ferockfish
New member
A drawback of a sumpless setup is that you do not have a convenient place to hide equipment. I have found that with some creativity you can have a sumpless tank without a lot of equipment visible in your tank. While I realize that my tank is not at the level of many of the tanks here on RC, I thought I would share some tips and tricks I have adopted over the years to minimize the visibility of equipment in the display tank.
My Sumpless Tank
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1. Skimmer
There are many HOB protein skimmers models on the market today. I prefer models that do not have the pump visible in the tank. (I have a Reef Octopus BH-300F (now discontinued).) I have made a few modifications to my skimmer which others may find useful.
Original Skimmer (with huge return pipe and surface skimmer)
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a. I replaced intake surface skimmer with a DIY one. The original skimmer went about 5 inches deep into my tank. (For some reason, many HOB skimmers have surface skimmers that go done much deeper in the tank than needed.) I shortened the intake pipe of my skimmer and made a custom surface skimmer. The one I made has a height of only a couple inches. I also spray painted it a dark navy blue to match my tank background so it is less noticeable.
Tank without hood (skimmer on left and fuge on right):
b. The return outlet of my original skimmer had a two inch pipe that went at least 4 inches below the surface of water. I ditched that pipe and replaced it with an acrylic “ramp” that allows the water to flow onto the surface of the water. Now, the return water is barely visible when viewing my tank. (The skimmer is also quieter with this mod because the return water flows smoothly into the tank down the acrylic ramp rather than “dropping” into the tank. The dropping into the tank caused a bit of a gurgling sound.)
c. Many HOB skimmers have a silencer on the pump’s air intake that is housed in one of the skimmer’s chamber. I replaced the acrylic lid of this chamber with a DIY lid made of styrofoam wrapped in duct tape. The styrofoam lid fits tightly into the top of the chamber. I use a strip of the duct tape as a convenient handle for the lid. This mod doesn’t affect the visibility of equipment in the tank, but I have found the form fitting styrofoam lid reduces the sound of the skimmer by almost 50%.
d. My skimmer has a chamber that is very convenient for hiding media (e.g., Carbon, GFO, etc). In fact, the chamber in my tank is so large I am able to put a CPR Media Tumbler Reactor inside my skimmer. I run GFO in this reactor. (Note: Make sure that anything you put in a skimmer chamber cannot block the water output to the tank.)
2. Auto Top-Off
For years I avoided getting an ATO for my tank out of concern that components would be visible in my tank. With the ATO options available today, this is no longer an issue. In addition to the convenience of not having to add top-off water every day to my tank, I found the ATO increases the performance of my skimmer. By having a consistent water level, I am able to set the surface skimmer on my protein skimmer to “skim” only the top surface of the water. This maximizes the skimmer’s performance. My ATO is the Elos Osmocontroller. While expensive, I think this is a great choice for sumpless tanks. There are no float switches with this ATO. It senses the water depth with a small sensor that protrudes only about 1mm below the water surface. I have the sensor hidden behind the DIY cover on my power filter (discussed below) so that it is completely hidden when viewing the tank.
3. Power Filter/HOB Refugium
I use an Aquaclear 110 power filter that I converted into a refugium. (I got the idea for this here on RC.) Here are some additional tweaks I have made to the power filter:
a. The Aquaclear has the water intake on its left side (when viewing the tank). Since my Aquaclear is on the right side of my tank, this would put the water intake in the middle of my tank. To avoid this, I made what I call a “Left to Right-Inator”. As its name implies, the Left to Right-Inator moves the water intake from the left side of the fuge/filter to the right side via a series of pipe fittings. Now my water intake is in the right corner of my tank – not the middle of the tank. (I realize that having the water intake in the middle of the tank may be the optimal location, but this is one mod where I am sacrificing some performance for aesthetics.)
b. Media bag: People that use power filters know the convenience of dropping a media bag into the filter. I run carbon in a bag that I place right before the fug portion of my power filter. I made a pouch made of nylon knitting material that a put in my media bag. This pouch keeps the carbon suspended in the bag rather to increase water flow through the carbon (as opposed to all of the carbon falling to the bottom of the bag).
c. DIY Cover: I made a DIY cover for my power filter/fuge that is slightly wider than the width of the power filter. On the left side of the cover, I hide the sensor for my ATO. I also drilled two holes in the top of the cover to use as a holder for the temperature and pH probes from my Apex controller.
4. Hood
I have found that a hood is great way to hide equipment. In addition to housing my lights and fans, my homemade hood hides the tops of my skimmer and fuge/power filter, my fuge light (a 8W PAR20 LED @ 6500K) and the return lines for my ATO, Alk and Cal dosing pumps.
5. Circulation Pumps/Heaters, etc.
While this may seem obvious, I thought I would mention that when possible, consider running any power cords in the back corners of tank. On the left side of my tank I have a circulation pump and a heater. Both of these are hidden in the back of my tank behind some live rock. I run the power cords for these in the left corner of my tank so they are less noticeable when viewing the tank.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed so much information on this board. If anyone has other tips for sumpless tanks, please share.
My Sumpless Tank
1. Skimmer
There are many HOB protein skimmers models on the market today. I prefer models that do not have the pump visible in the tank. (I have a Reef Octopus BH-300F (now discontinued).) I have made a few modifications to my skimmer which others may find useful.
Original Skimmer (with huge return pipe and surface skimmer)
a. I replaced intake surface skimmer with a DIY one. The original skimmer went about 5 inches deep into my tank. (For some reason, many HOB skimmers have surface skimmers that go done much deeper in the tank than needed.) I shortened the intake pipe of my skimmer and made a custom surface skimmer. The one I made has a height of only a couple inches. I also spray painted it a dark navy blue to match my tank background so it is less noticeable.
Tank without hood (skimmer on left and fuge on right):
b. The return outlet of my original skimmer had a two inch pipe that went at least 4 inches below the surface of water. I ditched that pipe and replaced it with an acrylic “ramp” that allows the water to flow onto the surface of the water. Now, the return water is barely visible when viewing my tank. (The skimmer is also quieter with this mod because the return water flows smoothly into the tank down the acrylic ramp rather than “dropping” into the tank. The dropping into the tank caused a bit of a gurgling sound.)
c. Many HOB skimmers have a silencer on the pump’s air intake that is housed in one of the skimmer’s chamber. I replaced the acrylic lid of this chamber with a DIY lid made of styrofoam wrapped in duct tape. The styrofoam lid fits tightly into the top of the chamber. I use a strip of the duct tape as a convenient handle for the lid. This mod doesn’t affect the visibility of equipment in the tank, but I have found the form fitting styrofoam lid reduces the sound of the skimmer by almost 50%.
d. My skimmer has a chamber that is very convenient for hiding media (e.g., Carbon, GFO, etc). In fact, the chamber in my tank is so large I am able to put a CPR Media Tumbler Reactor inside my skimmer. I run GFO in this reactor. (Note: Make sure that anything you put in a skimmer chamber cannot block the water output to the tank.)
2. Auto Top-Off
For years I avoided getting an ATO for my tank out of concern that components would be visible in my tank. With the ATO options available today, this is no longer an issue. In addition to the convenience of not having to add top-off water every day to my tank, I found the ATO increases the performance of my skimmer. By having a consistent water level, I am able to set the surface skimmer on my protein skimmer to “skim” only the top surface of the water. This maximizes the skimmer’s performance. My ATO is the Elos Osmocontroller. While expensive, I think this is a great choice for sumpless tanks. There are no float switches with this ATO. It senses the water depth with a small sensor that protrudes only about 1mm below the water surface. I have the sensor hidden behind the DIY cover on my power filter (discussed below) so that it is completely hidden when viewing the tank.
3. Power Filter/HOB Refugium
I use an Aquaclear 110 power filter that I converted into a refugium. (I got the idea for this here on RC.) Here are some additional tweaks I have made to the power filter:
a. The Aquaclear has the water intake on its left side (when viewing the tank). Since my Aquaclear is on the right side of my tank, this would put the water intake in the middle of my tank. To avoid this, I made what I call a “Left to Right-Inator”. As its name implies, the Left to Right-Inator moves the water intake from the left side of the fuge/filter to the right side via a series of pipe fittings. Now my water intake is in the right corner of my tank – not the middle of the tank. (I realize that having the water intake in the middle of the tank may be the optimal location, but this is one mod where I am sacrificing some performance for aesthetics.)
b. Media bag: People that use power filters know the convenience of dropping a media bag into the filter. I run carbon in a bag that I place right before the fug portion of my power filter. I made a pouch made of nylon knitting material that a put in my media bag. This pouch keeps the carbon suspended in the bag rather to increase water flow through the carbon (as opposed to all of the carbon falling to the bottom of the bag).
c. DIY Cover: I made a DIY cover for my power filter/fuge that is slightly wider than the width of the power filter. On the left side of the cover, I hide the sensor for my ATO. I also drilled two holes in the top of the cover to use as a holder for the temperature and pH probes from my Apex controller.
4. Hood
I have found that a hood is great way to hide equipment. In addition to housing my lights and fans, my homemade hood hides the tops of my skimmer and fuge/power filter, my fuge light (a 8W PAR20 LED @ 6500K) and the return lines for my ATO, Alk and Cal dosing pumps.
5. Circulation Pumps/Heaters, etc.
While this may seem obvious, I thought I would mention that when possible, consider running any power cords in the back corners of tank. On the left side of my tank I have a circulation pump and a heater. Both of these are hidden in the back of my tank behind some live rock. I run the power cords for these in the left corner of my tank so they are less noticeable when viewing the tank.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed so much information on this board. If anyone has other tips for sumpless tanks, please share.
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