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I'm working on setting up my first marine aquarium. Although I have done freshwater tanks for years, the equipment made for saltwater tanks is completely foreign to me.

Today I drove an hour to get to the only pet store anywhere near where I live. They had special ordered an Aquaclear Pro 75 wet/dry filter with prefilter for me. I was told this kit would be perfect for my 55 gallon aquarium and had everything I would need to get things running.

Now that I'm at home trying to set it up I'm having a difficult time deciphering the assembly instructions based on the sheet included which obviously was not written for a beginner. Plus it seems that I'm going to need to buy an additional return pump?? No idea where that goes

Is there anyone out there who is using this model of wet/dry filter that might provide me with some set up photos or help or can direct me to some online instructions?

I'm about to pull my hair out figuring out how this is set up so believe me any help will be appreciated greatly.

Eh, I dunno, but I'm gonna describe my wet-dry in case it's similar. Unfortunately I melted a hole through it, so that's not going to be of any use to me anymore...

The main parts are...

1. The overflow. It's a box with toothed edges that let's water flow in.
2. A u-tube. This tube probably leads to a box that's on the back of the tank that the overflow is connected to.
3. The aforementioned second box. It's divided into two sections, one where the u-tube goes into and the other with a pipe that leads down to the main wet-dry box.
4. The main wet-dry box has all the cool compartments. This can vary by brand so I won't go into it.
5. The return pump. Those goes into the main box of the wet-dry, of course in a position to take water back to the tank after it has gone through all the media.

[span class="edited"][Edited by Shinigami 2004-08-22 16:51][/span]

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

You've answered a couple of question for me already.
1)The overflow box goes inside the actual tank with it's connecting box on the outside.
2) The U-Tube is placed inside both these boxes beside the sponge/tube that leads to the main box

I'm still unclear on this return pump though. Do you just submerge a pump somewhere in the main filter box attach a piece of tubing to it and place the end of the tubing back into the tank?

Here's a photo I took as I was trying to put it all together http://www.peggydunn.com/photos/filter.jpg Can the return pump just be placed on the right side where there seems to be an empty compartment? Could you also place a heater within this box instead of in the aquarium itself?

Yes, to all three.

The return pump is a submergible pump connected to tubing that brings the water back to the tank. If the filter didn't come with that... that's stupid...

The return pump does indeed go in that right-most compartment.

You can put a heater in there. But remember, when water evaporates, the water level in the wet-dry actually lowers. I didn't actually know this, and left the tank for a few days. My heater, out of water, went on its merry way melting through the acrylic... O_o

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Ok, I purchased a Mag-Drive Pump (700 GPH) to act as a return pump with my new wet/dry filter. It arrived by Fed-Ex today and I placed it in the right side of the filter sump, away from the skimmer. Using some tubing as a siphon, I got the water started from the prefilter skimmer box so that it flows down into the main box of the filter.
After adding some more water to the filter so that my pump was submerged I plugged it in. Then the trouble really started !

All of this air started blowing into my tank causing quite a stir and within seconds the water level started rising as though it was going to flow out of the tank. Water was still flowing from the prefilter box into the main box but apparently not fast enough to keep up with the return pump.

What am I doing wrong?

Well, if you have a 700 GPH pump back into the tank your sump has to get water at least that fast. If its not flowing into the sump at 700+ GPH, the Mag pump will pump the water too quickly, either emptying the wet dry or overflowing the tank, or both.

I understand that Lil_Mikey69. Yet I'm not sure how to fix the problem.

It took me a week to get this pump, which was recommended for this filter, and cost me $63. Now after over a month of one problem after another and $2,000+ spent just trying to set a tank up, I still don't have a working filter or skimmer. So I'm starting to get very frustrated.

My first thought is to go with a slower pump (perhaps 500 GPH) but I'm just afraid it's going to be more money spent for something that doesn't work and can't be returned.

Isn't there anyone out there who is using this exact filter (Aquaclear Pro 75) with a return pump? If so what kind of pump are you using?

Just got back from a 3 Hr. trip to a pet store where I purchased a 250 GPH PondMaster pump. Going to give that a try.