Sump Heat and Filtration Installation
Space is at a premium in this sump, and I have a strong need to have a lot of clean lines and order in my sump when it comes to equipment and wires so planning out where to place everything is critical.
Here is the plan and a picture of the final results. All the gory details are below.
Heaters
Probably one of the biggest challenges was to figure out where to place my heaters. I have a few tenants for my heater approach, but the biggest one is probably redundancy. This means that I want to make sure I have two heaters and two controls for temperatures and two ways to measure the temperature of the water. The result is that I have the following pieces of equipment in play for my heating strategy.
- 2x 200w BRS Titanium heating elements
- 1x Inkbird 2-probe Wi-Fi Controller
- 1x Apex A3 Jr temperature probe
As an aside, I chose the
BRS titanium heaters because I have had great luck with the in my other tank, but also because of the following reasons.
- Cost - They are very reasonable since they don't have a controller
- Size - They are much smaller than many other brands like Jager, and they seem to be the shortest and can be in the shallower parts of the sump if required
- Mounting Options - There are many third-party mounting options that are available for these besides the suction cups
Configuration
The way that I configured this is to use the Apex to monitor and control on the outlet when it senses temperatures below 77.5 F and off above 78.0 F. I have the Apex configured to send a text and email alarm if the temperature is at 78.5 as well.
I use the Inkbird controller as a safety check on the high-end, but since there is no real connection to the Apex from the Inkbird there is no way to force the outlet on if the temperature is too low. So I have my Inkbird set at a high of 78.5, which will shut off the heaters if the Apex fails to shut them off for some reason. It will also sound an alarm if it goes above that.
Placement
I want the heaters in the sump for aesthetics and since there isn't much room in there there are only a few options. I ultimately decided to use two
Innovative Marine Helio PTC Titanium Element Holders and put the heaters on either side of the return pipe in the first chamber of the sump. I could also put the magnets on the outside of the sump, reducing my chances of a magnet leaching into the water by 50%.
I have used suction cups in the past, but only have about a 50% success rate of them holding long-term. I also bought and tested the
Icecap Dual Magnetic Heater Mount, which is a less expensive option, but it was less flexible for placement and the magnet was not strong enough to hold the two titanium heaters with out them sliding down the glass.
I did try to put the heaters in the skimmer chamber, but no matter how I positioned them they just seemed to take up too much space and I was worried about my skimmer's foot print. Technically they will fit according to the tech specs and space in the sump, but I felt it would be just too tight and leave little room for anything else. I am really happy that they fit in the first chamber because they are out of the way and not taking up any useful real-estate in the larger chambers.
Filtration
I am waiting to put my skimmer in, but I wanted to make sure I had all of my biofiltration in place and it allowed for proper flow through the system. I wanted to take advantage of as much of the area as I could and add extra bio-filtration where possible to maximize the surface area I have for nitrifying bacteria. In my larger tank my refuguim's floor is lined with 2" bio-blocks, but this sump is too tight for that so I am going to try to add some bags of media where I can.
I made a few changes to the stock filter socks. First, I replaced the felt filter sock that the tank came with and instead am using 250 micron mesh sock in the second chamber. I don't really like the felt socks because they are too hard to clean so I prefer the mesh socks. I usually change these out 2 times a week under normal circumstances. To clean them I just turn them inside-out and give them a quick rinse in the sink while rubbing them together for 30 second or so and they are good as new.
Second, the tank came with a starter kit that included some
Aquaforest Life Bio Fill filter media, so I am using that in a RedSea filter cup in the third chamber with a pinky filter cutout. Make sure if you do this you hang on to the clear plastic rings that are on the felt and mesh socks, they are needed as spacers for any other aftermarket sock or cup to fit. I have had great luck with
Seachem Matrix so I am using that in filter bags in the second chamber and in the baffle between the skimmer chamber and the return chamber and topped with pinky filter.
TIP: Don't lose the small plastic spacer rings for the filter cups/socks because without it standard replacements won't fit.
Once this was all installed I realized I could get a small bag of filter media in the third chamber under my filter cup so I tossed som Matrix in a bag and put it in the corner.
Next step, ATO installation.,,
