[ponokareefer]

Originally Posted by mike31154

I've been running sumpless since I started in the hobby in '07. Future plan is to go with a larger tank & basement sump/fishroom, but that's been a plan for a long time now.... may or may not happen. Too many other things impacting the budget these days.

At any rate, nothing wrong with sumpless, one less power item to worry about, a return pump & associated plumbing. You'll definitely have more gear visible unless you find creative ways to hide it. Not just stuff in the tank, but also your skimmer, but you already know that. The other thing you'll need to have on hand is a top off container & method to manage the top off automatically, unless you plan on doing that manually... not recommended. I use a 7 gallon glass wine making carboy pressurized by an air pump on a timer for my ATO. There's a mechanical float valve in the display to ensure the ghetto ATO doesn't overfill the tank. Keeps the 77 gallon topped up for about 7 days, give or take, depending on season, room temp, etc.

I've rigged up a bracket affair with nylon screws threaded into it to hold chaeto for added nitrate control near the surface on the back of the tank. Not that obtrusive, but visible & probably not the most aesthetically pleasing thing to look at for reef purists, but functional. There's enough interesting stuff going on in the tank to draw the eye away from all the ugly gear to keep most folks entertained. My tank will never make TOTM photo by any means, but I keep it for my pleasure, no one else. So if you're ok with some of these issues, go for it.

How come you want a sump for your larger system?