My Sump - How can I improve?

[aliam93]

This is my sump which consists of:

Section A - Water intake from tank. Includes bits of filter media in a small net bag. Also water tends to get stagnant for some reason. Any ideas?

Section B - Brushes (full)

Section C - Thin sponge approx 1inch whole depth of sump and white floss used to purify water.

Section D - Pump that sucks water back to tank.

How can I improve this sump setup? Any advice appreciated.

 

[Terrance]

What is the "brush"? Water looks dirty. What is the overall gph through the sump and the gph through the display tank?

 

[aliam93]

the brushes are similar to these but much longer:

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpexS9KOwa_EgoH8ZMImT1LFGHliZznvg0E7WhGAHgPMiuUKx2W1xNBNLJ

water is not dirty at all, just was taken in a dark room with camera flash. water is fine nothing wrong with it, just wondering how i can improve it.

 

[Terrance]

You don't really need the brushes. Put the mechanical filtration in the first chamber, so chamber 3 should be in chamber 1. Then put in your biological filtration in chamber 2. You will end up with an empty chamber 3 and chamber 4 would be the pump chamber.

Then you could consider adding floating plants in the 3rd chamber to absorb waste from the water.

To make it more simple, just cut it down to 3 chambers. Mechanical filtration in the first, floating plants in the second, then pump and biological filtration in the third chamber.

 

[aliam93]

What exactly is "mechanical filtration" and "biological foltration"?

 

[Terrance]

Mechanical filtration is the stuff like filter floss and filter sponge. They collect waste. You want it in the first chamber so that it doesn't get caught throughout the rest of the sump. I wasn't sure why you had the mechanical filtration all the way in the 3rd chamber.

Biological filtration is basically the beneficial bacteria that keeps your fish alive. You have some of that by using filter media. Many forms of mechanical filters are also biological. The filter sponges are a great source for dual purpose. I was thinking you were using the brushes as biological filtration, but I thought it took up a lot of space and didn't hold as much beneficial bacteria as other common filter media.