Putting a sump on a 20L, is it really worth it?

Coastie Reefer · Oct 10, 2016

I'm thinking about setting up a 20L. I really want to try my hand at growing out some "beginner" SPS, (20L is all I have room for at the moment). In my planning I've considered drilling it and plumbing it into a 10 gallon sump. Based on some early designs and measurements I calculate maybe another 5-6 gallons of water volume would be added. If I were to place rock in the sump the actual gallons of extra volume is probably closer to 4-4.5 gallons. I'm just wondering if I really want to spend the extra cash on plumbing a sump into a 20L for another 5 gallons of water? At this point I think not, but I've never had a sump on a tank to know otherwise. Anyone have thoughts or comments they want to share?

Marc.The.Shark · Oct 10, 2016

Well, if you keep up with water changes its definately not necessary. I have a roughly 20g display & a 10g sump, but it houses all of my equipment; skimmer, reactor, heater, temp/ph probes, dosing lines, etc. So, its a good way to get all of that stuff out of the display. Im also running no powerheads, so my return pump in my sump is the total flow for the tank. I guess it just depends on what you're looking for & if you don't mind looking at equipment in the display

Joey waid · Oct 10, 2016

For five gallons more to me it's not worth the hassle, just one more thing to keep tack of.

madweazl · Oct 10, 2016

Marc.The.Shark said:
Well, if you keep up with water changes its definately not necessary. I have a roughly 20g display & a 10g sump, but it houses all of my equipment; skimmer, reactor, heater, temp/ph probes, dosing lines, etc. So, its a good way to get all of that stuff out of the display. Im also running no powerheads, so my return pump in my sump is the total flow for the tank. I guess it just depends on what you're looking for & if you don't mind looking at equipment in the display

In a smaller tank, the ability to get equipment out of the display and into a sump could be more valuable than the extra volume. With that said, a buddy of mine had a 20g that was bare bones and had great luck with his corals. He was diligent with water changes.

jasonb87 · Oct 10, 2016

For just a coral/ frag tank its not worth it in my opinion

Duke4Life · Oct 10, 2016

jasonb87 said:
For just a coral/ frag tank its not worth it in my opinion

+1

a6walter1 · Oct 10, 2016

I think you will be happy if you add a sump. You can keep all of your equipment in the sump including heaters, live rock, chaeto, return pump, maybe even a small skimmer. Also, if you are planning on putting it below the 20 Long, you could buy a 20 High and get even more water volume. Petco has their $1/gallon sale right now, so you cant go wrong with that.

Bdog4u2 · Oct 10, 2016

I've put sumps on tanks as small as 2.5 gallons mostly so I could grow cheato and I hate hob filters

Daniel@R2R · Oct 11, 2016

Maybe my take on this is different, but I'd actually recommend adding the sump in order to have more water volume. Is there a reason you'd only go with a 5g sump? I'd actually probably aim for 10-15g (or even doubling your water volume with a 20g) if you can swing it. My reasons (other than the already stated advantage of having a place to keep equipment out of an already small display) is that it will add stability to parameters (higher water volume = easier to maintain stability). It also gives you room for a refugium or other pod propagation operation if you want. I prefer a system that is more forgiving if maintenance slips for any reason, and so adding the extra water volume would do that. The smaller the tank, the more water volume matters IMO.

Coastie Reefer · Oct 11, 2016

mdbannister said:
Maybe my take on this is different, but I'd actually recommend adding the sump in order to have more water volume. Is there a reason you'd only go with a 5g sump? I'd actually probably aim for 10-15g (or even doubling your water volume with a 20g) if you can swing it. My reasons (other than the already stated advantage of having a place to keep equipment out of an already small display) is that it will add stability to parameters (higher water volume = easier to maintain stability). It also gives you room for a refugium or other pod propagation operation if you want. I prefer a system that is more forgiving if maintenance slips for any reason, and so adding the extra water volume would do that. The smaller the tank, the more water volume matters IMO.

I wasn't planning on doing a 5 gallon sump, but when you add baffles and chambers and such, you reduce the tank volume to roughly 5-6 gallons in a 10 gallon tank... so that's what I was getting at when I said 5 gallons. I could go with a 20H for a sump, but then I wouldn't have room for an ATO container. Since I'm limited on the amount of space I have to work with, there's quite a things to consider...