Tank upgrade questions

[Eleni18]

Hi all, Happy Labor Day! I found a great deal on a 600 liter tank which will be a major upgrade from my 240 liter one. The seller has partitioned off the right side of the tank to form a sump. I quite like this setup, since I have never had a sump before and I would feel a little nervous having a separate sump with pipes and drains and holes drilled in the main tank. The "sump" has three compartments, one for the heater, one for filter media and one for the return pump. The guy has the tank setup as a fresh water tank, so no skimmer. My first concern is whether my HOB Deltec MCE600 would be OK for this much larger tank. Or if I should use an in sump skimmer and what would be a good choice, as the space is quite small. And please give me whatever input you have as to this setup and what else I should be careful of. Thanks

 

[Euphyllia97]

Hi! Congratulations on the upgrade.

It all really depends on the bioload in your tank. However looking at tank/sump ratioI wouldn’t really use the media compartment for standard biological media. As you have plenty of room for live rock.

I would say that the best thing to do would be to get a new skimmer as big as will probably fit together with a media reactor (for active carbon and possible Gfo) in the largest compartment.

You could also put some filter media in the return chamber if you really want to.