Hello all,
Looking for some practical experience here. I have a 90 gallon drilled tank, on a home built stand.
My plan was to have a 40b as a sump underneath, but after dry fitting everything, I realize I have to put my sump on a platform on the bottom of the stand (I can’t rest it on the floor, the frame of the sump is too tight together to “sink” the sump.) Additionally, the interior pieces of the frame make it so there isn’t a true rectangle underneath, so I would have to scoot the sump over a bit towards the middle. All this is to say that I have a relatively tight fit above and to the side of my sump. I don’t currently have a protein skimmer or ATO, but I wanted to be open to possibly adding them as needed. And the 40 would make both things difficult to fit in.
My question is, will a 20 gallon sump be adequate for this size display tank, plus a display refugium? I could “sink” a 20, and would have room to spare on the sides. I would just have really a heater, some LR, and a return pump. Would possibly add a skimmer at some point. As far as I’m thinking, I just need my sump to be able to handle the run off from the display and the fuge when power cuts out, yes? Aside from the lower overall system volume of water (which I could conceivably compensate for with a larger fuge) is there any reason not to go smaller and more accessible? The alternative is rebuilding the stand and I already did that once soI am trying to save myself a headache.
Looking for some practical experience here. I have a 90 gallon drilled tank, on a home built stand.
My plan was to have a 40b as a sump underneath, but after dry fitting everything, I realize I have to put my sump on a platform on the bottom of the stand (I can’t rest it on the floor, the frame of the sump is too tight together to “sink” the sump.) Additionally, the interior pieces of the frame make it so there isn’t a true rectangle underneath, so I would have to scoot the sump over a bit towards the middle. All this is to say that I have a relatively tight fit above and to the side of my sump. I don’t currently have a protein skimmer or ATO, but I wanted to be open to possibly adding them as needed. And the 40 would make both things difficult to fit in.
My question is, will a 20 gallon sump be adequate for this size display tank, plus a display refugium? I could “sink” a 20, and would have room to spare on the sides. I would just have really a heater, some LR, and a return pump. Would possibly add a skimmer at some point. As far as I’m thinking, I just need my sump to be able to handle the run off from the display and the fuge when power cuts out, yes? Aside from the lower overall system volume of water (which I could conceivably compensate for with a larger fuge) is there any reason not to go smaller and more accessible? The alternative is rebuilding the stand and I already did that once soI am trying to save myself a headache.