another newbie question

[BigSteve]

is the use of a sump that would house your skimmer/heater other equipment purely to get all of those things out of sight or is there an advantage with that method? I noticed most everybody with a larger tank runs these is there a size once you get to its required? probably a dumb question but I'm stiil new.

 

[daugherty]

no it is never required but the more water you have in your system the more stable it will be in the long run. you could have a 50 gallon tank that had a 300 gal sump refuge and that 50 gal tank would be very stable. there is no size that dictates what size of sump you need. besides having all you equipment and great water quality you can also make it a refugum for growing pods and a dsb for better filtration in nitrate reduction

 

[BigSteve]

Does your tank need to be drilled or can you bring the necessary plumbing up over the back of the tank?

 

[daugherty]

you can get an overflow box that will do the same thing as having a drilled tank. drilled tanks look better (imo) but they both do the job

 

[dustin_P74]

daugherty has you covered

 

[cthegame]

+1 james

 

[yote]

+2 James

 

[Teixeira29]

+3 James

 

[JAG107]

Go drilled if you can, otherwise an overflow will work. Another advantage to a sump is you can load it with live rock and have a nice big bio filter going to help out the water quality. Also if you make part of it a refugium, having a light on opposite of the tank's day lighting over the fuge will stabilize your pH as well and you can grow some macroalgae in there to further reduce your phosphates and nitrates.

 

[IraqVeteran]

what if you dont utilize a sump and you do a hang on the back rufugium? Is that a good alternative? I just dont have much room for a sump under my 75gal.

 

[bigploch]

An HOB fuge does help but not as much as a undertank one. The more water volume you have, the easier it is to stabilize the water parameters. I have a 30 gal sump for a 110 display, the sump is full of live rock and my water quality is very stable. As far as an overflow, I have a hob overflow down to my sump which is great for my tank because it is built into the wall and all that stuff is hidden in the pump room behind the tank. If your tank is on a stand in front of a wall, a HOB overflow is just a protrusion from an other wise clean setup (unless your hood covers it). Both work fine. It's really up to you.

 

[daugherty]

you could use a hang on fuge but then were do you hang the rest of your equip like skimmer. most of those fuges at least a good one will take up most of the back of the tank and leave little room for other things

 

[IraqVeteran]

good point. I currently have the CPR backpack 2 on my 75gal. It works well, but I wish I had a reef ready tank so I could have a hidden sump. I guess my next tank will be done the right way.