Biological Filtration and Negative Aquascaping?

[ballroomdude]

My tank will be a 600 gallon FO(WLR?) system with some larger fish and I will need to do some Negative aquascaping to allow room for a few of these fish to swim.

I plan on a Coral Catshark, Grey Angelfish, Queen Angelfish, and a couple of lionfish just to name a few. I want to give enough live rock to allow for shelter and such but not so much that these fish will feel crowded at adult hood with other fish in the tank and being north of 12" in length. I know that liverock allows for beneficial nitrifying bacteria to colonize and such but it seems that it is more in the lower flow areas of the rock.

My idea is to use Seachem pond matrix suspended via egg crate over a higher flowing current as part of my sump to allow the biological bacteria an undisturbed place to colonize and do their thing as opposed to extra lice rock in the DT. I was also going to keep a small powerhead in tthere just to keep things from being stagnant near the surface especially.

My filtration will also consist of a 72" tall and 8" diameter lifereef skimmer on a separate 3000 gph pump as well as ozone injection to deal with getting rid of the organics.

I will also have huge amounts of DT flow (different thread) so that everything stays suspended in the water column and gets skimmed out via a 100" coast to coast weir flowing about 6000 gph to the sump.

Thoughts? It may be crazy and it may not work but that's why I posted. I want to make sure that I don't miss something.

 

[MrDJeep123]

If I may, you should also consider using several blocks or spheres of MarinePure.

 

[ballroomdude]

Ooooohhhhhhhh.......

I REALLY like the marine pure blocks.

Totally doing that in a big sump. Thanks.

 

[bobman]

Only potential issue I see is the skimmer and return pump being fed from the same location. I dont know much about your skimmer but I am sure as with most all skimmers need very consistent water levels. By your design the water levels will fluctuate with evaporation causeing inefficient skimming. If it was me I would feed the skimmer from the intake from DT compartment and have it drain into the middle compartment or return pump compartment (either is fine). Also raise the piping between the intake and second compartments. This would keep the skimmer pump at a consistent level. and evaporation will be limited to the return pump compartment.

Now if this skimmer is a recirculating then consistant water levels is not an issue but then I would consider plumbing it directly to one of your overflow pipes from the DT. Saves running an unneeded pump that can fail.

 

[ballroomdude]

My skimmer will run on a Mazzei venturi nozzle. It will need an external hi flow high pressure pump , and will be plumbed for recirculation to maximize contact time. The bulkhead in the final compartment will only be 4 inches off of the floor so it will stay submerged all of the time. Additionally, the sump depth is 30 inches with a water level of about 20

The Marine pure blocks as mentioned above are allowed to be in a high flow area. I think what would be easiest is to stack some in a second compartment and keep them submerged. I was going to use 2 - inch pieces of pipe in between each compartment to keep the water flowing. This should allow for some pretty good water flow consistently through the sump. Additionally, worst case scenario is that I put a gate valve on the return pipe to make sure that I have adequate water volume in the sump itself

 

[MrDJeep123]

Flowerpots are very finicky and can take up to several months until they are fully acclimated. Every time you move it around, change it's flow and lighting it has to reacclimate itself all over again. My suggestion is to leave it alone and wait.

Ooooohhhhhhhh.......

I REALLY like the marine pure blocks.

Totally doing that in a big sump. Thanks.

I won't start a new tank without them.
The only issue to consider is that over time they do start to get crumbly. A non-issue if you aren't moving them around much.

 

[Feet4Fish]

Following closely. Working on a similar size fish build too!