I bought a 60 gallon tank off Craigslist recently, and it came with a sump-style filtration system originally designed for saltwater, if a bit poorly. At the moment it's just a small (maybe 5 gallon) acrylic tank stuffed with bioballs, which may explain why his fish died and he got rid of it. I could just buy a real filter, but since I have a very nice overflow box and pump already, and there are certain other advantages to having a sump, like breeding scuds in it, I was thinking I might adapt the existing system.
I'll have near-infinite space in my garage for this setup, so I could get a 10 or 20 gallon glass tank to replace the acrylic thing, or place in series with the acrylic tank, but I need some advice on how to go about turning the spare tank into a filter. At the moment I planned to just add some pot scrubbers to the bioballs and have the sump tank be full of plants to soak up nutrients. I could easily get Azolla, Elodea, Anacharis or Ceratophyllum that I think should be suitable. Is there anything else I should do or know? I may also add a bunch of oystershell and/or aragonite for pH/GH boost.
I'll have near-infinite space in my garage for this setup, so I could get a 10 or 20 gallon glass tank to replace the acrylic thing, or place in series with the acrylic tank, but I need some advice on how to go about turning the spare tank into a filter. At the moment I planned to just add some pot scrubbers to the bioballs and have the sump tank be full of plants to soak up nutrients. I could easily get Azolla, Elodea, Anacharis or Ceratophyllum that I think should be suitable. Is there anything else I should do or know? I may also add a bunch of oystershell and/or aragonite for pH/GH boost.