Scrubbed cichlids. looking to get back.

[RkyRickstr]

Sup peeeps.

I had about 30 tanks once. Bred african cichlids. Peacocks, mbuna and some tanganyikans.

All this talk has me thinking about setting up the 125 in my way to 20 tanks again..lol

My question is.. traditionally i used a wet diy wt dry and relied heavily on water changes. Now with the scrubber, do i still need the biological filtration? Do i need the wet dry and scrubber? Or is scrubber only enough?

Thanks guys in advance for ur help.

[kerry]

I found that these wet/dry filters produced to many nitrates. I had better luck with the Aqua Clear filters as they seemed to produce less nitrates. I am about ready to remove my wet/dry off of my 75G African tank after I decided to give it another go a round and its doing the same thing, more nitrate then just the HOB's produced.

[RkyRickstr]

Ok.. but either way no one runs ats only right?.. u still need the bio filter like u need the live rock in the reef?

[kerry]

Thats my belief on the subject. I like the bio wheel Emperor 400 or the Aqua Clear. The Aqua Clear seemed to keep the nitrates lower for some reason, maybe because of the slow movement of water at the bottom of the sponge created anaerobic bacteria that fed on the nitrate.

[RkyRickstr]

Yea ive own both and like the aquaclear.

[SantaMonica]

You don't "need" the biofilter, and you really don't "need" live rock either. They are not requirements like oxygen is. However they are backups, which always are working, especially on ammonia, and they are also always working in-between scrubber cleanings. Without LR or sand, or without a bio filter, you would need to pay special attention to always having lots of algae growth on at least one screen when you cleaned another screen. And most people don't have more than one screen, so there is no option. Also if something happened to your growth, you'd be in trouble while waiting for new growth to occur.

The wet/dry is a powerful ammonia remover, but if you have lots of sand you should be ok without it. A wet/dry (also called an ammonia tower when built large enough) is most useful in retail where the tanks have no rock or sand. Wet/dry's do makes lots of nitrate, and do nothing for phosphate. LR and deep sand beds do handle some nitrate, but do nothing for phosphate (except become a temporary sponge for it).

But no, there is no biological need for a wet/dry.