I did more research online and found out that most folks have a
sump included in their setup. The
sump is used to add total water volume to your system, thus diluting swings in
ammonia,
nitrites and other chemicals in the water. In addition it makes a great place to stash all of the ugly stuff needed to sustain life in a reef, like heaters, pumps, filtration, etc. I am sure there are other reasons to have a
sump, if you know of a couple more, please post it.
Most
sumps include a
refugium, a place to put algae and other living things you don't want in you main tank, but would like to have benefit the water quality. I am not an expert (yet) on
sumps or
refugiums, and I am sure someone here can list (and I hope they do) all of the benefits and drawbacks. I decided that the pros I read about outweighed the cons, so I decided to include one in my setup.
Refugium / Sump
After reading for about a week on the principals of
sumps and
refugiums, and being a
DIY type of guy, I drew up plans for my
refugium, and decided it would go under the tank in the stand. I purchased a 20G long tank (30x12x12) which fit nicely below. I had no idea of how hard it would be to decide what type of setup I wanted. It amazed me that there were so many different ways to setup a tank and there were about three times as many opinions of which setup is best. I finally decided to construct my own using the aforementioned tank and 1/8" glass from the local hardware (not the best idea, read on).
I researched what gear I would need to put in the
refugium /
sump and found out that I had no idea what a protein
skimmer was. I read that some people had them, and some people didn't. The main benefit is that they remove proteins before nitrifying bacteria break them down into
nitrates. With less waste to process, the bacteria consume less oxygen. Higher oxygen levels and low
nitrate levels mean better health for your aquarium life. I had enough in my budget to afford a basic
skimmer, and after looking around I settled on a Turbofloter 1000.
Pumps are another item that everyone has an opinion on. How much flow, what type, what brand? I followed some advice I found on Melev's Reef. I designed my setup with 3 times to five times the volume of the display running through the
sump. I decided I would need a minimum of 325
GPH (before head loss ) to achieve this. The only issue is, I didn't figure out the head loss thing until after I purchased a Eheim 1250 pump. With my head loss I would be lucky to get 200
GPH through it.
I read both good and bad things about Rio pumps, and since I am on a budget I chose the start with them. I could always justify an upgrade in 6 months. I purchased a 2100 to go with my
skimmer and a 2500 to circulate my
sump. I needed to heat my water, so I ordered (2) 250 Watt heaters. This way if one fails I have a backup.
I got measurements online for the
skimmer and pumps and drew up my
refugium plans. I would use three nine inch tall baffles, one inch apart with the middle baffle one inch higher then the other two.
I was told these are to remove micro bubbles that come out of the
skimmer, and since I have never seen a
skimmer work, I just have to believe it. These measurements came from Melev's Reef ]Melev's Reef[/url] on the
sump page. The design I worked up had the
refugium on the left the
sump on the right and the return to the tank in the middle. The divider that separated the
refugium from the return was 10", giving the
refugium a little more space, because I read to make it as large as I could.
1/8" glass and a bad measurement
I went to the local hardware and picked up 4 pieces of 1/8" glass, I had it made 11-7/8 wide. I got home and attempted to install the glass dividers. My measurements were too close and I had to use a little force to get the glass in. The first piece finally went in and I used silicone to seal around it, but it was a tight fit. I went to the hardware, kicking myself along the way for making my measurements too tight, and got a glass cutter tool. I attempted to shave 1/8" off of the glass, and actually succeeded, although it was not easy. I installed the other panes of glass and sealed them up. I also included a little box for the hose to fit into and put some
LR.
The next day I filled the
sump and tested for leaks, none present so we were good to go (so I thought).
Check out my cool 1970's almond refrigerator in the background. Ahh it's a basement bar who cares!
