Should I stack live rock in my sump? Pros and Cons?

[xxxenmsy]

I’ve been out of the hobby for a few years and am currently in the process of setting up a new SPS reef tank.

For my display tank aquascape, I processed and used large dry rocks (previously dried live rock). However, I now have some small, high-quality pieces of fresh wild live rock from the ocean left over.

Years ago, standard practice was to stack any extra live rock in the sump for biological filtration. But coming back now, I’ve noticed that most people keep their sumps extremely clean and bare-bottom, housing only equipment.

I'd love to get your advice on two things:

Why the shift? What is the main reason modern setups prefer clean, equipment-only sumps over sumps with live rock?
Should I use them? Should I stack these leftover small live rocks in my sump, or is it better to leave the sump clean and empty?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and insights!

 

[Dan_P]

I’ve been out of the hobby for a few years and am currently in the process of setting up a new SPS reef tank.

For my display tank aquascape, I processed and used large dry rocks (previously dried live rock). However, I now have some small, high-quality pieces of fresh wild live rock from the ocean left over.

Years ago, standard practice was to stack any extra live rock in the sump for biological filtration. But coming back now, I’ve noticed that most people keep their sumps extremely clean and bare-bottom, housing only equipment.

I'd love to get your advice on two things:

Why the shift? What is the main reason modern setups prefer clean, equipment-only sumps over sumps with live rock?
Should I use them? Should I stack these leftover small live rocks in my sump, or is it better to leave the sump clean and empty?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and insights!

Why the shift? I guess it is for cosmetic reasons. Possibly, the sump bottom stays cleaner, longer. I am not aware of any scientific break throughs in the hobby that indicate rocks in the sump is a no-no.

 

[xxxenmsy]

Why the shift? I guess it is for cosmetic reasons. Possibly, the sump bottom stays cleaner, longer. I am not aware of any scientific break throughs in the hobby that indicate rocks in the sump is a no-no.

 

[Subsea]

Why the shift? I guess it is for cosmetic reasons. Possibly, the sump bottom stays cleaner, longer. I am not aware of any scientific break throughs in the hobby that indicate rocks in the sump is a no-no.

“I am not aware of any scientific break throughs in the hobby that indicate rocks in the sump is a no-no.”

I would take this one step further. Live rock with cryptic refugiums do have some scientific support.

 

[NeutronMan]

I keep extra rock in my sump and let detritus build up a bit. The tank seems to like an occasional stirring of the detritus.

 

[TylerHaworth]

I'm currently planning a new build, in the sump I am going to have a specific chamber to house live rock.

 

[NeutronMan]

Keeping extra live rock in the sump also helps when you inevitably start tank number 2 or when a friend is starting up. Instant cycle with rock that’s already ready to go…

 

[exnisstech]

Why the shift? What is the main reason modern setups prefer clean, equipment-only sumps over sumps with live rock?

I have no idea unless as mentioned it because people like nice clean color coordinated sump areas. I'm a slob and never clean my sumps. Well I did clean my 125g sump when I broke the tank down but I took all the crud I cleaned out and dumped it in the new sump to give it a head start.

Should I use them? Should I stack these leftover small live rocks in my sump, or is it better to leave the sump clean and empty?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and insights!

I don't now if you should but I would. I just set this tank up and had some left over Gulf live rock.

When I started my 330 a few years ago I wanted to build a scape so used all dry rock but packed the sump full of live rock from the tank I was tearing down. This is the sump now.

 

[Kooma]

I’ve been out of the hobby for a few years and am currently in the process of setting up a new SPS reef tank.

For my display tank aquascape, I processed and used large dry rocks (previously dried live rock). However, I now have some small, high-quality pieces of fresh wild live rock from the ocean left over.

Years ago, standard practice was to stack any extra live rock in the sump for biological filtration. But coming back now, I’ve noticed that most people keep their sumps extremely clean and bare-bottom, housing only equipment.

I'd love to get your advice on two things:

Why the shift? What is the main reason modern setups prefer clean, equipment-only sumps over sumps with live rock?
Should I use them? Should I stack these leftover small live rocks in my sump, or is it better to leave the sump clean and empty?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and insights!

I built an egg crate platform for my sump that’s about half the space of the large open area. I cut pvc pipe in 1” sections (about 12 pieces) and zip tied them to the bottom of the egg crate. I have about a 12x22” piece of egg crate in the sump before it flows into the return chamber, I stacked this full of rock. I have a nero5 pump on random flow that points at the space under the rock to stir and keep it clean. This has removed dead zones in my sump and gave me the benefit of another 70-80lbs of rock in the system.

 

[xxxenmsy]

为什么会出现这种转变？现代水族箱系统更倾向于使用干净的、仅包含设备的底缸，而不是带有活石的底缸，主要原因是什么？

除非有人提到，否则我也不知道，因为大家喜欢干净整洁、颜色搭配协调的底缸区域。我比较邋遢，从来不清理底缸。不过，在我拆缸的时候，我清理过125加仑的底缸，但我把清理出来的脏东西都倒进了新的底缸里，让它有个好的开始。

我应该用它们吗？我应该把这些剩余的小活石堆放在底缸里吗？还是最好保持底缸干净空置？
感谢您分享您的经验和见解！

我不知道你该不该这么做，但我会。我刚布置好这个鱼缸，还剩下一些来自墨西哥湾的活石。

几年前我开始养330加仑鱼缸的时候，想做一个造景，所以用了全干石，但是把底缸装满了从拆掉的旧鱼缸里取出的活石。这就是现在的底缸。

 

[landlubber]

pro: extra rock leaving more capacity for biological filtration.
con: you have a bunch of rock eating up space in your sump.
whether or not you need the space in the sump or added biological filtration is really the question.

 

[gkprevite]

IMO you can’t go wrong with extra live rock in your sump. Extra bio filtration is never a bad thing, especially with some of the more sparse aquascapes that have become popular, there often just isn’t enough rock involved. Extra rock in the sump make up for using less in the display. Every few months I just clean the area they’re in so detritus doesn’t build up

 

[Reef Jedi]

I keep media blocks in my skimmer chamber and extra LR in the refuge chamber. I’ve done that for over 20 years. I think what you’re seeing is like what @exnisstech mentioned with clean looks and colored setups. It’s a flashy thing but I personally don’t think it’s practical.

 

[X-37B]

I’ve been out of the hobby for a few years and am currently in the process of setting up a new SPS reef tank.

For my display tank aquascape, I processed and used large dry rocks (previously dried live rock). However, I now have some small, high-quality pieces of fresh wild live rock from the ocean left over.

Years ago, standard practice was to stack any extra live rock in the sump for biological filtration. But coming back now, I’ve noticed that most people keep their sumps extremely clean and bare-bottom, housing only equipment.

I'd love to get your advice on two things:

Why the shift? What is the main reason modern setups prefer clean, equipment-only sumps over sumps with live rock?
Should I use them? Should I stack these leftover small live rocks in my sump, or is it better to leave the sump clean and empty?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and insights!

If you have live rock in the tank then thats all you need.
I put dead rock in my old frag systems sump that had several pieces of live. I ran the sump light at night opposite the tanks lignting.
Now sumps have so much equipment so space is a premium.
A few piece in the sumps not going to make much difference, and cant hurt.

 

[sim]

Always had in capacious sumps. Nitrifying bacteria thrive and perform best in the dark, as light—especially UV and blue wavelengths—can slow down or inhibit their ability to oxidize ammonia and nitrite. They do not need sunlight for energy; instead, they are chemoautotrophs that get energy from chemical reactions.

 

[strich]

It's crazy to me to see the clean room style sumps. I thought the whole point of them was to hide the very necessary bio loads to keep a truly mature tank alive.

I'm still learning the ropes myself, but I assumed that you kind of never clean the sump. Isn't that detritus food a lot of life down there?

 

[Subsea]

It's crazy to me to see the clean room style sumps. I thought the whole point of them was to hide the very necessary bio loads to keep a truly mature tank alive.

I'm still learning the ropes myself, but I assumed that you kind of never clean the sump. Isn't that detritus food a lot of life down there?

Both @Paul B and I embrace MULM.

Paul does not have a sump. He uses reverse flow UG filter, which I emulated 5 years ago. In my mud/algae refugium, I had 1/2” of miracle mud which after 20 yrs accumulated another 1/2” of spongy muck crawling with worms. When I converted to cryptic refugium, I stacked egg rate in the sump so live rock was above MULM.

“A sterile tank IMO is the biggest problem we have keeping certain fish healthy. Sterile is good in an operating room but very bad in a tank.”

https://wamas.org/forums/topic/78578-mulm-in-a-reef-tank/