Equipment Essentials

[Chibils]

Game: you have limited space under your stand and an off-site sump is out of the question. What equipment do you use? What piece is so valuable you won't start a build without it? What are your go-to items?

For the sake of this exercise, let's assume water volume is 50 gallons and sump is a 20 long (pretty standard for people with mid-size tanks). The stand is 48 x 18 and the sump is 30 x 12 x 12.

Do you blow space for a calcium reactor, or do a kalk drip? Do you cram an Apex under the stand, or go manual? Are you opting for a giant skimmer to do the heavy lifting or something more compact? Carbon? GFO? Zeolite? In reactors or bags? Bio-pellets? Marine Pure blocks? Filter socks?

This thread is partially inspired by a build I'm planning, trying to figure out what equipment I feel I need for a small sump and work area. But rather than asking everyone what they think I should use, it's way more fun to see how people would spec their sumps!

 

[bwoodward0012]

A quality skimmer is most important to me. Add to that a small media reactor fed from the return pump (I run sea chem matrix) and a triple doser and run it all with a basic controller and you've got pretty much everything you need in a compact space.

 

[TheEngineer]

I'd start with a heater and a return pump.

 

[bwoodward0012]

Yea I forgot the heater, pretty important

 

[Chibils]

I guess heaters are essential, I didn't include them because I figured they were a pretty un-controversial point. I guess there's varying trust between brands, as well as various industrial temp controllers like the Ranco and hobbyist level aquarium controllers like RKL/RKE and Apex...

I'd go with my trusty Reef Dynamics INS135 skimmer, a BRS Mini 5" reactor with GAC and GFO, and an external Iwaki fed to multiple return lines on the back of the tank. ATO reservoir next to the tank because you've got room. Tunze Osmolator. Kalk drip into the tank because I don't trust an ATO not to flip out.

Possibly a Marine Pure block, but no filter socks or fuge. I'm not a fan of refugiums, unless you keep them up they tend to collect more nutrients in the detritus they trap than they remove.