Got Any Links For Making A Sump?

[D4N]

Have you got any links on making a sump?

Also is it easy or hard?

 

[pipatic]

hi ya
this might help ya

http/www.melevsreef.com/

 

[The-Wolf]

GARF has all you need to know
www.garf.org

 

[pipatic]

GARF has all you need to know

i wouldn't say that,but it too also a good site
as we never stop learning do we ?

 

[andywg]

The only possible downside to the links is that both are based on marine sumps, though the same principles apply in FW sumps.

The main change I would make in any FW sump (and have modded all mine to do this) is to incorporate an area of wet dry in a trickle tower. By having water flow out of a pipe onto some filter floss you remove far more than submerged media ever will.

Also, with bioballs exposed to the air ,you have far more oxygen available to them so they can support much larger colonies of bacteria.

These principles are not used much in SW (and almost never in reef) as it is seen as a nitrate factory, though this highly debatable.

 

[pipatic]

trickle tower are indeed used for marines, but as you say not for reefs, but for fish only types,

i believe and i could be wrong but the sump/trickle filters was first /started with marines, and is relatively new(ish) to freshwater fish keepers,
does it work , my freinds think they do on there fw setups, i hope so cos of the easyness to them,

Also, with bioballs exposed to the air ,you have far more oxygen available to them so they can support much larger colonies of bacteria.

i argee to that, i stand 50/50 on wether the cause nitrates ? how do you stand on that andy ?

did D4N want it for marines or f.w ?

so what do you keep andy ?

 

[andywg]

I keep larger and mid sized FW preds and will soon move into frogfish and venomoues SW preds, though will try the FOWLR as a mostly LR, skimmer and macro filtration, as my plan is to avoid water changes.

I find wet/dry works fantastic and have converted both sumps to run it, one sump feeds two tanks, the other the big 6x2x2 (though this one needs remaking as there is not enough capapcity over the drip tray and as such it keeps overflowing...). Both set ups have filter floss needing cleaning 3 times a week due to the amount of detritus it removes, far more than I ever saw with submergedx media.

I know I overfeed, and overstock, and have absolutely no ammonia or nitrite issues at all (thought he 6x2x2 has an 11x13x13 trickle tower with two sumps 24x14x12 stuffed to the gills with alfagrog, so i reckon it would just about cope with a basking shark...). I have to water change a little more often than I would like, mais c'est la vie.

With the nitrates, I think that bad maintenance causes it, and these horror stories are repeated; leave a load of crap on the filter floss and it will break down to nitrate (and other elements such as phosphates) which a reef tank will not like at all.

But, how can the wet/dry create more nitrates when well maintained? It must be treating the same amount of ammonia that the LR would be. Therefore, for the nitrates to be evident when there is a wet/dry, and not with LR, means the LR is not processing the ammonia or nitrite as quickly as the wet dry. Now the only research I have found on nitrates for marine fish is that 100ppm is the level above which some detrimental effects are seen.

I know which I would rather have present in my tank out of ammonia/nitrite or nitrate.

However, as the wet dry was seen as a saviour to all, too many set them up, and just left them, thus casuing a nitrate factory (just like overfeeding).

I would love to try an algae turf scrubber on the large marine pred tank, but getting info on them is not easy. That and the bucket system is likely to be noisy, but if you get it working well, it replaces the live rock and the skimmer. Which is fine by me!

 

[pipatic]

sounds about right on the matance side causing alot of probs,

frogfish and venomoues SW preds, though will try the FOWLR as a mostly LR, skimmer and macro filtration, as my plan is to avoid water changes.

think your need to do more w.c in a bid to remove the bigger particales,but with the use
of the trickle filter and l.r . and very good circulation around the bottom of the tank/l.r to suspend the crap ,to flow over and into the sump
recon it work very well

 

[gatorman543]

sumps are incrediable easy to make. All you have to do is buy or find a new tank, 10 and 20s work best. Then go to Lowes and they will cut you pieces of glass needed to construct your sump, to build the baffles and what not. Then used Silicone 1 to glue them into place.