what to put in sump?

[xycose]

Probably 11 years or so ago I used to have several fish tanks, mostly fresh, but I had a small salt (no sump though).

I feel like back then everyone had filter media in their sump, but now I'm reading up on them and it seems like people just put their skimmer and heater in there, and fill it with live rock?

Is this the suggested path to go? I just picked up a 125g with a sump, and ordered two different mechanical filter cut to size pads and a couple things of fluval bio balls, but is this a bad idea for a reef tank? No mechanical filtration at all, and just let all the living stuff in the tank take care of it?

Currently all my tank has is carribsea live sand, and that's it. I'm ordering 'the package' minus the live sand from tampa bay saltwater as my next step.

Thanks!

 

[homer1475]

A sump is just that, a place to hide the unsightly equipment it takes to run a SW tank.

With that said what quite a lot of us do is section off a section to act as a refugium of sorts. A place to grow macro algae, pod breeding ground, any fish/invert that dpoesnt get along in the display, etc, etc.

Bioballs are a thing of the past. They do work, but for the most unless kept clean(read clean regularly) they end up trapping detritus making them nitrate factories. Hardly anyone uses a wet/dry systems anymore because of that.

Mechanical filtration is also a debatable topic. Some run nothing, while others run filter floss/pads/socks. But again anything can trap detritus and unless cleaned or a regular basis can and will become a nitrate factory.

I personally don't like the floating debris and as such run filter socks I change out every couple days.

 

[top shelf]

As you said a sump is a good place for skimmer, heater, return pump, ATO, and any other equipment you don't want to have in the DT. Many people add extra rock to their sump or put chaeto in a section and use it as a refugium and a place for pods to grow. What you put in there besides your 3 key items being return pump, skimmer, and heater depends on your end goal. Others put gfo reactors, carbon reactors, calcium reactors, and kalk reactors but in the early stages those won't be necessary and unless your tank is heavily stocked with sps a calcium reactors may never be needed but extra lr and chaeto is a good place to start to help your biological filtration and help with nutrient export.

 

[lapin]

Your sump layout kinda dictates what you can keep in it. Heaters, skimmer, media reactors are usually kept in the sump to hide them from sight. Normally they have 3 chambers. One for the overflow and skimmer. One for a refugium. One for the return pump. The fuge chamber can be rock, sand, chaeto, mangroves or other biological media. Some sumps have a separate area for bio-balls. Tanks can be run without a sump too. Really depends on your livestock and the amount of work you want to do. Have fun and enjoy.