Charlie brown
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Quick question on a sump tank is bigger really better or does it depend?
Sump
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Charlie brown
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So is having a sump better then no sump at all I'm asking cause I built a 20 gallon sump/ refugium for my tank it's a 250 gallon i never had one before never needed one it was lrwfo but after my tank crashed because of my cousins nephew throwing a whole can of fish food in there while we were gone for a couple days I came back to dying fish so this time around I wanted to do some corals I have a few frags and they are doing good but my tank isn't looking as nice as I want it to with all the purple coraline growing on my rocks instead of the ugly brown stuff I'm thinking better water quality would help and make my corals happier too help promote growth
Night_shift_reefer_
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Yep having a sump is a million times better. If you have never used one they can seem intimidating but its pretty simple. Do a DIY cheap sump out of a cheap breeder tank and get you a jaebo return pump and you are good to go! I ran mine for a long time without a skimmer.
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Charlie brown
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Yea I got everything ready just need to build my overflow but I was pretty amped to build one I got a 20g from pet co for 20$ and had some spear glass from a tank that was broken from Wal-Mart it had a crack but I salvaged allot from it with glass cutter the crack was on the edge so just cut off that piece and built my sump/ refugium but then I started watching all these videos about 55 gallon sumps and 75 gallon sumps that you need a huge sump to have your tank really thrive and so on and so on and I'm like looking at mine like f#@k really I just made this and now they are saying you need a big sump f#@k my life but I think I'm just gonna try it out and hope for the best if not sell it try and make enough to buy a bigger tank if I can here's my diy sump
Night_shift_reefer_
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Yea I got everything ready just need to build my overflow but I was pretty amped to build one I got a 20g from pet co for 20$ and had some spear glass from a tank that was broken from Wal-Mart it had a crack but I salvaged allot from it with glass cutter the crack was on the edge so just cut off that piece and built my sump/ refugium but then I started watching all these videos about 55 gallon sumps and 75 gallon sumps that you need a huge sump to have your tank really thrive and so on and so on and I'm like looking at mine like f#@k really I just made this and now they are saying you need a big sump f#@k my life but I think I'm just gonna try it out and hope for the best if not sell it try and make enough to buy a bigger tank if I can here's my diy sump
Did you say it was for a 250 gallon? Just as long as your sump can hold your overflow water if the return pump fails your fine.
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Charlie brown
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Yea I'm building the over flow to be very close to top of water line if my pump goes out only about 5 gallons will be in my sump I'm gonna keep my water level in my sump low so if I have pump failure it won't over flow it's a hang on the back type of over flow forgot to mention my tank it's a tall tank not long
Mandelstam
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The volume of the sump compared to the display isn't that important really as long as you can fit your equipment in there and it can handle the water from your pipes during a shutdown. Of course more water is good but let's say your total water volume is 250g, if 20 or 75 of those 250g are in your sump is not critical.
Your sump doesn't have to be all in one container either. If you want to add say a bigger refugium later on just hook up another 20g tank for that purpose and connect that with your sump.
Your sump doesn't have to be all in one container either. If you want to add say a bigger refugium later on just hook up another 20g tank for that purpose and connect that with your sump.
Luno
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I wouldn't worry about putting cheato in that small section. A refugium is really the only part of a sump that should be a certain volume. If your interested read into a cheato reactor instead but that little space for you big tank won't really do much at least for the cheato and it's benefits
Height of the overflow isn't as important as the height of the return. Water will siphon back down the return unless you have a check valve (those fail eventually without constant cleaning). Unless your return is above the water level you are going to drain the display until the water is below the return. With such a small sump to DT ratio you will want to look into check valves and then clean them and test the system on a regular basis by turning off the return pump. Last thing you want is a power outage where you flood you house
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Charlie brown
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Yeah have a couple fail safes I have to include but I am thinking of building a cheato reactor and using a extra power head to run water through. totally off subject but I'm pretty bummed out right now I just got home from working grave yard and usually turn my lunar leds and it was target feeding day for my corals and noticed my davinchi clown wasnt hanging around my other clown so I started looking and couldn't find him then out of no where that's when I got a huge kick in the crotch and looked behind my tank stand and saw my poor davinchi laying there I've had him for almost a year don't know what spooked him or what caused him to jump but looks like I'm a do some drinking today..... always wanted a davinchi clown was happy as hell buying him next was black ice clowns but definitely gonna have to cover tank with egg crate or something all my years with salt water fish never had a fish jump out always kept open top on all my tanks love the skimmer effect but this feels like a real kick in the balls seeing my pride and joy just laying there... loved that fish 1 of 5 fish I've always wanted and now he is gone hopefully my naso don't jump too she is number 2 of 5
That really sucks, I had my tank without cover for a couple of weeks and was always nervous of getting home and finding one of my guys on the floor... had a glass lid, but ended up getting those DYI screen kits, definitely worth it
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Charlie brown
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Yea I went to go buy some egg crate that way it wouldn't cast a shadow and still get great shimmer..... I hope it's enough to keep the suicidal fish in the tank
