Struggling with sump

[Treenk]

Hey this is my first sump I've ever done. I thought I was doing well, but now I think I'm having some problems. First of all when I got the chaeto it was about twice as full. Also there is a film that has been building up on the top of the water and a lot of bubbles and diatom going on in the refugium. I put a floss filter in the baffle to try to catch it but it hasn't really dont anything it's still getting worse. Any advice on what I can do to make it more productive? Ammonia .25 - nitrite 0 - nitrate 10ish. I thought my cycle was over but I introduced 2 small clowns and it seems to have started cycle over.

 

[living_tribunal]

How long did you intitially cycle? .25 ammonia is pretty dang high. If it were me, I’d add some fritz or biospira ASAP. Your nitrate levels are highish but not awful. I’d try to reduce that a little bit after you’ve processed the ammonia.

If you have ammonia, that means that you hadn’t increased your bacteria population enough and the new clowns are adding more ammonia than your bacteria can process, so you need to add some.

Regarding the Chaeto, it certainly has enough nitrate but where are your phosphate levels? That and fuge lighting would be the other half of the equation.

The film is most likely related to the chaeto die off. Do you see a lot of the chaeto strands turning white? It emits little bubbles and clouds the tank like that, chaeto also releases nutrients both when it’s growing and dying.

The diatoms are normal, let them consume the silicates in the sump.

 

[Joesig]

need to see the rest of the sump, but your baffles are sized wrong its not allowing to much water movement if you cant redo it put a power head in there. As for the cycle at this point add some bottled bacteria to help cycle or remove the fish if you can.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

What return pump and fuge light are you using?

 

[Treenk]

Rio+/40 1590 LPH is the return pump. Finnex light has a blue and white light I keep both on 16hours. I designed the sump with a couple guys on this site. I think the point was for the flow to come up from bottom of the chaeto so I didnt need a power head in there. Doesn't seem to be working well... and not sure that center wall is high enough because chaeto is getting in second refugium chamber with sand bed and eventually more live rock. Here are some pictures also I'll link the thread of sump design if you feel like looking. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/will-this-sump-work.625424/

 

[Treenk]

This was chaeto when I first put it in

 

[living_tribunal]

That's a lot of chaeto to start with. I'm finding it's best to let your chaeto scale with your tank.

I'd still address the ammonia issue first then assess the chaeto.

 

[Hermie]

I'd add another baffle between the chaeto and sand (not sure which side, probably sand side so the chaeto still tumbles) and just put some mesh screen there to catch the chaeto debris before it enters the sand part. Also, I personally wouldn't want light getting into any chamber except the chaeto chamber, but that's a design choice. I just like to limit algae growth to my macro algae space. The sump looks fine though IMO, just need a way to disrupt the surface of the water in the sand/chaeto part. You can add a small circulation pump between the two chambers with a hose that goes from one to the other.

 

[Treenk]

I'd add another baffle between the chaeto and sand (not sure which side, probably sand side so the chaeto still tumbles) and just put some mesh screen there to catch the chaeto debris before it enters the sand part. Also, I personally wouldn't want light getting into any chamber except the chaeto chamber, but that's a design choice. I just like to limit algae growth to my macro algae space. The sump looks fine though IMO, just need a way to disrupt the surface of the water in the sand/chaeto part. You can add a small circulation pump between the two chambers with a hose that goes from one to the other.

That's a great idea I wanted more circulation but only thing I could think of is faster pump. Thanks so much.

 

[Treenk]

Also just checked parameters for the day it's been a week since I checked ph which is purple as hell. Ammonia is down completely though i hear api gives false sometimes.

 

[living_tribunal]

Also just checked parameters for the day it's been a week since I checked ph which is purple as hell. Ammonia is down completely though i hear api gives false sometimes.

It's not accurate but it does a good job of telling you if ammonia is present or not. I'd say you're in the clear. Water change it up.

 

[HawaiianReef]

First, Congrats on the sump!!!
That's a huge leap in the hobby.
I don't believe you mentioned a skimmer. The film on the surface is just collected proteins from the decayed organics. I get this all the time on my long term qt where I'm just supplying circulation and temp control. A protien skimmer will help, but you can just go and skim it out yourself when you perform a WC.
I like the way you made good use of the limited space in the sump. Very impressive!!

 

[HawaiianReef]

Sorry, I looked back at the pic and saw the skimmer right there. It's late for me.. ;Facepalm
If you can, try to play with the tuning of the skimmer. If it's working great, you could supply more circulation as previously stated. But if none of that is an option, just remove the slime with your wc.

 

[BeejReef]

Glad to hear ammonia came down quick.

Some people love a pristine sump. That's probly more common with the big skimmer, multiple reactors, rollermat filter approach.

Then there's the "huge hunka seaweed and maybe a bag of carbon" camp. In that case, your sump is liable to go through the "uglies" right along with your display tank. With light, it'll grow algae even better than the DT, so you'll probly want to put a few snails down there as well.

Agree with others, the film on top of the water is probly due to lower flow. I'm no expert at all, but I enjoy a little light bleed. I use the overflow chamber for a fair bit of rubble rock and a few good-sized pieces. The refugium light helps to mature them and get the coraline going.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

That's a great idea I wanted more circulation but only thing I could think of is faster pump. Thanks so much.

Yeah, adding a small re-circulation powerhead/pump to your sump is a great way to boost the performance of your fuge without the expense/hassle of replacing the return pump.

 

[southerntnreefer]

you can get one of those small Jebao powerheads on Ebay for like 10 bucks for a 2 pack. I use them alot for things like this, and or if i need to mix a small batch of water, or even in a QT system.