Sumps are confusing!

G

Glidehigh

Reefing newb
Ok,
I have an 85 gallon tank and am going to build my own sump. I have a few questions. Is there any particualr order that things need to go in? For example can I have the water flow in this order:

Water Leaves main tank
Trickle we/dry filter
Protien skimmer
Canister filter
Refugeeum
Water back to main tank.

My second question is this. Can I have the canister filter drawing water out of the refugeum in the sump. Finally, Where do I need to put baffles and what is their purpose?

Thanks everyone for your help. I am really appreciate it!!!!
J
 
With a sump you wouldn't need a canister filter. Those are not preferred anyway. Your refugium would usually be feed off a T from the overflow line feeding the sump. I suppose you could incorporate the canister filter in there somewhere, but I would do away with it all together. May be use it to run carbon as needed.
 
+1 dcan....saltwater hobbyists tend to stay away from canister filters. Mine is set up like this:

Main tank, overflows down to the sump, but it's split before hitting the sump -- 80% of the water goes into my skimmer area on the left, and 20% goes into my refugium area on the right....it is controlled by a ball valve. The skimmer pours half the water in its own compartment which overflows through 3 staggered baffles into the middle return area, and the other half of the skimmed water goes into my refugium as well, which overflows through 1 baffle w/ teeth on top, into the return area. Then goes back into the main tank. I made a video when I first started the hobby:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LShjPYPvh_c]YouTube - Sump setup[/ame]

My sumps MUCH dirtier now with algael and stuff, and the chaeto in the refugium has since been trimmed and sold to my lfs. But it's worked very well for me.

The refugium is not necessary, but it helps with pod growth and maybe algae control in the main tank (I have little to no hair algae up there). Hope this helps.
 
sumps are actually very similar, and extremely effective.

don't do trickle filters or anything with bioballs. just my opinion.
 
Here's my sump. Water comes into the sump from the tank on the far right and the return is on the far left.

ato3_5-09.jpg


You can see some other pics of my setup on my build thread.
https://www.livingreefs.com/125-reef-build-not-new-yankee-workshop-t12113p15.html
 
Wonton thanks for sharing that video.
ccCapt- great set-up. I wish I had a sump out in the open like that. I hate it in the cabinet below. Too hard to get to and work on stuff. Your set-up is ideal!
 
Wonton, great video and system but I think you may have grealty underestimated the ability of chaeto to export nutirents.

Always a good idea to let gravity return the the water down and let the pump push it up such that if the pump fails, nothing can overflow.
 
sen5241b said:
Wonton, great video and system but I think you may have grealty underestimated the ability of chaeto to export nutirents.
Click to expand...

Yeah...that's my first sump attempt from when I first started in the hobby back in Oct. My 125g will have an above-tank fuge so as to get more pods in the tank and more direct way for the fuge'd water to enter the tank directly instead of it mixing w/ the skimmed water. But since my dt is a low stocked fowlr, I didn't see the need to redo the setup at that point. I'm saving that for the big tank :)

Tell u what, though...my nitrates are always 0ppm!!!
 
Thanks for the help everybody. I am little confused about running carbons through the canister filter, dcantucson. How does that work? So a protien skimmer and wet/dry are enough? Thanks for all your help! Great video Wontonflip!
 
Glidehigh said:
Thanks for the help everybody. I am little confused about running carbons through the canister filter, dcantucson. How does that work? So a protien skimmer and wet/dry are enough? Thanks for all your help! Great video Wontonflip!
Click to expand...

Okay, based on all the answers you've already been given by expert reefers here, and based on the question you just asked about the canister:

You ain't listening to the advice given.:grumble:

Maybe this will help:

#1 -- DO NOT RUN A CANISTER FILTER ON A SALTWATER TANK.

#2 - DO NOT RUN A WET/DRY ON A SALTWATER TANK.

Why? Because BOTH the canister AND the wet/dry will produce MASSIVE amounts of nitrates. Nitrates and saltwater tanks = bad news and destined to failure.

You just want a sump OR a refugium. As you can see, Wonton and ccCapt have chosen to combine the two. They are using a sump with the skimmer on the side AND they both have a refugium with sand and some cheato. Both are VERY NICE setups. You should try and copy either of those 2 as best you can. I prefer the style that Wonton used because it allows low flow in the refugium with a central return section. The style that ccCapt used also works very well, but the flow through the refugium will be rather high, since the water MUST pass through in order to get to the return section. Not that there is anything wrong with it. I just like Wontons better because I believe flow through a refugium should be slow. Slow flow = more contact time for nutrient (nitrates) export.

Please post some pictures of your tank and sump or wet/dry. If you tell us, or show us what you have and what you intend to do (as far as corals or fish) we can help you a LOT better.

Wonton,
Great video and a great setup on your sump/refugium. With 0ppm nitrates, you can be sure that you did a nice job on the design of that system. I detect a slight foreign accent. Definitely not a native Virginian. Want to tell us where you're from? ;-)

 
Last edited:
LOL RC starts with a blast to the noob, and ends with a compliment! Don't let it scare ya, Glide. We've had many threads about scaring the noobs LOL Don't be...everyone just gets passionate. Everyone means well.

I started my 45 with a wet/dry bioball system. I ditched it due to 120ppm nitrates that would not go down (combination of using tap water and no doubt, the bio balls). Now, I do very very few water changes, and only 5-10%, and my nitrates stay at 0ppm constantly. So whether or not it's the refugium, you gotta look at the numbers. I'm doing something right.

RC: I can't believe you heard my accent!!! You'd be the first to tell me that. I keep telling everyone I have an accent, and they say they don't hear it! I'm Filipina :) I'm going to be updating the sump video to show what it looks like now -- it's all gunky and the chaeto is getting huge again even after I trimmed off 3/4 of it and sold it to my lfs.
 
I wasn't trying to blast him. Just seamed like he wasn't reading the advice already given, OR he wasn't paying attention to that advice and was dead set on using a canister and bio balls.

Sorry if I came across as an ass. Just hate to see people disregard solid advice. People take the time to be helpful and post accurate information for newbies. I get frustrated when it seams they aren't listening.
 
What did you say again? I wasn't listening.


LOL j/k *ducks*

Thanks, though. I did a ton of research and comparison on the best sump layout, and found this one on melevsreef.com. Seemed to make sense.
 
ive also been looking at setting up a sump for my tank (been running it without for about a year but im getting sick of looking at that ugly hob skimmer, thermometer, etc)

anyway... i have a 40 gal dt, so would a 10gal be big enough for a sump?? Also, whats that rule for flow rate of the pump per gallons of water? What i'm asking i guess is how big of a pump would i need for the return? Also can i just use my hob skimmer in the sump without problems?? (its rated for 90gal its an Octopus)
 
A 10 gal should be ok, but it's a matter of fitting a skimmer in there. I was originally going to use a 5 g wet/dry I head for a sump, but found that my skimmer and pump would not fit unless I kept the skimmer outside of the sump, and do some extra plumbing work, so we went for the 20g instead.

I'm not good w/ pumps. Mine sucks right now because it's over a hundred years old I believe LOL But the pump for my skimmer is a rio 550, and when I tested it as a return before I hooked up the skimmer, it moved water really quickly.
 
i am, and have been running a 10gal sump/fuge combo since day one on my tank. ofcourse, when i say a 10 gal, i'm saying its a 10 gal glass aquarium, but its really only just over half full when its running normally, so its more like 6 gal with 4 gal of space.

it works, i have a CF mini spiral bulb over mine, some calurpa in there, and a boatload of green hair algae(i need to clean it again, its been a week)

now, understand that i cant see the colors on these test kits very well, but from what i can tell, and from what the wife has said looking at the colors, she tells me that i'm zero zero phosphates, nitrates, and nitrites. I have to take her word on the colors, i just cant tell one range from another...
 

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