How do you run your sump?

[Morph]

Hi Guys,

With so many different methods I was wondering how you all run your sumps and whats in them?

Do you have any cool DIY mods that you feel have made a huge difference to your tank and live stock and also made life easier for you?

I currently run Chaeto in the 1st chamber, skimmer and GFO in the next and then lastly my return pump.

I do not run any filter socks at present.

I appreciate any response as I'm always open to different methods and ideas.

Have a great day everyone

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have 4 stages. The first coming from overflow us triple filter sock into 2nd area which was chaeto but now an algae scrubber and pump intakes for skimmer, reactor and pump to the algae scrubber. That flows into thirdcstage which is return from external skimmer into 4th area which has acrylic baffles fom skimmer return area to break up bubbles before reaching return pump.
Sump is a synergy 34

 

[fabutahoun]

Hi Guys,

With so many different methods I was wondering how you all run your sumps and whats in them?

Do you have any cool DIY mods that you feel have made a huge difference to your tank and live stock and also made life easier for you?

I currently run Chaeto in the 1st chamber, skimmer and GFO in the next and then lastly my return pump.

I do not run any filter socks at present.

I appreciate any response as I'm always open to different methods and ideas.

Have a great day everyone

Same Here Fuge the skimmer and 2 reactors for GFO and Carbon. then return

 

[Morph]

That’s awesome. Thanks guys.

Feel free to post any sexy sump pics

 

[Waters]

Mines pretty standard.....return into filter stock, into skimmer/dosing/UV/heater section, into media/return section

 

[squampton]

The red sea 170 comes with a small sump and hard to do much with it.

There is only 1 usable chamber and in that part I have a skimmer, reactor and a little egg crate box with rubble and matrix and where chaeto lives.

No room to fit anything else.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I just made a new sump/refugium for my 50g cube. The cube used to share a sump/refugium with a 120g tank, but I've downsized and sold the 120g tank, stand and sump. I just run 2 chambers. The first is a refugium with a filter sock, ATO, and a gyre to roll the cheato. The second has a skimmer and return pump. Simple and easy. Currently I don't use a dosing system. I do it manually every week when I test the water parameters. I have a reactor, but unless I'm having some kind of an issue, I don't run anything in it, no carbon, no GFO and no phosphate reducer. The photo is from right after I put it all together and before it was really running!

 

[jtl]

My sump is approximately 50 gallons. It is divided into 3 sections. Water flows into the end section which contains the skimmer and flows to the center section after passing through 3 baffles and is returned to the DT. At the other end of the sump is the refugium which holds 15 gallons. Feed water to the refugium can come from a couple of sources. Currently I bleed water from the return plumbing but I could also use water from the overflow plumbing or both. All flow is controlled by gate valves.

I keep both chaeto and live rocks in my refugium unfortunately the chaeto is struggling even though I keep it under good led lighting (red spectrum similar to a Kessil H380). I have no problem growing small amounts of hair algae in the DT and am small amounts of

NO3 at 5.o and PO4 at .o7.

 

[Chuk]

I built my own out of a 40 breeder. Filter socks and skimmer in chamber 1, heaters and fuge in 2, then return with in 3. The last chamber is where the dosing pumps for 2 part and what not are added

 

[jda]

No socks for me. First chamber is 15 inches high and has the return tubes and the skimmer. Second chamber is 50 inches long and houses the final chamber where I keep the heaters and return pump. I do not use ATO, so I like to have a really big final chamber so that I can go out of town for 4-5 days and not have to add water. I do not like to have a fuge in the sump (like to have them as a separate tank), but if I did, it would be after the skimmer.

 

[jtl]

No socks for me. First chamber is 15 inches high and has the return tubes and the skimmer. Second chamber is 50 inches long and houses the final chamber where I keep the heaters and return pump. I do not use ATO, so I like to have a really big final chamber so that I can go out of town for 4-5 days and not have to add water. I do not like to have a fuge in the sump (like to have them as a separate tank), but if I did, it would be after the skimmer.

If you lose a lot of water through evap and don't use an ato doesn't your salinity go up?

 

[malacoda]

For my 24g DT I have a 2-chamber 11g sump with two baffles between the chambers.

DT overflow empties into the first chamber, which has a heater in it.

I place filter floss between the two baffles.

Return pump is in the second chamber along with a DIY nitrate reactor containing Seachem De*Nitrate, carbon, and Phosguard.

The nitrate reactor has made a huge difference. Before hand, my nitrates always ran between 10-18 ppm. Even if I used the De*Nitrate in passively in a mesh bag in the sump.

Once I added the 'reactor' (fed off the return line) to get the proper flow through the De*Nitrate (20-50 gph), my NO3 dropped to 1 ppm within a week and has remained there for nearly two years.

Even after removing my Tunze 9004 and going skimmerless back in June, NO3 is still rock solid at 1 ppm.

I should note that I used man-made Walt Smith 2.1 reef rock in my DT. Works great for aerobic bacteria. But apparently is not nearly porous enough for anaerobic bacteria need for proper NO3 consumption. Hence my addition of the De*Nitrate.

 

[jda]

If you lose a lot of water through evap and don't use an ato doesn't your salinity go up?

Sure. 5 or 10 gallon in about 300. That moves a little bit.

 

[Morph]

Thanks guys, I’m going to have a bit of a rejig.

Got a Tunze 9011 skimmer on it’s way as the reef octopus 202s is a bit of the large side.

I should be able to get this into the first chamber with some chaeto.

I have ordered some Red Sea media cups and will start using filter wool. Will also see about moving my gfo to the media cup to see how that performs.

Which would leave the middle section free.

If all works out I would love to set the middle section up as an anemone clown habitat.... to stop it stinging my sps

 

[Morph]