Greetings fellow hobbyists,
Lately, I've bee thinking on ways to optimize my sump setup. It all started when I was trying to figure out why my candy canes are not splitting and they've been in the same spot for 2 months and nothing has happened. They're plump but nothing other than that. One of my friends has candy canes and his is splitting every few weeks. His setup is practically a display fuge with no sump. He has chaeto growing all over and I'm thinking from a parameters standpoint, his is pristine. I don't have a fuge in my sump but my skimmer is always pulling gunk out. So that got me thinking, should I have an alternate means of nutrient export. This is my setup as it stands now:
90g mixed reef with corner overflow
Beneath it is a 20 gallon, 3 chambered custom sump filled to 10 gallons partitioned as such (typing top to bottom as it would be from left to right)
First chamber:
Main drain with Sock and Emergency drain
Baffle
Second chamber
Reef Octopus skimmer
Main Heater
Backup Heater
Main body of manifold
Baffle
Third chamber:
Return
My question is:
Is it worth moving the return pump into the second chamber and allocate the third chamber into a fuge? My concern is that of the research I've been doing online, there needs to be a critical size for the fuge to actually be of worth. I've heard 10% of total water volume, which in my case (10g sump) is not possible. I was planning on growing macro and let the pods hang out in there. I can rig flow to it and let it "tumble" and spin as it should but not sure what the best route is. I was thinking something like an algae reactor but not sure how much surface area I would get. I've read that egg crates would be sufficient as a means of holding the chaeto in place. I'm looking for a direction to go in so I can get the maximum growth out of my corals. Also I'm starting to dose 2-part with the BRS dosers with everything controlled by my Apex.
Thanks for you thoughts and looking forward to your responses
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Lately, I've bee thinking on ways to optimize my sump setup. It all started when I was trying to figure out why my candy canes are not splitting and they've been in the same spot for 2 months and nothing has happened. They're plump but nothing other than that. One of my friends has candy canes and his is splitting every few weeks. His setup is practically a display fuge with no sump. He has chaeto growing all over and I'm thinking from a parameters standpoint, his is pristine. I don't have a fuge in my sump but my skimmer is always pulling gunk out. So that got me thinking, should I have an alternate means of nutrient export. This is my setup as it stands now:
90g mixed reef with corner overflow
Beneath it is a 20 gallon, 3 chambered custom sump filled to 10 gallons partitioned as such (typing top to bottom as it would be from left to right)
First chamber:
Main drain with Sock and Emergency drain
Baffle
Second chamber
Reef Octopus skimmer
Main Heater
Backup Heater
Main body of manifold
Baffle
Third chamber:
Return
My question is:
Is it worth moving the return pump into the second chamber and allocate the third chamber into a fuge? My concern is that of the research I've been doing online, there needs to be a critical size for the fuge to actually be of worth. I've heard 10% of total water volume, which in my case (10g sump) is not possible. I was planning on growing macro and let the pods hang out in there. I can rig flow to it and let it "tumble" and spin as it should but not sure what the best route is. I was thinking something like an algae reactor but not sure how much surface area I would get. I've read that egg crates would be sufficient as a means of holding the chaeto in place. I'm looking for a direction to go in so I can get the maximum growth out of my corals. Also I'm starting to dose 2-part with the BRS dosers with everything controlled by my Apex.
Thanks for you thoughts and looking forward to your responses
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
