Woot, my first 55 gallon

[Alex2290]

OK, so I bought a 55 gallon from someone on craigslist. It came with a wet/dry filter, stand, hood, light (fittings need to be replaced), overflow box, and 2 pumps (I'm guessing one was a spare). It was used for saltwater, but it's been a while since it's been set up so I scooped out all of the sand that was in it and filled the tank with water. I also removed the undergravel filter from it, because I'm not really sure why it was there in the first place in a sand set-up. lol

I have a few questions with pictures. The wet/dry filter is made by SealifeSystems. I am not sure what model it is.

Question 1: This is the intake for the overflow box. How do I replace this foam piece and where can I get another like it?

Question 2: Is this wet/dry filter missing something? And why is there a hole in image 3?
IMAGE 1
IMAGE 2
IMAGE 3

 

[Alex2290]

Another thought: once I get this up and running, what is stopping the sump from overflowing when there's a power outage?

This whole wet/dry sump thing is confusing.. Maybe I should get a HOB filter.

 

[achase]

Congrats on getting a 55 gallon tank. Unfortunately, I know nothing about sump pumps as I have always used Power Filters. I think you should use whatever you feel most comfortable with, the sump or the HOB filter. Hopefully someone will answer your questions soon!

 

[Dan Steveo]

nice foot lol

 

[ryanoh]

If the power goes out the pump should stop returning water to the tank. If the overflow is right at the top of the water level, when the water stops returning it should also stop flowing down into the sump through the overflow. Depending on what type of overflow you have you may need to prime the overflow again, and if you DO, when the power comes back on your pump may burn out if it pumps the sump dry.

As for the hole, my guess it that the pump the pervious owner had was too powerful and they were cutting the output?

All of that is just conjecture as I've never owned any sort of overflow or sump contraption, but I recently did a lot of research into wet-dry filters and those should all be okay answers.

 

[Alex2290]

Ok thanks ! after plating around with it for a while and calling the manufacturer, I figured it out. Right now I have the tank and sump side by side and the overflow box can't get enough water back into the sump fast enough. I hope that when I set the tank up properly on the stand it will work. Until then, I am not going to order any replacement parts from the manufacturer.

I still can't decide what I want in there! I want plants... But do I want aggressive? Community? Arreggghhhh I guess I will look at other peoples tanks to see what they did.


Edit: oh! What would be the best types of filter media to put in here depending on what I have? Filter floss? Carbon? Sponge? And what order should they be in. There is about 2.5 to 3 gallons of bioballs.

HOW DO I CLEAN BIOBALLS? >.<