What Kind of media do you use in your sump?

[Dale]

Yes it is a remote DSB.
The RC thread says it all. In my case, instead of a bucket, I sectioned off a chamber in my sump 36"L x 5"W x 12"H fed by my skimmer return line and draining into my return pump chamber. I filled it with a coral based substrate.

Here's a pic during the building phase (The plastic plants were there to better highlight the refugium chamber).

The sump flow initially goes:
Display drain (black PVC pipe), Mechanical filtration (AC 500 Sponge), Skimmer chamber.
From there it goes either:
Skimmer returnline, R.D.S.B., return pump chamber
or:
skimmer chamber, Refugium chamber, baffles, return pump chamber.




Coderad, What size of display do you have and what does your sump look like? Is it a prefab model or just a tank? How you set up a sump depends somewhat on the space available and the livestock you intend to keep.
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BMW R1150RT

[Coderad]

Sorry about the delayed reply. My display is a 32 gal, it is a FOWLR right now 2 clowns a bunch of snails and and eurchant and a couple zebra hermit crabs.
Hopefully I will be adding some easy corals this fall. The sump is a prefab 10gal here is a pic of my sump.

[Coderad]

Bump

[reeferaddict]

I just took everything out and run it bare now... I'm SO sick of nitrates!

[Coderad]

Not even live rock?

[reeferaddict]

Nope... I had about 60 lbs in there and a RDSB... You shoulda seen the crap in there when I took it out... and STINK! I'm almost ashamed... I can't believe my fish lived in a system with all that crap in it!

The school of thought is constantly changing... some stuff you may have read may suggest using media in your sump, and believe me I had all that too as do many people, but now thought is swinging to keeping even less rock and having more flow around it to make it more efficient... rocks & sand in a sump tend to act as detritus collectors so read "higher nitrates"... I LOVE my sand in my system and all the critters in it, but after this I am seriously considering removing all of it if I can't get zero nitrates using other methods.

[Coderad]

So what do you use for filtration just the LR and sand in your tank? your Just using the sump for more water volume?

[Willow]

Originally Posted by Coderad

So what do you use for filtration just the LR and sand in your tank? your Just using the sump for more water volume?

more water volume, a place to stash equipment (heaters, skimmer, micron bag...) or run it as a fuge. also make a good o2 exchanger and volume turnover.

[reefsurfer]

From what Ive heard/read/understand is that a deep sand bed(5" to 7") will contain more benneficial anaerobic bacteria, which help "filter" water.

My last system was run on a DSB that was in my sump, kept in the dark(no lighting for the sump), this is also supposed to be good for lots of critters to live/reproduce/feed your sps.

Having your sand bed remote also goes well with having more flow Not to mention if your sand bed "crashes" then you can remove it or clean it with less hassle.

Reefer addict, your onto something with having less rock in your system. If you look at this system this guy barely uses any rock. Not sure about all the details of that tank but... I had 50 # in a 75 gallon which is also way less than the amount recomended and my fish /corals/inverts did well.

http://www.zeovit.com/DTOTQ/edwardindex.html

[Coderad]

So an empty sump will keep my tank as clean as my canister dose?
I have 20lbs of ls adn 25lbs of live rock in my display is that enough?
In my canister I run carbon and foam, and ceramic bio media.
what are the benifits of a fuge?
would that just involve adding live plants?