of WDF vs FBF. I'm in the process of making my own wetdry/refugium/sump.
So heres my issue.... I have heard the pros and cons of each, and have been trying to figure out how to do a wet/dry and Fluidized bed All in one. My concern is flow, and getting both dialed in and just not sure of how to make this happen. I have a 20gallon long, multiple 1/4 glass dividers, a variable speed pump, eshopps 1800 dual overflow.
Going from wet/dry to fluidized bed and maintaining water level and flow to keep the embedded is where I'm stuck. Also what to put after fluidized to keep the older dead bio after its knocked off from the fbf and keep it from recirculating.
Any suggestions or comments would be great as I cant find any videos or forums of anyone doing both in one.
Thank you in advance.
FYI it's for a freshwater Hap/Peacock 80gallon main tank.
Picture is a similar setup I would like to achieve, however missing the FBF.

Screenshot_20180802-025715_Gallery.jpg
 

twentyleagues

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Apr 5, 2017
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Flint town!
I think to make the fbf work properly you will need an extra pump or an air pump depending on what type of material you'll be using. Setting up the baffles I'd put the water coming in the area under the baffle and going out over, you will need something to contain the media though. Or you could do under under but then you may get alot of bypass. Some foam or filter pad after the fbf will catch the knocked off bio.
 
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Yoimbrian

Dovii
MFK Member
Feb 11, 2013
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Twin cities
Don’t take this the wrong way, but don’t.

Over complicated tanks are just more work and more stuff to go wrong. Go with a tried and true method.
 

Jhay3513

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 15, 2017
486
350
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Charlotte, NC
Hey ya'll,
So I have read, and read, and read, watched hundreds of videos about the pros and cons of WDF vs FBF. I'm in the process of making my own wetdry/refugium/sump.
So heres my issue.... I have heard the pros and cons of each, and have been trying to figure out how to do a wet/dry and Fluidized bed All in one. My concern is flow, and getting both dialed in and just not sure of how to make this happen. I have a 20gallon long, multiple 1/4 glass dividers, a variable speed pump, eshopps 1800 dual overflow.
Going from wet/dry to fluidized bed and maintaining water level and flow to keep the embedded is where I'm stuck. Also what to put after fluidized to keep the older dead bio after its knocked off from the fbf and keep it from recirculating.
Any suggestions or comments would be great as I cant find any videos or forums of anyone doing both in one.
Thank you in advance.
FYI it's for a freshwater Hap/Peacock 80gallon main tank.
Picture is a similar setup I would like to achieve, however missing the FBF.

View attachment 1328147
One thing to keep in mind about the pic that you posted is that the baffles are too high for the wet dry portion to operate properly. The bio balls or whatever you decide to use as bio filtration needs to be sitting above the waterline to achieve the proper “trickle tower” effect. The idea will probably only work properly if you place the trickle tower starting higher than the top trim on the sump. If you watch most sumps with a properly designed trickle tower yolo notice a very low water volume in the sump. You’ll need a good amount of water volume in the sump for the fluidized portion which you can still achieve if you raise the trickle tower portion
 
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