Some questions about my sump

[dnguyen1]

Hi guys, thanks for advance for the help w/ this

I have a 40g sump and it's broken up into 4 compartments. When I first set up and after lining everything up I accidentally knocked one of the compartment walls off the adhesive so the water doesn't flow from the top but kinda from the side now (since there's in essence opening around the baffle).

I posted about this and was told this wouldn't be an issue.

My set up in essence is:

compartment 1) far left bulkhead piping
compartment 2) aquamaxx c02
compartment 3) biomedia
compartment 4) return pump (ATO unit is attached here too

I'm wondering if I need to put more flow (in particular in compartment 3 to get water pushing thru the media).

I was also thinking about running chaeto and wondering if it'd I can move my biomedia to compartment 2 w/ the skimmer and leave compartment 3 with the macro algae. Anything assistance would be appreciated.

P.S. that's not the aquamaxx in there this is a before pic (and p.s. does anybody know what biomedia that is? thanks0

 

[homer1475]

Hmmm wondering why 4 compartments? A sump is typically 3. 1 for the piping/socks/skimmer, 1 as a fuge or biomedia, and 1 as a return with your ATO.

If it were me, I would remake the sump into 3 compartments(assuming you have plenty of flow in the DT, you can take the sump offline for a few days to complete, the tank will be fine as long as you throw your heater in the DT), first would be my piping from the tank with the skimmer(this compartments water level is determined by the amount of water the skimmer needs to sit in), next would be my fuge as large as I could make it(I would also throw the biomedia in here as well, assuming you have LR I would do away with some of that stuff, it looks like you have lots!), third would be my return and ATO.

As far as the media goes, not sure. Was going to say siporax, but thats more like ceramic rings. Either way it's probably not needed if you have plenty of LR. I personally keep LR rubble in my sump as added filtration and a pod heaven.

 

[dnguyen1]

Thanks Homer. yeah I do have a lot huh? Haha I don't have that much LR in my main display though. I think having more space will allow me more room to work. reworking the baffles will probably need to be on hold for a bit due to another baby on the way!

Does it matter how water flow through a sumpe (over a baffle, under a baffle, "THROUGH a baffle lol"?) or is it strictly if it flows it's good?

 

[dnguyen1]

Hello, I added a powerhead in my biomedia area to help some flow since that area was so slow that there was no surface skimming (water was coming around the damaged baffle vs. over the top...

Would this be a problem long term?

 

[rocsec1]

Three sections would be better. Place the ato sensor in the last and the actual ato feel into the second. That way the fresh water has a chance to mix before it goes into the dt.