55 Gallon With Sump

[Dorkhedeos]

well, my boss just gave me a 55 gallon tank and im really looking forward to setting it up soon or in the future (if my parents allow me to). i was thinking about using a spare 10 gallon tank as a sump because it has a crack that goes down 3 inches from the top and this makes it useless for anything else. i was wondering how i should go about doing this. what should i put in there for media? in saltwater tanks you just have liverock in there and pretty much no actual mechanical media right? is there a way i can do this with a freshwater tank? does anybody know an easy way to make an overflow box that doesnt lose suction after a poweroutage?

 

[GoldLenny]

I haven't done mine yet but I've been planning it for a while. I'm going to use a overflow box with siphon weir (rated at 300gph) to feed the water down to the sump and then my secondary 250gph canister filter to pump water back up to my main tank... 65G with 48"x18" footprint. As long as the canister filter intake is just an inch or two below the waterline of the 10G and the overflow box/weir is just barely below the waterline on the big tank, there is no fear of an overflow on either tank. You will have to top off on a regular basis to make sure there is enough water to keep the system working.

You should "fix" that crack by epoxying on two pieces of glass, sandwiched on each side of the cracked glass. Go at least 2" on all sides of the crack. This should take the stress off of the crack to keep it from spreading.

Silicone in a piece of plexiglass as a separator baffles (or two) in the 10G for your filter media. Leave 1/2 of the 10G for a planted area and some fast growing floating plants like anacharis or your fast growing plant of choice. Floating plants do really well at nitrate/phosphate removal and are easier to grow with minimum lighting. Since they are on the top, they get plenty of light. Since they are floating, they also absorb CO2 from the air so CO2 injection is not needed. Then they suck up nutrients from the water.

To anyone else reading this... having an extra large filtration system like a sump does not mean you don't have to do PWC's (partial water changes) on a regular basis. You still need to add fresh water with the trace elements and minerals for the fish and plants.

This overflow box is suppose to be self priming due to the design of the baffles. http/www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=CR1511

 

[Dorkhedeos]

thanks for the info. is java moss considered fast growing? im probably just going to base my overflow box off of that one. hopefully i can set this up without going though too much with my parents =)