Setting up my first sump/refugium

[Guy Fawkes]

Hello


Right now I have a 100g mixed reef tank. I have fluval LED's with a t5 bulb. I have a marineland canister filter, two power heads.

I'm buying a sump off a guy for 50$

Obviously needs major cleaning. But to purchase acrylic or glass is very expensive and more time consuming. It has a 4-5inch sand bed (not sure if I should rinse and use it)

I got a free overflow box with tubing, also getting a return pump from a friend for 30$. Will post the type when I pick it up. He also was able to get me a hand full of macroalgae from a sump of a awesome new LFS. So I will be setting this up today. . So basically I'm trying to save as much $ as possible while giving my tank the best water quality as I can afford.

Any tips or hints would be awesome.

 

[CafeReef]

yea for sure give it a good cleaning. Personally I would toss the sand bed and start fresh. never know what he had in it, or what could leach out.

 

[Shawn O]

How big is that sump?

 

[laga77]

Toss the sand. Use the left hand section as the return, where the water comes in from the tank. This is where the skimmer goes. The center is where your pump sits. The right hand section is for the refugium. Grow your cheato here. Feed this section with a "tee" fitting with a gate valve on it off of the return line from the pump.

 

[mushumatt]

If you have to use the sand give it a really good cleaning before using it. As others have said you should switch around the layout of the sump. As it is setup all the water volume will flow through the fuge, you want a lower amount of flow through your fuge. So placing your return pump in the middle section and T off of it with a valve to lower the amount of flow to your fuge. It allows you to isolate your fuge. But if you leave it how it is it won't kill anything or see any major adverse effects.

 

[ct3737]

Sump looks a little small

 

[Guy Fawkes]

So I didn't measure properly and the sump 30g will not fit under my damn stand. So I cut the baffles out. I'm gonna have them cut so they fit in my 20g. Trying to look for designs that fit your guys advice. I know it's a small sump but will have to do

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Also was reading, that you don't need sand in sump if you have substrate in your tank, and vice versa

 

[Shawn O]

You are correct. Technically, you only need two compartments in a sump; one for the return pump (and heater) and the other (where the water drains to the sump) for the skimmer and temp probe. Sand is not needed. A basic sump is for putting any equipment you don't want in the display; Heater, skimmer, ATO, reactors, bags of chemicals, etc.