Crushed live rock in sump. Bad idea?

[Jonathan Troutt]

so i have about 50lbs of dry live rock. Ive been thinking about crushing all of it and filling up a chamber in my sump. Wanted opinions on if this would be a bad idea?

Has anyone done this before?

 

[Reef Dude]

I think this is a good idea. I have a 100 gallon Rubbermaid sump in my basement that is full of live rock... probably 100 pounds. I see it as a beneficial part of my system. There are all kinds of sponges and other organisms on the sump rocks that I feel add to the biodiversity of the system and improve the overall health of the system. The only down side is that the rocks could trap some detritus, but I’m not worried about that as I feel this feeds the organisms that live there while adding some nutrients back into the system.

 

[mta_morrow]

It’s a good thing to do!

 

[ca1ore]

Unless you have some reason to believe that there is inadequate bio-filtration capacity within the rock elsewhere in the system, just seems unnecessary. A POR (pile of rocks) in the sumps used to be all the rage before folks realized that it was unnecessary, a pain to clean and that the space was better allocated to growing something like chaeto. I wouldn't do it unless your aquascape is going to be so sparse that you need the bio media.

 

[Adele]

I have LR rubble in my sump. Good place for pods to hang out and anytime I need some rock to glue a frag to I just reach in and take a piece. Its not packed full, just a layer along the bottom.

 

[MattThomas]

I have about 20lbs broken up in my sump/refugium, it's a good spot for pods to grow out before getting sucked up by the pump when they venture into the dt, also I added some snails and hermits and emeralds that were knocking coral over down there to clean up the detritus, you can always pick them up and put back in DT if they run out of food there. Your pods and bacteria will appreciate a place to be away from the DT where everyone is constantly picking at the rocks...

 

[ReeferBean]

I had some crushed coral on the bottom of my refugium. It collected too much detritus so I removed it.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

The space the rubble would occupy is the first chamber of my sump this is also the chamber where water arrives from my DT. I do not run filter socks.

My one worry is detritus build up. It would never get cleaned ever so if i ended up keeping my tank up for 10 years it would never get cleaned in the 10 years. I am running a biopellet reactor just started it that with the pods and bacteria in the rubble makes me stomach the idea of the detritus build up a little better.

I am using the life rock from caribsea i think in my DT. Ive read some people think it doesn't have adequate porosity for sufficient bacteria colonization.

 

[Peace River]

The space the rubble would occupy is the first chamber of my sump this is also the chamber where water arrives from my DT. I do not run filter socks.

My one worry is detritus build up. It would never get cleaned ever so if i ended up keeping my tank up for 10 years it would never get cleaned in the 10 years. I am running a biopellet reactor just started it that with the pods and bacteria in the rubble makes me stomach the idea of the detritus build up a little better.

I am using the life rock from caribsea i think in my DT. Ive read some people think it doesn't have adequate porosity for sufficient bacteria colonization.

I agree that it may be beneficial in the short term because of the added surface area, however could be problematic in the long term due to maintenance issues. It is a whole lot easier to move three piece of LR than it is to move a pile of rubble.

That said, could you add the rumble to an insert container that has a lot of holes and would fit down into that section of the sump and could also be readily removed and rinsed in RODI water?

 

[Reef Dude]

The space the rubble would occupy is the first chamber of my sump this is also the chamber where water arrives from my DT. I do not run filter socks.

My one worry is detritus build up. It would never get cleaned ever so if i ended up keeping my tank up for 10 years it would never get cleaned in the 10 years. I am running a biopellet reactor just started it that with the pods and bacteria in the rubble makes me stomach the idea of the detritus build up a little better.

I am using the life rock from caribsea i think in my DT. Ive read some people think it doesn't have adequate porosity for sufficient bacteria colonization.

I might shy away from adding the rock, given the arrangement you are proposing. If the tank is draining directly into the rock section without filter socks being used to eliminate some of the detritus, it could create a mess that could increase nutrients beyond desirable levels. Especially since this section of the filter could never be cleaned or blown out to mitigate some of this buildup. In my case, I have rock in my sump, but I use filter socks to catch most of the crap that would otherwise enter into the sump.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I agree that it may be beneficial in the short term because of the added surface area, however could be problematic in the long term due to maintenance issues. It is a whole lot easier to move three piece of LR than it is to move a pile of rubble.

That said, could you add the rumble to an insert container that has a lot of holes and would fit down into that section of the sump and could also be readily removed and rinsed in RODI water?

This is could do for sure. Never thought about it this way. It would work as a pod hotel as well which is fantastic because i need a healthy pod population.

 

[Peace River]

Not sure of your sump configuration, but your pods would be better off “down stream” from your skimmer (if you have one). Also this would keep you from putting the waste particulates directly into the rumble (as Reef Dude pointed out above). It would still work with the removable tray in the first chamber, just not quite as well as placing the rubble after the skimmer. Good luck!

 

[Thales]

I think rubble is a PITA and impossible to manage. If you want the extra space for bio filtration, just put the rock, uncrushed, into t he sump

 

[ca1ore]

Or just put the rubble into the display. I’ve aquascaped mine so that the rock in the center section flows down into rubble right to the front acrylic. Damsels make their home and nests amongst the rubble and my leopard wrasses are always patrolling it looking for a tasty morsel. It’s very cool.

 

[BadFish619]

I replaced my bio balls with crushed rock. Haven't had any problems. Plus it looks kinda cool and natural

 

[LuizW13]

Why not put the rubble in some type of mesh or screen sock-type of thing, so that if you need to remove it, you can do so all it once.

In my AOI tank, i glued a few rocks to make one large tower that fit in the outer return sections- it's essentially one rock instead of a bunch of small pieces.