R sumps neccesary in order to have a great reef tank?

[ATLien]

I am not familiar with a sumps and would like to know are they needed, or just an option.

 

[Biggen]

No, they are not needed. They just make life a lot easier, especially with bigger tanks. I put my heater, skimmer, carbon, etc... down there in order to keep them out of the main tank.

They also add more water volume to your system which is a good thing. More water is always a good thing as it gives you a bigger margin of error incase you screw something up (water parameters change more slowly with more water).

 

[fishfreek]

We have a few articles in our articles area that will help give you a more general overview of sumps and what they are good for.

You dont NEED a sump but many people find that once they install one on a tank they will never setup another tank with out one.

 

[pm64971]

It's a good way to "clean up" the look of thetank. You don't need to see some of the equipment. I don't use one.

 

[ATLien]

So if I put in a sump and put all of my equipment in it, the only thing that I would need in my main tank would be PHs for water movement? :|

 

[Biggen]

So if I put in a sump and put all of my equipment in it, the only thing that I would need in my main tank would be PHs for water movement?

That and the return from the sump... Pretty clean looking, huh?

 

[pm64971]

That is my understanding

 

[ATLien]

When u r talking about a return, what in general r u referring to? I'm new to sw and am trying to gain all the knowledge that I can.

 

[Biggen]

When u r talking about a return, what in general r u referring to? I'm new to sw and am trying to gain all the knowledge that I can.

You have to have a way to return the water back to the tank from the sump pump. This would be your return. You can easily make your return out of PVC and hang it on the back of your tank.

 

[fishfreek]

The key to this is properly sizing your return.

When sizing your returnpump you need to calculate the head height you will be dealing with. This is the height from the top of your tank to the pump. Usually if the sump is under the stand this is 3'-4'. Various makers of pumps will have flow charts of their pumps showing how each pump performs at the various head pressure. For example a 1200GPH pump might only push 1000GPH at 3' head and only 950GPH at 4' head.

If you get a pump(s) large enough then you wont need powerheads in the main tank. Of course after you aquascape you might find some spots that are not getting the flow you had expected and you need t do some accessory flow via a PH.

 

[ATLien]

Would a wavemaker help with additional flow if it is required

 

[fishfreek]

Yep, Just a word of caution stay away from those PowerSweep units from ZooMed.