Thinking about a sump....

[lbannie]

So I have a 30 gallon tank, right now I'm running a magnum 350 canister filter, but I'm thinking about making a sump. I have an extra 10 gallon tank, would this be worth it? or big enough to be a sump? Any ideas would help, Thanks!

 

[CEverii]

So I have a 30 gallon tank, right now I'm running a magnum 350 canister filter, but I'm thinking about making a sump. I have an extra 10 gallon tank, would this be worth it? or big enough to be a sump? Any ideas would help, Thanks!

A sump isnt necessary, however I would definately do it. adding a 10gal sump would give you 30% more water volume. Smaller aquariums have issues with water stability because they have such low volume. The more water youve got, the better and more stable your water parameters will be. Hope that helped.


Edit - One more thing i forgot to add. Are you planning on doing corals? If your doing corals, you'll need a skimmer. A 10gal sump would be able to fit a nice skimmer.

 

[Zer0]

I agree on the 10G as a sump. The bigger the tank you can use as a sump, the better, but if a 10G is all you have, don't sweat it. Check out my build thread. I made a pretty godly sump out of a 10G. I love it, it works, and is actually my fuge instead of a sump.. but you can make it whichever you like. However, i will say, that if you are trying to do both, sump and refugium, out of the 10G.. it's going to be a nightmare. It was hard enough for me to silicone the baffles since space is REALLY limited in a 10G.. and if you put too many baffles on in order to seperate the fuge and sump parts, you'll be left with hardly any room for your skimmers, reactors, etc.. and then even less room for a refugium. So i would say.. a 10G is good if you want to do either one.. but to do both would be suicidal. Well.. maybe not suicidal lol, but rather "not worth the effort."

Here's my thread link, and you can find pictures of the refugium near the bottom of the page.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f11/zer0s-25g-rimless-cube-reef-127960-7.html

 

[Mitchell0605]

Edit - One more thing i forgot to add. Are you planning on doing corals? If your doing corals, you'll need a skimmer. A 10gal sump would be able to fit a nice skimmer.

That's not correct Cerevii. I don't own a sump or skimmer and do all my filtration via biological filtration and I have a few different corals. All you need is good water quality, adequete filtration (mechanical or bio) and good lights.

 

[Zer0]

I also agree with Mitch. You really only need a skimmer when you have larger sized tanks. Usually anything over 35/40 gallons is a safe bet to use a skimmer.. But if you've got tanks smaller then that, all filtration needs could be accomplished by weekly PWC's, and a decent amount of live rock in the tank. I'll be doing a full reef tank, and i won't be running a skimmer. Just a refugium.

 

[Mitchell0605]

So he can feed his Zoas pods.

 

[Zer0]

Truth! I want to see my Zoas eat SO bad. But i mean.. it's not just for that. It's for pristine water quality too!!















But mostly for the pods to feed my zoas..

 

[Mitchell0605]

I'm intending to set-up a sump. I wanna run activated carbon and phosphate remover. Plus some filter floss to get rid of floating things. I've got some beautiful Red Acro like Marco and Purple Monti (plating) like Macro on a rock in my DT. So I don't need a fuge.

 

[lbannie]

Cool Thanks guys! Zero- What are the dimensions between each section? Did you follow someone else's plan?

 

[Zer0]

Yeah, i followed someone elses design but the measurements weren't the same since he was using an 18G tank and i was using a 10G.

Try looking at this site:

Melevsreef.com - What is a Sump?

 

[Mitchell0605]

Awesome link Kev!

 

[Zer0]

Thanks. That link helped me a lot..

 

[Mitchell0605]

I've been considering a sump and have decided to do one but need to put it next to my tank. No room in the cabinet. I think I might buy this overflow: Octopus Siphon Overflow Box OB-300S
I just need to know how you workout the GPH of the return.

 

[Zer0]

You wouldn't need a very large or expensive pump, considering the water will have almost no vertical height to travel. Just the length across from the sump to the tank.

 

[Mitchell0605]

That's what I thought too. Should be a cheap enterprise hopefully.

 

[mr_X]

you would have to size the pump according to the overflow box. i haven't seen one of those octopus models used, but with that piece of tubing sticking out of the top i think it's built to utilize an aqualifter pump like cpr overflow boxes do.
if it's built to work like a regular J tube overflow, you have to use a pump that is equal to the GPH rating of the overflow box, otherwise you will lose siphon.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Ok thanks Doug. I'll checkout the box when I get it.