First time adding a sump

[Amatin]

Hello All,

This is my first time trying a sump setup and I had no idea there were different sump setups out there. I thought they all worked the same. I picked up this wet/dry sump from the LFS and can't return it. It looks exactly like this picture but with bio balls. Is it worth trying to turn it into a regular sump? I was thinking about putting live rock rubble above the egg crate instead of bio balls and raising the water level. I also have a Tunze COMLINE 9004 Skimmer that could fit in there if I raise the water level or would that do better inside my 75 gallon tank?

I'm not sure how to give credit but credit to jasonk84 for the picture!
https://www.reef2reef.com/members/jasonk84.108326/ from this post https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/converting-wet-dry-sump.654108/

 

[KrisReef]

They all hold water and equipment, and acrylic is easy to manipulate/ modify if you need to.
What equipment do you want to use in the sump?
Does the sump fit under the tank, and is there any more room under the tank to add other things?
I think you can make this work, too bad the lfs doesn’t allow returns.

And yes, you can put liverock where the bioballs were housed in that trickle filter. Set a Tupperware or something similar in there to modify the water level?

 

[Troylee]

This would work fine as a sump, just need to add a baffle for the return pump and your top off. If you don’t then the skimmer won’t work properly as the water level will vary all day and might.

 

[Amatin]

They all hold water and equipment, and acrylic is easy to manipulate/ modify if you need to.
What equipment do you want to use in the sump?
Does the sump fit under the tank, and is there any more room under the tank to add other things?
I think you can make this work, too bad the lfs doesn’t allow returns.

And yes, you can put liverock where the bioballs were housed in that trickle filter. Set a Tupperware or something similar in there to modify the water level?

I plan to put a return pump, 2 heaters, and protein skimmer so far. It does fit under my tank and there is some room left.

 

[KrisReef]

I plan to put a return pump, 2 heaters, and protein skimmer so far. It does fit under my tank and there is some room left.

The extra space may also allow for a top off reservoir,? A popular option for “sum systems.

 

[Amatin]

This would work fine as a sump, just need to add a baffle for the return pump and your top off. If you don’t then the skimmer won’t work properly as the water level will vary all day and might.

I found a better picture of where the holes are! Do I need to put the baffle next to the bottom hole?

Here is a picture of the current setup, there's about 5 inches of space on the other side of the sump that's hard to see

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@BeanAnimal