myenigmaself
Fishaholic
Howdy,
It looks like in the near future I'm going to be the proud owner of a new setup. 55 Gallon main tank with a custom stand holding a 29 Gallon below. I see this as the perfect opportunity to set up my first sump. My first question is the big one:
Should I really create a sump for a freshwater tank?
I've looked all over the place and I've found varied opinions as to whether or not this is a good idea for a non-marine system. Most people say it's overkill. Some say it causes problems with CO2 and you'll need injection for your plants. I'll break down the pro's-con's I can think of below:
PROs:
Increases the biological footprint of the system, making it more stable.
Better for introducing chemicals.
Better/easier to perform water changes.
More attractive, as you can hide your heaters in the sump.
Allows you to add plants to non-plant-friendly tanks.
I plan on eliminating active filtration, which would remove the complexity and cost of 4 filters (2 for each tank).
I would think it would be pretty easy to setup the second tank as a breeder if need be.
It's cool since it's something I've never done before.
CONs:
It can cost more, depending on how complex the system is.
It's a little more risky.
It essentially negates any CO2 injection.
I think the PROs out-weigh the CONs: especially the last PRO. My question to the community is did I miss anything?
My thoughts on setup are as follows:
Main tank (55g) I plan on housing a decent sized community (6 or so, I need to see the tank before I decide on the number) of dwarf puffers and kuhli loaches (a combination I've had success with in the past, but the loaches have a tendency to dig up plants). If I can find a small algae eater I'll add it, but if not probably an otto. Sand substrate. No plants. Lots of driftwood to break up lines of sight. Rather than drilling I would like to create an overflow, much like the one found at melevsreef.
Sump (29g) Broken into two sections, one main section taking about 80% of the tank, and the other section just to house the pump. I'll get into that a little more later. As for inhabitants, various invertebrate and a plethora of plants. Most likely a gravel substrate, possibly infused with some fine sand as a base.
The reason for splitting the sump is two-fold. I plan on screening the flow from the main section to the pump to make sure all effluent/food-scrap remains in the sump to feed the invertebrates and plants. Additionally, I would like to minimize the amount of water available to the pump so if my overflow on the main tank somehow becomes un-primed or clogged my pump will only push up a few gallons (not the entire 20+ gallons) and hopefully I will avoid an overflow in the main tank. I will probably burn out the pump (if this happens) but I'd rather do that than flood my house. To this effect, is there a better way to prevent an overflow in the main tank? Maybe a water-level based shutoff of sorts, much like that found in a toilet only reversed?
So in short, is a freshwater sump a good idea, particularly in my scenario, and are there any safety measures that can be taken to prevent overflow in the main tank in the event my overflow gets air in it or the outflow becomes clogged?
It looks like in the near future I'm going to be the proud owner of a new setup. 55 Gallon main tank with a custom stand holding a 29 Gallon below. I see this as the perfect opportunity to set up my first sump. My first question is the big one:
Should I really create a sump for a freshwater tank?
I've looked all over the place and I've found varied opinions as to whether or not this is a good idea for a non-marine system. Most people say it's overkill. Some say it causes problems with CO2 and you'll need injection for your plants. I'll break down the pro's-con's I can think of below:
PROs:
Increases the biological footprint of the system, making it more stable.
Better for introducing chemicals.
Better/easier to perform water changes.
More attractive, as you can hide your heaters in the sump.
Allows you to add plants to non-plant-friendly tanks.
I plan on eliminating active filtration, which would remove the complexity and cost of 4 filters (2 for each tank).
I would think it would be pretty easy to setup the second tank as a breeder if need be.
It's cool since it's something I've never done before.
CONs:
It can cost more, depending on how complex the system is.
It's a little more risky.
It essentially negates any CO2 injection.
I think the PROs out-weigh the CONs: especially the last PRO. My question to the community is did I miss anything?
My thoughts on setup are as follows:
Main tank (55g) I plan on housing a decent sized community (6 or so, I need to see the tank before I decide on the number) of dwarf puffers and kuhli loaches (a combination I've had success with in the past, but the loaches have a tendency to dig up plants). If I can find a small algae eater I'll add it, but if not probably an otto. Sand substrate. No plants. Lots of driftwood to break up lines of sight. Rather than drilling I would like to create an overflow, much like the one found at melevsreef.
Sump (29g) Broken into two sections, one main section taking about 80% of the tank, and the other section just to house the pump. I'll get into that a little more later. As for inhabitants, various invertebrate and a plethora of plants. Most likely a gravel substrate, possibly infused with some fine sand as a base.
The reason for splitting the sump is two-fold. I plan on screening the flow from the main section to the pump to make sure all effluent/food-scrap remains in the sump to feed the invertebrates and plants. Additionally, I would like to minimize the amount of water available to the pump so if my overflow on the main tank somehow becomes un-primed or clogged my pump will only push up a few gallons (not the entire 20+ gallons) and hopefully I will avoid an overflow in the main tank. I will probably burn out the pump (if this happens) but I'd rather do that than flood my house. To this effect, is there a better way to prevent an overflow in the main tank? Maybe a water-level based shutoff of sorts, much like that found in a toilet only reversed?
So in short, is a freshwater sump a good idea, particularly in my scenario, and are there any safety measures that can be taken to prevent overflow in the main tank in the event my overflow gets air in it or the outflow becomes clogged?
Drilling is actually safer and cheaper than an overflow box, and the only way that I would consider doing a sump myself 
I'm assuming it's going to be cheaper for me to get all my pieces in one medium. There shouldn't be any issue building my 10"x4"x4" internal overflow box out of it too, should there (I decided to go with the horizontal overflow, just trimmed down a bit)?
