DIY Sump Question

[CEverii]

So I'm in the process of making my own sump for my 75g FOWLR aquarium using the rubbermaid bid and 5gal bucket method. (in case you havent seen it, its like the 2nd vid on youtube when you search for DIY Sump). Anyway, in the video he only uses those cheap pot scrubbers as bio balls in the bucket, with a small layer of filter media on top. I intend to make mine a little more elaborate. I want to actually make layers in my bucket conisiting of Filter media, Bioballs, then a layer of activated carbon. That being said im having a hard time thinking of a way to make these layers in a 5gal bucket. I dont know how i am going to be able to seperate them like a normal canister filter would and not have them all meshed together... Any Ideas?

 

[ccCapt]

Sounds like your making a nitrate factory. There would be ALOT of work involved in keeping something like that clean. Every few days the filter media should be rinsed out and the carbon needs to be changed every few weeks, so if you don't mind tearing the whole thing apart quite often, it should work. For a FOWLR tank, I would go strictly with bioballs.

 

[cabezon]

to answer the question, circular pieces of eggcrate. and for my $.02 i aggree with the Capt. It seems like the live rock does most of the filtereing, so rather than an elaborate bioball sump, we just need a large fuge with a filter sock for particle removal and a place to put the chaeto and protein skimmer. Then a baffle to keep the bubbles away from the return pump.

 

[CEverii]

Alright cool, thanks for the input. So just bioballs huh? Alright sounds like a plan. So can i use a square of fiberous filer media on top of the bioballs to act as filter to siphon out all the chunks? or should i use something in particular.

 

[cabezon]

I use pillow stuffing. polyester fiber you can get from walmart. when the tank is cloudy, I change it a lot, but once things settle down you can change it with the water change. very cheap. if I were to buy something, I would get a filter sock though.

 

[ccCapt]

Alright cool, thanks for the input. So just bioballs huh? Alright sounds like a plan. So can i use a square of fiberous filer media on top of the bioballs to act as filter to siphon out all the chunks? or should i use something in particular.

Yes, you should use either a filter pad over the bioballs or a sponge over the overflow. You got the idea...to keep the big chunks of crap from the bioballs. Whichever you use, sponge, filter pad, etc make sure you clean it with tap water (because we don't need whatever bacteria may be growing on/in it) every few days or every weekend at least.