Help With A New Sump

[Matthew5664]

I'd like the last baffle in the 2nd chamber to have water come from underneath to get good circulation in the 3rd chamber. Thought with the water going over the top in both entrance and exit that not much contact with the substrate would occur??

 

[Aquascaper]

The whole point to a DSB is that you are creating an area of low flow and poor oxygen levels. If the flow is too high or too near the substrate these conditions will not come about. All you need to do is ensure that the last baffle is higher than the water level, this will cause the incoming water to drop over the top and it will naturally flow to the bottom, across the substrate and then up the baffle on the other side of the chamber. The only (midly) static water area will be at the top which is not a problem.

 

[Matthew5664]

"Matt defiantly had been hit with the stupid stick at birth but not after many many late nights over the PC Aquascaper finely beats him with the intelligent stick to balance him out"

Thanks for clearing that up....

 

[Aquascaper]

That's ok, there's nothing wrong with anything you've designed it just needs tweaking to achieve the optimum performance from the sump.

I've built 5 sumps and I still sit back and think "I wish i'd done that differently", practice makes perfect as they say.

 

[Matthew5664]

With regard to the filter wool, What else could i use as a pre filter to collect large bits???

This can be cleaned every other day.

 

[Aquascaper]

There won't be any 'large bits' as they will get trapped in the live rock in the main tank. The only thing that will travel down to the sump will be food if you don't divise a system for feeding (ie. a feeding hoop, etc.) and this will just decompose in the sump, feeding the bacteria in the DSB and the macro algaes. As this will be dealt with constantly there will be no build up in Nitrates, if you use a sponge and trap it all in one place there will.

 

[SkiFletch]

There won't be any 'large bits' as they will get trapped in the live rock in the main tank. The only thing that will travel down to the sump will be food if you don't divise a system for feeding (ie. a feeding hoop, etc.) and this will just decompose in the sump, feeding the bacteria in the DSB and the macro algaes. As this will be dealt with constantly there will be no build up in Nitrates, if you use a sponge and trap it all in one place there will.

Agreed, mechanical filtration should not be necessary with a sump, especially if you use a refrigium with macro algae in it. If you are worried about particulate, in most cases the algae will grab it out of the water and take care of the waste naturally as Aqua mentioned. I've designed a couple removable trays into my sumpin the event that I need to use mech filtration, I can just drop one in, but the majority of the tank's life will be sent sans mech filtration

 

[Aquascaper]

especially if you use a refrigium

Is that like a cold sump?

 

[Matthew5664]

I'v got one in my sump> Ice-cream anyone?

 

[SkiFletch]

I'v got one in my sump> Ice-cream anyone?

Sure, I'll take some peanutbutter chocolate flavor if you have any

 

[Matthew5664]

As some of you know I’m upgrading my sump from a 10 to a 20 (UKG) the tank I have for this is currently housing my new rat Eric because Mort (the old rat) hasn’t taken to him yet. However in the meantime I have been working on designs for it and have had lots of help from most of you. So far I’ve got the design done on sketch-up (found a serial key on the net) I have also got the acrylic and silicon ready for this. I have a couple of question for the ‘experts’ among us:

1> My sump as it is has very little surface agitation is this ok?

2> There are lots of bubbles coming from the substrate and the microalgae is this normal

3> I have Caulerpa in the sump (saw blade) and it grows so fast its unreal. Now I know it should grow fast but this fast???

 

[SkiFletch]

1> My sump as it is has very little surface agitation is this ok?

As long as you don tmind a little surface scum possibl developing from an aesthetics point of view

2> There are lots of bubbles coming from the substrate and the microalgae is this normal

Do you mean in your sump? If so, thats fine

3> I have Caulerpa in the sump (saw blade) and it grows so fast its unreal. Now I know it should grow fast but this fast???

Faster is better, means you are processing nitrates at a high rate . Also means you can sell some excess

 

[Matthew5664]

1> Don't mind

2> yes in the sump so thats cool

3> Where do I sell it??

I've cut it back about 4 times so far and got about a carrer bag-full!

 

[SkiFletch]

Sell it to other members here or on other forums

 

[Aquascaper]

A poly bag from your LFS, couple of stamps and post it to me (Hell, i'll even pay the postage)

Just to provide a few explanations to go with the answers already recieved:

1) Don't worry about the surface scum in the sump as the main area for gaseous exchange will be the main dispay tank as that's where the livestock is

2) The bubbles are just coming from the substrate as it settles and the trapped gas escapes, further down the line when your anaerobic areas are fully developed you will see the odd bubble of nitrogen escape evey so often (this happens in the main tank too)

3) As Ski said, the rapid growth is in relation to the excess nutrients being absorbed and is common for newer tanks as the Nitrate & Phosphate levels settle