Quote:
Originally Posted by Noobeef  It's a 29 gallons, so its a wee little tank. 
I still don't know about the sump. It sounds like the right move, but the chance of it overflowing scares me a bit. Actually more than a bit. My entertainment center is pretty close to the tank. A small overflow wouldn't get to it, but a 5 gallon overflow could have some SERIOUS consequences. |
I was also afraid of a
sump when I had my 24g nano-cube, but I made sure to get an overflow tank with minimum points of failure - and now I do not worry much at all. The overflow is more floodproof than the siphon or aqualifter type, but if you feel uncomfortable about it, maybe you should just go the
HOT or All-In-One route.
Our efforts here are simply to point you in a direction of lower
nitrates, sleeker appearance, quieter operation, and a refuge to cultivate critters. You need to provide a way to reduce
nitrates in your system, and a
skimmer, significant macro growth,
DSB are key parts of that solution. With aggressive (25%/week) water changes and smart feedings and good flow, you can do away with one of those items, but not more than one if you want to keep
nitrates from eventually climbing.
With that said, I think there is something fascinating about a
DIY all-in-one, and something quite pure/modular about a
HOT solution, but in the long term, neither will keep
nitrates down low enough for corals unless you find a way to reduce
nitrates.
Ways of doing this? Hmm. A 29g is 16-18" tall? How about a 4"
DSB, an in-tank Tunze Reefpack 200 ($200 - for running carbon and protein skimming), growing some in-tank macro and have 30 lbs of
LR, and two Koralia Nanos for flow. Do 5g water changes every week, and use your stand for an 5g auto-top off reservoir. Bang!
Keeping with the sumpless setup, you could also look at products like the 4g
HOT CPR Aquafuge, but they wont give you as much
fuge real estate as a decent sized
sump. Tunze 9002
skimmers are quiet and effective, but new
HOT skimmers like
this one from Precision Marine ($160) might be worth looking into.
