can you soft corals with out a sump?

[teena]

ive been talking to paintbug on this & i was wanting to see if most do or go with something elese/

 

[teena]

i ment to say can i have soft corals W/O a sump

 

[bertoni]

Definitely. I do. Having a sump or not doesn't really affect what you can put in a tank.

 

[teena]

i thought in order to have a nice set up some sort of sump was needed. all i have is a jet max 1200. thats not going to be enough for a 75g

 

[graveyardworm]

You could use a little more flow. A sump is a nice comodity, but is no required for a "nice" setup.

 

[bertoni]

You can add more powerheads for flow, or use a closed loop. For soft corals, one or two more MJ 1200s or 900s would probably be fine.

 

[teena]

whats a closed loop? & how many powerheads would yall use for a 75g

 

[Chads29]

do you need a sump, no.

Is a sump a nice thing to have yes, because it will allow you to put a protien skimmer or refugium under your tank so that it is not visible. I use my refugium for the pod's that grow in it as it makes some nice free food for my corals.

 

[Swanwillow]

how bout we ask this: what else do you plan to have in the tank?

I see waterbug in the seahorse forum, I believe... which would make me ask this. WHY? a maxi-1200 would be ALOT of flow for seahorses, and you'd need a spray bar setup to diffuse the flow over the whole tank...

softies can live and even thrive in low flow tanks... with or without a sump. right now, the only softies in my tank not doing well because they aren't in good flow are xenia. Zoanthids and shrooms do fine in low flow situations. low flow=almost none, btw

 

[bertoni]

You would want a total of around 800 gph in flow. You could look at some Seio powerheads as well as the Maxi-Jets.

www.melevsreef.com has plans for a DIY closed loop that should help you understand how they work.