my sump/new tank

[4enzix]

ok attatched pic:

how do you think this will work. i have this sump set up which incorporates a ton of blue/white filter floss, and bioballs... the bioballs are placed so that they will be under water at all times... should i not use the bioballs? and what should i replace them with

the tank is going to be a 200 gallon tank with a 90 gallon sump, eventually going to be like 200 to 250 lbs of LR, and about 240-280 lbs of aragonite (180 lbs of sugar grade and the rest a bit coarser)

it will be a reef system so i know the bioballs might cause some problems... what do yall think i should do or change before i start loading water into the tanks

i know the piece of glass on top isnt centered in the right place im going to cut it down about 2 inches on the one side to center the overflow...

and are there any other ideas for my tank?

 

[cmor1701d]

Replace the bio balls with LR rubble. I would also get rid of the filter floss and eggcrate, so you can run the overflow below the water line in the sump. That should make it much quieter.

 

[4enzix]

Replace the bio balls with LR rubble. I would also get rid of the filter floss and eggcrate, so you can run the overflow below the water line in the sump. That should make it much quieter.

how do i run it under the water line? just run pipe down to the water line? and replace the bioballs with LR where the actual bioballs are? dont lift them up? and is all that gonna filter sufficiently?

 

[cmor1701d]

just run pipe down to the water line?

YES, but you want the outlet under the water line so it doesn't make a lot os splashing noise.

replace the bioballs with LR where the actual bioballs are?

Yes again You want the LR rubble completly underwater.

and is all that gonna filter sufficiently?

With 250+ pounds of LR in the tank? YES!

It sounds like you are going with a 4"-6" DSB. Don't use a courser grade on top. You want all sugar sized grains.

You can read Dr. Ron's article The Importance of Deep Sand.

 

[4enzix]

my problem is i wont have the 250 lbs of live rock for a while....of course it wont be stocked fully with fish for a long while yet either

 

[cmor1701d]

How much rock will you start with (both base and LR)?
What are you going to use to cycle the tank?

Are you planning on adding LR after the tank is established and you have livestock in there? Bad idea, imo! You would need to cure the rock outside of the tank and then add it when it's done (a couple of weeks). Either way the LR rubble would be better than the bio balls and do a better job.

 

[4enzix]

i dont really want to add a bunch of LR in after the fact either... but there is the simple fact that because of th tsunami... its difficult to get any amount of LR in right now thats a decent price for sure... and i dont have too much money to drop like nothing... one LFS is selling LR at 30$ canadian a pound.... and the other lfs cant get any in... thats also the problem of being landlocked lol. i can manage the cycling dont worry about that....

But atm the glass that goes across the tank split in half this morning and im looking into changing the whole set up to a fuge.. how do i do this properly with only one overflow? and keeping the entire set up completely under the main tank?

200 gal tank... 90 gal sump

 

[Brad]

Talk to LR.com. The rock is better and it is certainly cheaper than $30 per lb! Yes..they will ship to Canada, but I might wait for the weather to warm up.

 

[ellisz]

You can use the bioballs and then remove them once you get the rock but you have to do it slowly. Would be easier to get the rock first.

 

[Salttanker]

I would just buy some base rock and add some lr to it to seed it. It will be cheaper this way. I wouldn't even use bio balls. Once the bacterial colonies have been established, you will have to remove them very slowly. And that is a lot of bio balls.

 

[4enzix]

atm i think im gonna scrap the trickle and go with a fuge... seems better to do anyways and sounds as it will be worth it more in the long run

 

[cmor1701d]

You still want to add some LR there. I also agree with saltanker aboout addng a bunch of base rock (hirocks.com or thatfishplcae.com and using a little (20% of total) to seed it. In 6 months it wil all be covered.