Welcome to a world that will be very addictive! Sometimes tiresome, sometime discouraging, But in the end, Wonderful.

This article contains a few things you might want to keep in mind before you go out and get a glass box and put water in it, as well as helping those that may have already made their initial purchases.

This is not a cheap hobby; most of us try our best to cut down the cost, including a lot of do it yourself (DIY). I will try and touch base on things you should try and keep in the front of your mind. As you read along you will notice some phrases or words in dark blue. You can click on these blue links if you want more information on that topic.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition defines a sump as:

A low-lying place, such as a pit, that receives drainage.

This is an accurate, albeit simplistic description of an aquarium sump. Tailoring the definition a bit to be more descriptive of our usage of the word in the hobby it would read:

A tank or container placed lower than, and which receives drainage from, the display aquarium.

The obvious first question most beginners have is, "Why in the world would I want one of these? They add more complexity and possibilities for disaster, don't they?" Well, if installed correctly, the many benefits to installing a sump on your aquarium far outweigh any of the few downsides.

The benefits include:

When writing Part I of this article, which described how sumps work and why sumps are such a popular part of reef aquariums, I didn't expect the subject to be quite so broad. My initial expectations were that one further article would complete my coverage of the topic. However, after compiling all the feedback from the first article and completing the research for the follow-up, I discovered that the information remaining to be covered couldn't be shoehorned into one article. The remaining articles in this series will progressively delve deeper into the design and concept of the sump and provide some techniques on how to avoid some of the common pitfalls when planning and assembling a system.

Although this series is far from an attempt at a comprehensive documentation on the subject, it would take a rather thick book to cover it properly. The intent of this series of articles is to provide a starting point and some basic "rules of thumb" to keep in mind in designing a system, or adding a sump to an existing aquarium.

When designing a sump for your aquarium, the size, shape, and material chosen should be carefully considered. While many of these parameters will be determined by the physical constraints of the installation, others will be determined by the expense you wish to incur.

In this installment of the sump series, I will discuss the specifics on how to optimize overflow design and placement, and delve into some of the problems associated with sumps. I will also provide some potential solutions to problems one may likely encounter. It is not necessary to have read Parts I or II of the series before reading this article, but I encourage readers to do so. Part I covers the definition of a sump, why they are useful and the basic mechanics. Part II specifically discusses the design and installation of the sump itself, including hints on how to choose the size, shape, and material for a sump.