what do YOU keep in your sump for bio filteration?

[parkersmomma2]

I was just wondering what all you guys put in your sump for biological filtration. I kind of want a refugium-what do you keep in yours?
Any ideas are helpful =)

 

[Sniperhank]

I've kept cheato, money plant, and mangroves in my fuge. Never had any luck with cheato and mangroves are very slow growing.

 

[crister13]

I keep caulerpa and run a ATS.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Nothing.

 

[danbstrong]

Nothing.

Nothing for bio my sump consists of skimmer phos reactor uv sterilizer chaeto

 

[parkersmomma2]

is the UV sterilizer a good investment? what exactly does it do?

 

[danbstrong]

is the UV sterilizer a good investment? what exactly does it do?

Imo yes good investment it keeps down algae blooms parasites and bacteria it dont kill them but it makes it so they cant multiply im a fan of low maintenance all i do is feed fish and waterchanges more time to just sit back and enjoy looking at my reef

 

[tsharkey]

I keep a large 210 gal. reef tank and as a sump/refugium i have 3 chambers. Chamber one contains filter floss and that is it. I change often to avoid bad bacteria growth. I also clean it often with watering hose which has high pressure to get out all of the dirt. Then I have a few sections of walls to prevent micro bubbles from passing to the next chamber. The second chamber is the biggest. It is kind of the refugium section of it. I have a six inch sand bed with a little bit of live rock, and about 10 3 inch tall and 4 inch diameter pvc pipes which as a great place for good bacteria to grow and copepods to take shelter in. Then I have some high quality cheato algae connected to the rock. Then I have another section of micro bubble walls. In the final I have two odeysea return pumps which have pre-filters in them. The filters have a lot of refugium rubble on-top of them. The sump/refugium has hoods on it and a zoo-med flora-sun light on top of that. It provides the perfect light for the cheato algae.
As for the uv sterilizer, I am all for them but I am more for multi-functional filters. I use a Vortex D-1 diatom filter. This filter forces micro particles through dead diatom skeletons. These skeletons are 0.5 microns to 1 millionth of a micron. (Of course the 0.5 micron is more common in the powder than the 1 millionth) It takes in diatom algae, parasites (yes including the parasites that cause ick) poop, and just about anything. It also polishes the water and makes it absolutely crystal clear!
In conclusion, my opinion does not mater. I am just saying what i do. My motto is, "If it works for you do it, if it doesn't then don't!" Try different ideas but when you find something that works, no matter how many people tell you it is the wrong way, don't listen! "If it works for you keep doing it!"

Good Luck!

T.S.

 

[h8z2luze]

Do you happen to have pics of your sump? Sounds awesome.

 

[tsharkey]

Do you happen to have pics of your sump? Sounds awesome.

I,m sorry I don,t right now because it is still relatively new. However, I will post pics when it becomes a little more established.

 

[scottayy]

live rock, sand, chaeto

 

[parkersmomma2]

If I decide to put fuge LR rubble in there...which chamber do I put it in? My first chamber is just the sock filters, then goes into my fuge that has a 5 in sand bed and some micro algae in it...not sure what kind it is but it's free floating, dark green, and looks like a clump of "strings". The third chamber has my return pump, protein skimmer, and a bag of biomedia by the return.

 

[tsharkey]

If I decide to put fuge LR rubble in there...which chamber do I put it in? My first chamber is just the sock filters, then goes into my fuge that has a 5 in sand bed and some micro algae in it...not sure what kind it is but it's free floating, dark green, and looks like a clump of "strings". The third chamber has my return pump, protein skimmer, and a bag of biomedia by the return.

The last chamber is your best bet. You need to put a very high bubble wall before the last chamber. This will cause all of the tank water to flow over rubble. This will result in a huge biological bloom. (mostly good) It acts as a fludized sand bed.