sump basics

[Fish on]

I'll start by saying that I am a complete noob to the hobby, but have been wanting to get into it for years. I finally made the leap and bought a 90g tank. It'll be a salt tank with mostly live rock and maybe a coral or two to start. I have a 29g tank from the local pet store that I plan on using as a sump. I've been doing quite a bit research, but would rather just be able to chat with people that have been doing this for years.

I could use some advice on the sump setup. I was thinking of running a 3 compartment system. First section protein skimmer, filter sock and heater, 2nd section refugium and last for return pump. My questions are this, is there anything else that I SHOULD have in there? And as far as the refugium goes, am I ok with live rock and chaeto, or should I have other macroalgae as well?

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[avery155]

Chaeto is a good macro algae make sure you have a decent light over it running opposite of your display tnk light schedule. It will help keep your ph more stable at night. 2 smaller heaters are better than one large heater in case one fails in the on position.

 

[RobZilla04]

IMO when you plumb the return pump use hard PVC and "T" off at least one run with a valve so you can add on (UV, reactor, etc.) later down the line.

You've got the basics, just search how to make the dividers/bubble traps. Also might want to consider making dark so the light cannot penetrate through the refugium section. Wherever that light hits you're gonna get algae growth.

 

[Fish on]

Thanks for responses. I was planning on using smoked glass to separate the fuge, but hadn't thought about using a T valve. I'm having the local glass shop drill the tank and put the baffles in. From what I've seen, no closer than an inch for bubble traps right? And should I use a deep sand bed, live mud, nothing for the base of the refugium? I see a lot of differing opinions on that.

 

[Fish on]

Thanks for responses. I was planning on using smoked glass to separate the fuge, but hadn't thought about using a T valve. I'm having the local glass shop drill the tank and put the baffles in. From what I've seen, no closer than an inch for bubble traps right? And should I use a deep sand bed, live mud, nothing for the base of the refugium? I see a lot of differing opinions on that.

 

[lapin]

From what I've seen, no closer than an inch for bubble traps right?

If you are doing a 3 divider bubble trap be sure you can get between the panels with something. You might need to remove something caught between them.

 

[Fish on]

Point taken lapin, makes sense and will do. I've read conflicting opinions about using 2 lower watt heaters as opposed to 2 higher watt. We keep our house at 64 in the winter and the tank will be next to an outside wall. I'm wondering if using 2 higher watt(or 2 that are the recommended size) would be a safer/smarter plan?

 

[thegrun]

Generally 4 watts per gallon of display is fine, but since you keep your home relatively cool you might kick it up to 5 watts (a total of 450 watts). I would probably go with two 250 watt Eheim Jager heaters.