Switching Sumps

[Squado]

Tonight I am going to be removing the current sump and replacing it witha larger, more effecient one, but first a couple of questions. First of all, I have a 29 gallon tank with a 15 gallon sump. I decided to bump it up to a 20 gallon sump with more chambers in it. Should I use the same sand that was in the previous sump in the new one or can I replace it with some new live sand that I bought? I dont want to mess with the bacteria and was thinking about going half old sand and half new sand, but wanted some opinions first. Secondly, I want to add mud later on, maybe in a week or two, but which goes on top, the mud or the sand. And is mud even worth it? Lastly, since the tank is larger my skimmer (coralife) is going to be converted from hob to in sump. Is there any difference between the two methods? TIA........

 

[chase33]

You can use the same sand but why would you want to change it? Isn't it live or did you have some sort of problem?

 

[KurtsReef]

I just did the same thing this weekend, well replace my sump with a larger one.

I moved my HOB skimmer into the sump area awhile back, it hangs off the sump on the outside back. Works fine, not the easiest thing to get too.

 

[melosu58]

IMO I would suggest new sand and seed it with some of the old sand. A few cups maybe. I never realized how nasty sand could get till I changed tanks and saw how filthy it was. I also have the mud in mine and it has to go on the bottom of your tank with the sand on top of it or you`ll have alot of the mud all over your tank. Mine is on the bottom with 3 inches of sand on top. Good Luck on the changeover.

 

[Squado]

Well the switch over went pretty well, although I ran into a couple of problems. I decided to go with all new sand, as I noticed that the old sand had a lot of cyano on it. I rinsed the new sand before putting in the tank and the tank is still a little cloudy, 24 hours later. Anyway, being the fool that I can be, I forgot to glue the bottom of the walls, so the water is running over the top and bottom (I had to rush the process since my old sump was leaking a lot of water out of the corners). It actually looks kind of cool the way the sand is constantly "bubbling" up on the side of the walls. But will this affect the performance of the sump? Their were two main problems that I ran into too. One, since the bottom of the walls arent glued, the chambers do not affect the the height of the water, its not neccesarily a problem, just doesnt make the water flow the way I wanted too. Is there any way to fix this now that the sump is already estabilished. I was thinking about using some sort of rubber lining that you can find in most hardware stores. Also, after the change half of my zoo polyps covered themselves in a web. I tried to remove as much as I could with a turkey baster, but I couldnt keep up. Today the half that was covered in the web have not opened up. I guess it was from the stress, but all of my other corals seem to be doing better than before. Has anyone else run into this problem while changing sumps? I'll post some pics a little later to see if you guys have any suggestions, as they are always welcome from the experts.........

 

[MT79]

Keep in mind when marking the max. water level, not having each chamber sealed means evaporation is going to occur in the whole sump, not just return chamber. Also, more importantly, if your overflow fails, the return pump is going to pump ALL the water from the sump up into the main.

The zoos just sound stressed. Keep an eye on them.

 

[Squado]

Wow, great point on the return pump pumping all the water out of the sump. Good thing you reminded me on that. What do you guys think about using a rubber lining to block the bottom of the walls? It will most likely be a pain to install, but obviously worth it if its possible.

 

[MT79]

I think you have some work to do...
I had to remake my first sump. You definitely will not be the first person to have to lug a new sump out to fix an oversight. I don't think you have any other options.