Plants in sump?

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yilduz

Aquarium Advice Regular
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Feb 16, 2011
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I've been looking at a lot of pictures and videos of sump tanks and I see a lot of them that have a section of plants. I've never seen anything written as to why they have plants in the sump tank, and it's making me very curious. Why do people put plants in the sump tank?
 
Most sump tanks you see are associated with saltwater tanks. The plants you see are actually types of algaes that we grow in our sumps. The benefit is that you grow these things, on purpose, in an area of the sump that's out of view, to prevent algaes and other unsightly things from growing in your display tank.
 
I see, that does make a lot of sense. Since I'm working on setting up a freshwater paludarium, I won't concern myself with that when I create a sump.

Thank you. :)
 
Well you can still make a sump/refugium for freshwater .. Since that micro algae that people grow there also help at reducing nitrates.

For freshwater people use mangrove,java moss, other critters Ect.
 
Yeah you can still do it. Take the nutrients out where you want them taken out and hopefully you won't see much in your main tank.
 
Ah, okay. Maybe I will use plants, then. Or, I'll let the size of the sump tank determine how it's set up. When I first learned about sump tanks, I thought people just set them up with a filter, heater, and just the basics. Essentially so that stuff would be out of sight and the tank would have more water so the bad stuff would be diluted more. I'm realizing that they're actually far more sophisticated in some cases.
 
Ah, okay. Maybe I will use plants, then. Or, I'll let the size of the sump tank determine how it's set up. When I first learned about sump tanks, I thought people just set them up with a filter, heater, and just the basics. Essentially so that stuff would be out of sight and the tank would have more water so the bad stuff would be diluted more. I'm realizing that they're actually far more sophisticated in some cases.

Sump part: helps keep your pumps,heatersand other macnical media out of the way,

refugium part: does lots more..... In saltwater it's where you would have some live sand,micro algae,copods,amphipods,live rock,
In freshwater it's where you would keep,
Java moss,mangroves,river rocks, copods,Ect. There's other stuff people use but I'm forgetting :-/

But anyway the reason for the REFUGIUM is cause it helps get rid of neutriments, nitrates,ditrus, and help reduce bad algae.
 
Btw: if you do go with a refugium the you should try to eliminate as much sponges from your system or clean them every 2-3 days since they are nitrate factory......it's one big reason people with reef tank don't use wet/dry cause they are nitrate factory's.... But freshwater is a bit more forgiving when it comes to nitrates... Hope that helps out a bit :)
 
It helps a lot, actually. I really appreciate it, and the help from everyone. Thank you very much for all this information. It's really helping me to understand everything.
 
I've been looking at a lot of pictures and videos of sump tanks and I see a lot of them that have a section of plants. I've never seen anything written as to why they have plants in the sump tank, and it's making me very curious. Why do people put plants in the sump tank?

refugium opened - Copy.jpg
You've probably have already found the answer but I wanted to share a pic anyway. My plants weren't doing so well due to lack of lighting, low CO2 due to carbon filters, highly oxygenated water, Snails, and crayfish. I've since added lighting and plant nutients. I'm also growing sweet potato slips in the overflow box and sump.
 

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Also, when you turn the lights off on your tank at night the plants stop
photosynthesizing. This can create a change in pH so some folks put plants in the sump and turn the sump light ON at night to try and keep a more balanced system.


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