Critique my Filter/Sump

[amanthey]

I have a 2 year old 55 Gal. tank… Has a CPR BackPack Skimmer, Emperror hang on two wheel filter (old) and a Fluvel can filter (old)… All in all the tank is doing real well and all the fish and coral are doing well. I’d like to do away with the Emperor. It is old and in the way of the light system somewhat blocking one of the 96W atinic bulbs I’m thinking of building a sump out of an old 10 gal. tank that I have. I also have a good deal of Eheim Filter substrat on hand… Thinking of the 10 gal. since I can put this in under the tank on the stand without sawing the stand. This is in the living room so I want it to look nice and not have the wife leave me… ;-) Yeah, I’d like to go bigger but this is probably as big as I can go to get this in the front door of the stand .. Given how small I’d keep the BackPack hanging on the back of the tank like it is now and not have the skimmer in the new sump… Pretty short of space I think.



Anywhoo… My idea was to get a CPR Overflow box, Aqualifter Micro pump and then build the 10 gal sump as drawn.



I’ve never built something like this and I’m looking for any useful feedback. Any idea stuff would be greatly appreciated!!!!



Also, I like to add some carbon and Phosphate remover pellets in the Fluvel now and then. Do I still need to Fluvel or can I just toss a mesh bag of this in the BIO balls now and then.. I like the Fluvel since it forces the water through a layer of the stuff… With the sump I’d not have the water forced through this filter media. Sort of just a bag of this sitting in the sump.. does that work?

[reefworried124]

I made my 10 gallon sump myself too. Looking at your drawing, I can see you are making a really creative sump!

1. Well, first off, the first thing I noticed were bioballs. Bioballs are the source of ongoing controversy when it comes to phosphate/nitrate production. In my opinion,if you have live rock, get rid of the bioballs. You don't really need them and you seem to have plenty of filtration going on. Maybe replace the bioball area with a sump or just some fragments of live rock?

2. In the area next to your bioballs where the first baffle comes up before the overflow, I am not sure if it is a good idea to put holes in the baffles because it kinda defeats the purpose of the baffles. You might have decrease bubble removal from the water entering the holes.

3. On all of your dividers in the sump (baffles), make sure that they are not too close to the top of your tank like mine turned out. I didn't think about a power outage and how the return line siphons the water from your tank and overflows my sump. My baffles were put about an inch and a half from the top and when my return pump goes off, it would overflow. So, i drill a 1/8 inch hole in the return nossle in the tank that breaks siphon immediately after the pump shuts off. It still gets pretty close to the top but its okay. Oh and on the last divider, alot of people just put a piece of sponge.

4. Make sure your CPR skimmer will even fit in the 10 gallon sump. My skimmer didn't fit. I think the cpr has to have the pump at a certain depth in the water, but i think you said you will keep it in the tank.

5. You seem to have alot of stuff going on in your tank! You must love your fish as I do! But remember, your live rock should be your main biological filter (according to the pros here). Also, you have a really awesome setup so far. CPR's are excellent skimmers, and the Emporer 330 is a really good filter! Are you sure you want to upgrade to the fluval? Whats good about the emporer is changing the filter bags is easy, and you can put the bags of carbon right behind the filters because there is a space made for them there. Since most reefers only use carbon maybe one week a month, it would be a hassle to keep cracking open that fluval to take the carbon in and out. Oh yeah and take those bio wheels out. Just use it for mechanical filtration and let your rock be the bio. Emporers are also good because they create alot of surface movement (yeah, but they do hang off the back of the aquarium).

6. Research on the benifits of a refugium. I think that place where you would keep the bioballs would be an excellent place for a refugium! just put a little rock in there and some macro algae and it will help to stablize your nitrates and ph swings etc. overntight. you can also keep a naughty fish in there or grow some copepods.

7. If you don't have live rock and have a fish only tank, disreguard everything I just said and I am an idiot.

Hope that helps!

[amanthey]

Thanks for the advice reefworried. I have had a couple of people tell me now that BioBalls are bad news. I’m going to take you up on that advice.



My CPR is the BackPack that hangs on the back of the tank.. I was going to just leave that where it is.



My goal is to get rid of the Emporer cause it sort of gets in the way of my new light. I have a Coralife Aqualight Pro and it is about a foot wide. The Emporer is a hang on the back but it does stick out over the tank enough that it sort of blocks some of the 96W atinic. So I was thinking of getting rid of the Emporer. I have the Fluval going now as well. So I’ve got the Emporer with the wheels going, the CPR BackPack and the Fluval all running. The Emporer is empty with just the wheeles, the Fluval…I put in some carbon and phosphate remover pellets



Now I’m just sort of thinking of tossing the Emporer and using the Fluval and CPR….

[amanthey]

PS - I have the Fluval running with the Eheim Substrat.. Will this cause the same Nit. spike that Bio balls do?

[Steve-O]

Sorry for the thread jack, but this could help us both..

I am interested in doing a 10gal fuge for my 55gal main tank. Does anyone have a good layout on what it takes to build one? I dont have my main tank started yet, but want to put this together all at the same time.

Can you provide a list of items like pumps, UV sterilizers, skimmers, rocks, sand, plumbing diagrams and what ever I missed.

amanthey has been in this for more than 2 years, but Im a SW beginner and want to do this the rightway the first time.

I have learned so much from this forum so far and plan to learn more from you guys.

Thanks

[motorslave]

Yes ther is controversy with the bio balls. Plenty of people have success with them, and others dont. Same for the bio-whells. I have a skimmer and LR as my filtration. The key to having filter media and not having problems with it is keeping up on the maint. end of things.
I have a 55 with a 20L sump. The water from the tank enters on one end where the skimmer is. This is the main section of the sump. From there the water goes through a series of three baffles in an over under over order. These baffles help to eliminate micro bubbles so they dont end up in the main tank. On the other side of the baffles is the return pump. It is important not to put the baffles too close together because if they are too close this will increase the velocity of the water and the bubbles will get sucked right through and wind up in the tank. Mine are 2 inches apart with about 450gph going through the sump I think an inch and a half would also work. Mine is simple cause thats how I like it. Simple and effective! HTH

Robert

[kwjones]

My Remora Pro skimmer is still hanging on the back of my tank because I didn't have enough room verticly to put it in the sump. So I don't think you'll have any problems with that.

If you put the baffles in the sump like Robert and I have in ours, you can put the filter media in a bag (packed loosely) and put it in between the first and second baffle so water is forced through it. Every once in a while I'll throw a bag of carbon and some polyester fiber from Wal-Mart down in the sump for a few days to polish the water.

Other than that, I'd leave the sump empty so it's easy to clean. Your sump will end up more of an area where everything floating in the water will settle out and it's really easy to siphon out when you do water changes. If you want more flow in your display tank, think about an over the top closed loop (no drilling required).

[motorslave]

Ditto on what Kevin said about the over the top closed loop system. I have two, one is an 850gph spray bar and the other is an 850gph that drps in on each end of the tank and blows across side to side.

Robert