revisiting ? on sump

[mtc1966]

ok i was working on cleaning out my 38g tank and the 10g that i will use for a sump.
originally i was going to make 3 compartments in the sump but after placing the tank in the bottom of my stand and setting the return pump in it i now see just how small 10g is.
i am now wondering if i should just do a wide open sump .

any thoughts pros and cons of doing it that way?

 

[WethandsCT]

What were you going to place in sump? I would go with live rock and carbon reactor in sump.

 

[mtc1966]

i was going to use rubble rock and cheato . i was going to do a sand bottom but not sure if i can do that without separating the pump .

 

[mikelaubach]

Chaeto can also be a problem if you don't separate - too easily caught up in the pump.

The upside to a single compartment is that you can evaporate more with risking the pump going dry (of course, that also means a wider swing in the salinity, but I'm trying to find a positive attribute here ).

Yeah, a 10G is tiny. But still doable. It's all that I have that can fit my stand as well until I get around to messin' with acrylics.

 

[mtc1966]

mike is yours divided or open ? maybe i should just separate the pump which leads to another question if i put a glass panel in how high up should it be .

 

[erbgo]

mike is yours divided or open ? maybe i should just separate the pump which leads to another question if i put a glass panel in how high up should it be .

You could use egg crate and that way you dont have to wory about water hight and it will keep back cheto if it starts to grow through u pull it back

 

[mtc1966]

egg crate never even crossed my mind thanks erbgo

 

[mikelaubach]

Frankly, I used a random number for height. I used glass from HD and cut to width, but I but left the height at what it was. I'm also not using bubble traps, but do not have a microbubble issue from my skimmer or otherwise that I need to control either. I guess I've always been lucky that way.

Egg crate will control the chaeto, but won't allow sand in the fuge.