Who puts sand in their sump?

C

Carmen2

New member
I expect to get answers on both sides, but I'm wondering who puts sand in their sump and why. I have a sump with live rock in it. A new acquaintance suggested I put 3-4 inches of sand in one part because it would give copepods a place to breed and hide, and I think he said some other things but don't remember them now. My aquarium is 75 gallons and nearly two years old. I don't know if I have a good population of copepods or not.

So I'm asking for pros and cons on sand in the sump. Anybody?
 
I put a bag of livesand in my fudge with some rubble and chaeto....I'm looking for untamed masses of pods for a future mandy. Also I didn't use livesand in the DT and only 1 piece of live rock, so I wanted the seed from the sand, but I must admit, the fuge sand is absolutely crawling, every night I poke my head in and give myself the heeby jeebies.
 
tennesseebob said:
I put a bag of livesand in my fudge with some rubble and chaeto....I'm looking for untamed masses of pods for a future mandy. Also I didn't use livesand in the DT and only 1 piece of live rock, so I wanted the seed from the sand, but I must admit, the fuge sand is absolutely crawling, every night I poke my head in and give myself the heeby jeebies.
Click to expand...

Bahahahaha YES!!!!! Lmao
 
I have sand in my fuge. I keep chaeto in it, 4 corals, 3 maxi mini carpets, 2 tube anemones and a maroon clownfish. I have tons of copepods and tiny feather dusters growing there and I keep my GFO reactor in there also since I don't have enough room elsewhere in my sump. 1 out of the 4 corals wasn't doing well in the DT but seems to love the fuge. Another coral had a problem (maybe from over-feeding in DT) but also seems to be recovering in the fuge. The other 2 corals, 2 tube anemones and 3 maxi mini carpets don't belong to me but I'm taking care of them for a couple of LFS's that don't know how to care for them and they're flourishing. The maroon clown I keep here because it was getting beaten up by my larger red tomato clown in the DT. I target feed it every day. I don't need to clean the fuge because detritus doesn't settle here and there is good flow.
 
rt67ghy said:
I have sand in my fuge. I keep chaeto in it, 4 corals, 3 maxi mini carpets, 2 tube anemones and a maroon clownfish. I have tons of copepods and tiny feather dusters growing there and I keep my GFO reactor in there also since I don't have enough room elsewhere in my sump. 1 out of the 4 corals wasn't doing well in the DT but seems to love the fuge. Another coral had a problem (maybe from over-feeding in DT) but also seems to be recovering in the fuge. The other 2 corals, 2 tube anemones and 3 maxi mini carpets don't belong to me but I'm taking care of them for a couple of LFS's that don't know how to care for them and they're flourishing. The maroon clown I keep here because it was getting beaten up by my larger red tomato clown in the DT. I target feed it every day. I don't need to clean the fuge because detritus doesn't settle here and there is good flow.
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Holy cow what size is your fuge?
 
Its pretty common for a refugium section within a sump to have sand. My refugium is seperate from my sump and it does have sand, my sump however does not.
 
I have a fuge section with sand in it as well, I probably have the smallest fuge on here, 4g, but still have pods crawling all over it. I have ~2-3in of sand, rocks and rubble and a jebao wp 10 keeping it moving. I use the fuge for problem critters, pod breeding grounds and live rock production.
 
I've got about 2 inches of sand in the fuge section of my sump, along with all the rubble, frag plugs and failed attempts at SPS. There's also some chaeto and some sponges to seed an emergency QT.
I often see asterinas, bristleworms, snails, pods, you name it.
I figure the more diversity the better, even if I don't necessarily want it in my DT.
I do know it helps get the 'floaties' the skimmer misses and I think my DT has clearer water because of it.
 
I have a 20 gallon rock/sand/cheato sump---the baffles hold it in place. All sorts of things live down there, sponges, aiptasia, pods, crabs, snails, limpets, asterinas and the occasional stray fish that I have to return upstairs. It's an excellent place for anything you don't trust with your corals.
 
I used to have a deep sand bed in the refugium part of my sump, but I recently removed it. I keep a piece of Live Rock in there with a ball of Chaeto, and I seem to have just as many "bugs" as I did with the sand.
 
In my opinion, I think we can literally stick anything in a sump/refugium and it would work. Stick sand, miracle mud, rock, chaeto, corals, crabs, pods anything and our tanks will benefit from them. That's the luxury of having a display tank with a sump/refugium underneath or somewhere else...it's pure genius. Although we want to avoid things that will become nitrate factories like bio balls and filter socks, unless we constantly maintain them.
 
Our Display Tank is Bare bottom. In my 5 foot x 18 inch wide sump I have it laid out with 3 Plexiglass Trays each have 4 inches of sand in them with life macro algae in them. Every 3 months i will pull one of them out and Rinse it out with Tank water During a water change. This keeps detritus and other waste from building up there.but also keeps me from having to disturb the whole sand bed to keep the tank healthy.
I tried a deep sand bed inside the tank in the past. The areas under the live rock in almost all Mature tanks start to Cause a Issue.. To me Its NOT Something i want to deal with again... So Yes it will Help Just do not Dump it into the sump . Put it in a Bucket or container of some type.
 
None here. It's easier to clean empty, I just use the sump as a place to hide equipment and add stuff to the water where it can mix in good before reaching the display. I have pretty high flow in my tank so all the crud stays flying around in the water until it hits the sump and slows down, then the crud settles out for me to remove.

I don't have a mandarin or anything like that, so if I see too many detritivores I know I need to feed less or clean more.
 
Wow, great information guys, thanks! My sump is about 40 gallons, and I have baffles so I have three sections in it. The first, where the intake is, has the skimmer and a sock. So most of the dirt is caught there, at least I hope so. The end is the return pump and heater. I have live rock in the center and that's where I would put sand. My friend thinks I need more rock in that area, too. So I will add sand and some more rock. Thanks for the help everyone. I appreciate it. :)
 
I would suggest finding a deep Tupperware bowl of small bucket that fits the section where you want the sand and pour the sand in that first before placing in the sump. Makes removal down the road (just in case) really easy.
 
jon99 said:
I would suggest finding a deep Tupperware bowl of small bucket that fits the section where you want the sand and pour the sand in that first before placing in the sump. Makes removal down the road (just in case) really easy.
Click to expand...

A good idea, Jon. Thanks!
 
I have sand, rock, pods, chaeto (and will soon add mangroves) in the 27 gallon refugium section of my 65 gallon sump (located the basement directly below the 40 gallon breeder display tank in the living room). It's meant to be another display tank of its own merit, but being in the sump it's doing double duty as a natural filter for the display.

The refugium is also totally isolated from the skimmer and return sections so there is no sand, rock, chaeto or anything else in those sections.
 
Just ordered some more dry rock to go into the sump. As soon as my husband gets home, I can ask him what happened to that extra bag of sand I had. He hides things (unintentionally) really well. Also going to measure for, and buy/find a container that will fit in that area of my sump to contain the sand. I'm excited about this project. :)
 
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