Equipment check

Orbela · Mar 24, 2014

I currently have a Marineland Emperor 400 running my tank. I got it as a gift so was rushed into purchasing equipment from petco. You can see my other posts.

I am planning to get a sump I have loaded question so here it goes

1. What size sump do I need for 55g reef tank?
2. Would I need a biological filter or a refugium for the sump?
3. For the HOB overflow do I have to factor in the tank water volume + the sump water volume? Or just the tank water volume? So the rule of thumb would be 5x the gallon?
What is recommended Eshopps, lifereef, reef octopus, CPR?

Waters · Mar 24, 2014

1) The bigger the sump the better.......I have seen sumps that are actually larger than the display tanks. I wouldn't go any smaller than a standard 10 gallon aquarium....it will be difficult to fit all of your equipment in there.

2) Normallly in a reef tank, your live rock is your biological filter. If you are not using live rock, than yes, you would need some type of filtration media in your sump. Having a refugium is a personal preference......I do not use on but a lot of people do.

3) I currently use a Eshopps HOB overflow and I have had 0 problems with it. It is relatively quiet and always starts back up after the power is shut off. I prefer the overflows that don't require any sort of lifter pump but that is just my opinion. I don't know for sure but I believe you just use the size of the tank when deciding which overflow is needed.

Orbela · Mar 24, 2014

1. So a 20g to 30g would be sufficient? For protein skimmer and live rock and a few reactors?
2. Sounds great so I can use live rock in tank as a biological filter.
3. That sounds good and Eshopps seems to be a bit cheaper than the other brands.

Waters · Mar 24, 2014

Yes, a 20 or 30 gallon sump would be fine. Once you figure out which model of skimmer and reactors you want to use, you can design and build the compartments so that everything will fit (skimmer, return pump, heaters, reactors, etc.)

Orbela · Mar 24, 2014

Sounds good thanks the gph for return pump and over flow has to be th same right

Orbela · Mar 24, 2014

Thanks for the info

trukgirl · Mar 24, 2014

Yes your pump and overflow box should be rated the same or very close.
I had very good luck with an Eshopps box I had on my old 65g. It had a spot for a lifter pump but didn't require it; it was mostly to get out excess air. It was far more reliable for self-startup in case of power loss than the one I had on my 125g. That one didn't use a lifter and had a different design with the bent tubes. I hated it, had several spills.

Waters · Mar 25, 2014

Orbela said:
Sounds good thanks the gph for return pump and over flow has to be th same right

You just need to make sure that your overflow is rated higher than your return pump. You also have to take into consideration head loss due to length and heights of return pipe, number of elbows, unions, valves, reactors, etc. There are a number of good head loss calculators that can help you plan the size of return pump needed.

Orbela · Mar 25, 2014

I have decided to get Eshopps pf-1000 but what return pump shoul I use? My sump will not have will be straight down no angles. What pump should I use? Should I use a smaller overflow?