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Advise Needed????
- Thread starter Rone
- Start date
J
jokersplayground
Guest
A 40b would make a awesome sump with plenty of room. I would go with either a reef octopus or a bubble king
Make sure the sump is large enough to hold the water from back siphoning when the return pump is off. Bigger is obviously bigger.
Be careful not to go too big on the skimmer. Remember your bioload resides mainly in your display tank. Don't go add water from the sump or the refugium and buy a skimmer based on your total water in the system. Buy it for your display that has all the bioload. Your sump and refugium is helping your bioload not add to to it. When you buy a skimmer too big for your tank, the skimmer would not skim consistently and it's very annoying to tune.
For your tank size, I would go with Vertex Omega 150 or 180i.
Be careful not to go too big on the skimmer. Remember your bioload resides mainly in your display tank. Don't go add water from the sump or the refugium and buy a skimmer based on your total water in the system. Buy it for your display that has all the bioload. Your sump and refugium is helping your bioload not add to to it. When you buy a skimmer too big for your tank, the skimmer would not skim consistently and it's very annoying to tune.
For your tank size, I would go with Vertex Omega 150 or 180i.
I agree completely. Vertex 180i all the way for that tank.
For sump, I can offer a few points to consider - let my mistakes pay it forward. They pretty much only apply if the sump is below the tank in the same stand. All of these points directly relate to the size of the sump you select, just not in terms of gallons per se but more like the dimensions.
First, make sure the sump walls are not too high such that you cannot easily get your skimmer in the sump and/or change the collection cup.
Second, make sure the sump water height matches what you want from the skimmer. For example, if you skimmer wants 6 inches of water, but the sump naturally puts in 10 inches on that chamber, you will need to raise up the skimmer 4 inches, or buy a skimmer that waters a higher water level.
Third, if you need to raise your skimmer, make sure you add that height in for your clearance measurements.
Forth, on my second tank setup, I use clear silicone caulk to seal the stand. Thus, if water overflows/splashes (and it will) then it stays in the stand. You obviously must do this prior to inserting the sump.
Fifth, if you tank is already set up, make sure you can actually fit the sump in the stand. This could be a significant point in how big you want your sump to be.
And yes, I pretty much faced every one of the above as a problem that I didn't consider before I made my sump.
First, make sure the sump walls are not too high such that you cannot easily get your skimmer in the sump and/or change the collection cup.
Second, make sure the sump water height matches what you want from the skimmer. For example, if you skimmer wants 6 inches of water, but the sump naturally puts in 10 inches on that chamber, you will need to raise up the skimmer 4 inches, or buy a skimmer that waters a higher water level.
Third, if you need to raise your skimmer, make sure you add that height in for your clearance measurements.
Forth, on my second tank setup, I use clear silicone caulk to seal the stand. Thus, if water overflows/splashes (and it will) then it stays in the stand. You obviously must do this prior to inserting the sump.
Fifth, if you tank is already set up, make sure you can actually fit the sump in the stand. This could be a significant point in how big you want your sump to be.
And yes, I pretty much faced every one of the above as a problem that I didn't consider before I made my sump.
Very good advice.
I would also suggest that if the sump is under the stand and you want a refugium, have the refugium built-into the sump. And make sure you blacked out the refugium section. You don't want the light to lit other area. Just the refugium where the macro algae grow. Getting too much light on the skimmer is also problematic when the algae starts to grow on the skimmer body.
cilyjr
Chris
I've been using a 75 gallon sump for my tank for about 10 years. The advantage is how easy it is to work with and make adjustments due to the extra room. The trouble is the space it takes up.
I have to agree with nick on the problems with too large a skimmer. With too big a skimmer the bubbles won't grab enough organic matter to keep a bubble stabilized enough rise up over the collection cup rim.
I have to agree with nick on the problems with too large a skimmer. With too big a skimmer the bubbles won't grab enough organic matter to keep a bubble stabilized enough rise up over the collection cup rim.
