What Is A "sump"

[FiSh123FiSh]

Well what is a sump??

 

[Colin_T]

A reservoir of water attached to a tank. It is used to hold extra water and equipment like heaters. It can be used to house invertebrates or plants that would get eaten in the main tank.
They are used mainly on coral reef tanks to increase the water volume of the system once all the rock and coral has been put in the tank. They can be used on any tank and are especially suitable for rift lake cichlid tanks and tanks with vegetarian fishes.

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

ok so would you say its nessecary to have one?

Tom

 

[SkiFletch]

Depends on the livestock you want to keep... Sort that out before hardware

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

Well my list so far is:

Pair of Clown fish
3 Cleaner shrimp
1 shrimp goby and pistol shrimp
1 fox faced rabbit fish

Live rock

Anemonies(can't and never will be able to spell it )

Is there any other hardware I would need?

 

[kj23502]

If you're getting into keeping nems/corals, i'd say a protein skimmer, maybe a UV steralizer (although I think they're debatable), method of getting pure water ie. R/O unit? With a sump you could put the heater, UV steralizer and skimmer in there. Cleans up the look of the tank a lil. I'm new at this myself, but I've been trying to read a bit

Um, you'd need good quality lights. I was reading a post in which mod steelhlr reccommended in general:
2.5- 3 watts per gallon for fowlr
3-4 watts per gallon with soft corals
6-8 wpg with hard corals.

I think that's just a generality though. I wrote that info down. I'm taking notes

There's more to it, of course. That's just all that i've mentioned. Lets hear from the experts!!

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

Hey some good points!

 

[Musho3210]

If you're getting into keeping nems/corals, i'd say a protein skimmer, maybe a UV steralizer (although I think they're debatable), method of getting pure water ie. R/O unit? With a sump you could put the heater, UV steralizer and skimmer in there. Cleans up the look of the tank a lil. I'm new at this myself, but I've been trying to read a bit

Um, you'd need good quality lights. I was reading a post in which mod steelhlr reccommended in general:
2.5- 3 watts per gallon for fowlr
3-4 watts per gallon with soft corals
6-8 wpg with hard corals.

I think that's just a generality though. I wrote that info down. I'm taking notes

There's more to it, of course. That's just all that i've mentioned. Lets hear from the experts!!

WPG is bunk. Plus, some soft corals like more light than some hard corals. There is no guideline and there can never be an accurate one.

 

[andywg]

WPG is bunk. Plus, some soft corals like more light than some hard corals. There is no guideline and there can never be an accurate one.

I concur. WPG is pretty useless when it comes to planted tanks (where it originated from) and is a complete misnomer in reef tanks. You have to look at the type of light, the colour spectrum, the coral you want and the depth of your tank.

Also, 2.5 - 3 WPG for FOWLR? Why? I have two FOWLR tanks that only have a light on when I decide to feed them, for the rest of the week they stay dark.

Again, WPG = Bad

 

[kj23502]

Alrighty, then

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

would averge lights do? The ones that you get in a freshwater aquarium.

 

[Musho3210]

for a FOWLR, yeah why not?

 

[kj23502]

Well it depends. I have a 60" long 26" heigh aquarium and to eventually grow corals and such, people are reccomending at least 500 watts of lighting. I don't know very much about light either, but I'm trying to learn

Also, my tanks a little different b/c it's a tall. We don't know how tall your tank is or the size. Lighting doesn't really need to be grand for a fish only system. I know that much....i think

It probably could depend on if the corals you're going to keep photosynthesize or eat from the water? I'm not sure about this one though.

Like I said, I'm trying to learn....and I have no experience with this side of the hobby what-so-ever.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yup, for FO or FOWLR, basic aquarium lights will do fine. MIght want to replace the tubes with a more bluer wavelength to make the colors on the fish pop a little more, but thats just for your own visual enjoyment.