What to do with this sump?

Diwrigh · Jun 20, 2018

Sorry for the crappy picture, I'm not at home to take another but will add more this evening.

This is the sump I just picked up for my first tank. 57g reef tank (including stand pictured), will definitely be running a skimmer, and potentially a fuge if I can figure out a way to fit it in there.

It's a 20g sump, but not long unfortunately.

Could someone give me advice on what I need to turn this sump into a functional one? Would it just be easier to go grab a 20g long and start from scratch? Pretty overwhelmed with all the info on sumps out there! Thanks guys!

Mark Bianco · Jun 20, 2018

This sump is plenty big enough to sustain a 57 gallon tank. If this was me I would buy a filter sock bracket a few filter socks and put that into the first chamber. Then I would buy two pieces of glass the same height as the black plastic wall and section off a section for a skimmer with a bubble trap. The last section would be for your return pump. Now the black section is a bonus you can buy small media bags and run any type of media you want such as carbon or gfo. if you want to know what a bubble trap is see the link below. Notice the two places on the left side one is off the bottom and the other goes all the way to the bottom.

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/trigger-systems-triton44-sump.html

HTH
Mark

Diwrigh · Jun 21, 2018

Awesome I'll be doing that next week then. So just to clarify, going from left to right according to this picture after adding glass to create a middle chamber: Return Pump-> Media Basket (black section) -> Skimmer/bubble trap ->Filter sock (intake)? Or do I have it backwards? Just trying to figure out which way the flow should go. Also, doesn't look like space for a fuge then?

Thanks for the help!