10 Gallon: Sump/fuge

[EELectric]

First of all, will this work with my 55 gal. and will I be able to have both a sump and a fuge in a 10 gal. tank? This is another noob question by me but if you have both a sump/fuge how do the pods and other organisms make it back to the tank? One more question, if you have a sump/fuge do you need to split it into 3 sections- a fuge, sump, and return area? If so a 10 gal. won't work very well, will it? Sorry for the noob questions. TIA

 

[davebailey46]

Im my opinion and simple sump would work in a 10 gal. I even thought about making a 10 gal into a fuge only with a small return area. But fitting all of it in there would be almost impossible. For instance my sump I built from acrylic is: 30" long 10" wide 16" tall. Looking at it from the front the first compartment houses the skimmer and supply from tank its approx 10" long, the second compartment is 10" long for the fuge and the third for the return is approx. 10" long (minus all my bubble traps).
Also please remember that your return section is where all your evaporation will occur. If you make it very small you will need to top it off quite frequently. Mine holds about 3 gallons (10"x10"x10")and I have to top off every 2-3 days. You dont want the return pump running dry.
Also plan your sump to handle the overflow from your tank in case of a power outage

 

[sir_dudeguy]

I asked basically the same thing a while ago...well i just asked if a 10 would be ok for one actually...but the response i got made me decide to wait on a bigger sump...heres what everyone said...

1st, you have to have room for a bit of overflow if the pumps or whatever go out, so therefore you dont fill the whole ten gallons up. It'd be more like 6 or somehting and thats not really any added bonus.

2nd, If you were to divide the 10 into a sump/fuge/return area, there would be basically no sump volume again...maybe a couple gallons i would think.

They said some other stuff too, but i forgot...
also, you asked if you should have the fuge first, sump, and then return...i would thin that the fuge would have to be second, because in the sump, the skimmer would take out all the pods growing in the fuge (if the fuge was first) therefore making your fuge useless...well maybe not useless but you get the idea.

I've got the same size tank too...srry i forgot to add that.
I'd try to set up like a 20 gallon or something...at least. but try bigger if you can..used ones are cheap.

 

[EELectric]

I would use a bigger one it is jsut my stand is divided into two allowing only a small space. Also when I listed them in that order I was simply just listing them, they weren't put in the order I was planning on doing. Thanks! How about half a fuge and half a return. TIA

 

[davebailey46]

Yeah I wrote that in my first post. just a fuge with return may work. (Pay attention to how much water will drain in a power outage though)

 

[EELectric]

Sorry Dave, thanks for the posts, I may try it sometime this summer. Thanks!!!! Can someone answer my first question about how the pods get into the main? TIA