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Thread: How is your sump setup?

  1. #1

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    How is your sump setup?

    I really hate the thought of doing it (yet again) but I'm thinking I may need to re-do my sump to help get my scrubber working better.

    Right now I have the water coming into the sump on the right flowing to the left. I do not have any filter floss or micron bag or anything, it just flows into the first section (separated by about 2" from the right side) and I have the glass there over the water level to help with bubbles from the drop from the tank. It then goes into a section about 13" wide were I have my scrubber, then a section about 12" wide where I have live rock, then a bubble trap and then a return section about 14" wide (I tried to make this bigger to help with evaperation. I now have an ATO.

    My sump is a 55g tank. My display is 90g tank. Getting it out from under the display is doable but not fun at all.

    The reason for all this: my sump is dirty. Really dirty. Also I'm not having good growth on the ATS. There is sediment everywhere and the only think I can think of to correct this is to re-design. Some of my idea would be to have the first section be a filter section with either the drain going into filter floss or micron bags. I can then remove the live rock and put the ATS in the section section before the return.

    I really don't want to have to move the dividers if possible. That would require me to take the sump out and I would have to leave the display sumpless for at least a week or 2 while the silicone cures (and my supply of known aquarium safe silicone is gone, and I don't know what I need to use to replace it).

    Any thoughts?

  2. #2
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    Yes you need to really keep the bottom of the sump clean. It can be directly responsible for nutrients, and lower scrubber growth.

  3. #3
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    Ive owned about 15 sumps. They are overrated. Now i have a 20g tank. Has the scrubber, heater and return pump.. finito. The longer im in this hobby the more i realize the simpler the better.

    No baffles or anything... Smoth bottom so i can syphon the garbage. If i get micro bubbles from the scrubber i put a few rocks where the scrubber drains.

  4. #4

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    +1 RkyRickstr.

    I also bought gadget after gadget when initially configured my sump and now after purchasing a AS from Floyd, all I have now is return pump, heater and a few kilos of live rock and that's it.
    Not more tweaking this and tweaking that. I only need to clean my scrubber once every fortnight and also checking my water parameters.... all stable.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr T View Post
    +1 RkyRickstr.

    I also bought gadget after gadget when initially configured my sump and now after purchasing a AS from Floyd, all I have now is return pump, heater and a few kilos of live rock and that's it.
    Not more tweaking this and tweaking that. I only need to clean my scrubber once every fortnight and also checking my water parameters.... all stable.
    Same here except I got a part time skimmer and no heater because it's in display.

  6. #6

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    This is why I posted up to review my sump plans. Too much crap down there and I want to simplify it.

  7. #7
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    To be honest I leave the layer of crud in. It acts as a thin mud substance for the worms and such to live in. Never cleaned it. Probably 6 years since it was emptied and it's about 5mm thick, that's all. Never given me any concerns.

  8. #8

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    Pump, heater and some rock. The pump is inside a plastic shoe box to provide a little baffle, but I'm not sure it does anything.

  9. #9

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    I got a sump without baffles. (An old fish-thank.) It has the return pump, heater, skimmer, zeo-reactor, a scrubber and two streamers blowing the bottem clean. Nothing settles anywhere in my setup.

  10. #10
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    This is the sump for the doc's tank



    3000 GPH through that sucker. I think it holds just under 20 gallons when running. In almost a year, I have never had to clean the thing. You can imagine why.

    edit: that's how it looked when I initially set it up...before even putting the scrubber on. now there's all kinds of tube worms/etc everywhere. But not as many as I expected. Must be the turbulent flow. keeps all the detritus where it belongs - in the tank

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