Questions about Red Sea Max Nano

[Areeflover]

Hello, I’m looking to possibly set up a Red Sea max nano and I’m curious. Can I add on to the tank like an algae reactor or other reactors with the tiny sump, any one have any experience with doing that?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Algae reactors can be outside of or above the sump, some folks hang them in the cabinet above the sump. It sort of depends on how big you want to go and how much room you have in the cabinet.

 

[Areeflover]

Yes but doesn’t a pump need to go into the sump?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Yes but doesn’t a pump need to go into the sump?

It does but you can run them with relatively small pumps, you should be able to fit one in there with everything else.

 

[JoshH]

He should have lots of room in the cabinet as there is no lower sump on the Max Nano. But the same solution can still work. Putting a pump in the AIO (rear sump) and feeding a reactor in the cabinet is definitely possible you just need to plumb it a little differently with a couple extra valves and make sure your pump is strong enough to get the flow you want through the reactor(s) with all the head height invloved.

 

[Areeflover]

I’m just worried cause that max nano sump looks incredibly small and already cramped

 

[JoshH]

Well all your really doing is adding a pump and a pipe which isn't really big you could upgrade the return pump and T off one to the return and the other to the reactor. If you're really concerned about the space you could drill a bulkhead and use a small external pump to run kind of a closed loop system to run the reactor