Sump Question

[vittpsu21]

Hey all! Tank is about 10 months old at this point, 200 IM EXT - bought the full kit which included the RFS 50. When I set this all up, I thought it would be a good idea to add some live rock in the refugium to help give the pods, worms, microfauna, biodiversity, bacterial surface area, and overall system stability some more wiggle room. As the tank has aged I have noticed that the refug has become a pretty dirty area and allows for detritus and other things that aren't caught to settle in there. It also grows a fair bit of algae that competes with the chaeto, but that is another point/issue in itself I think. My question is... do you think the diversity is worth it? The rock definitely slightly restricts flow through the chamber, I did however put a very small powerhead down there in that chamber to try to help with flow/chaeto spinning. If you don't think its worth it, what do you think I will be losing by pulling it out slowly maybe week over week? Below is what my list looks like in my head

Remove:
- better flow
- less bad settling
- easier to clean
- give chaeto more room
- lose some bacteria (don't think it matters overall)
- lose some life of pods/micro org

Leave
- lose no life that is down there
- continues to function as is
- restricts flow
- allows things to settle
- hard to clean
- hard to tumble macro algae

I should also mention I do culture my own phyto + pods so reseeding pods is not an issue, and I already microdose phyto daily at 125 ml a day /24. I have done this since the start of the tank. I am still new to the hobby, but just trying to figure out if I am missing some obvious things, overlooking anything, or just being stupid overall. I had also considered turning my return pump up slightly from 40% to something else to help with flow in the sump, but I am not sure that will really help with the restriction from the rock!


Thanks in advance

 

[Science/G]

You have to take a look at really what the overall health of the system is. What are your nutrient levels? If you remove all the rock will you put a dent in your potential export waste?

 

[vittpsu21]

You have to take a look at really what the overall health of the system is. What are your nutrient levels? If you remove all the rock will you put a dent in your potential export waste?

Sure, I started to clean my return chamber for the first time in a long time. But these have been my numbers

The other side of page is also full of numbers but everything has mostly been steady with nitrate finally going down a bit over the last week when I started to clean the return chamber.

 

[Science/G]

Those numbers look legit. As the tank matures, I bet your nitrates will go even lower. Everything seems nice and stable I wouldn't change anything, except turning up your return pump as you mentioned.

 

[vittpsu21]

I am trying to assess if choices I made early on as a new hobbiest with little to no experience made sense or if I should approve upon them. Almost like trying to look back at choices I made many months later. I could be off base but just trying to make sure I’m not missing obvious things

 

[vittpsu21]

Those numbers look legit. As the tank matures, I bet your nitrates will go even lower. Everything seems nice and stable I wouldn't change anything, except turning up your return pump as you mentioned.

Yeah I recently got 2 diamond gobies (dr reefs shipped two) and it was the main reason I was considering turning up the return. All the fines allowed me to see that maybe things are sitting on the surface longer than I would like

This is a bottom up view not sure how it will look. But after 3 weeks I’m just wondering if the return increase would assist with getting things to filtration faster

 

[Science/G]

There isn't an exact recipe for success with a reef aquarium. Regarding a sump, some people clean them weekly, while others have inches of detritus piled up. You're doing a great job! Go with your instincts.

 

[sgdnycct]

If your system is doing well and numbers are good I wouldn’t make any major changes. I think the variety provided by a “dirty” refugium far outweighs any negatives.

Are you seeing a lot of detritus throughout?

 

[Science/G]

Yeah I recently got 2 diamond gobies (dr reefs shipped two) and it was the main reason I was considering turning up the return. All the fines allowed me to see that maybe things are sitting on the surface longer than I would like

This is a bottom up view not sure how it will look. But after 3 weeks I’m just wondering if the return increase would assist with getting things to filtration faster

Yeah I see no harm in cranking up the flow. You'll be able to trap some detritis in your mechanical filtration, and get some more oxygen mixed in with the water. As long as the fish can handle it shouldn't be a problem. And once you start putting corals in there and they grow, you're probably going to end up having to add some supplemental flow in the aquarium like powerheads or wave makers.

 

[vittpsu21]

Yeah I recently got 2 diamond gobies (dr reefs shipped two) and it was the main reason I was considering turning up the return. All the fines allowed me to see that maybe things are sitting on the surface longer than I would like

This is a bottom up view not sure how it will look. But after 3 weeks I’m just wondering if the return increase would assist with getting things to filtration faster

Yeah I see no harm in cranking up the flow. You'll be able to trap some detritis in your mechanical filtration, and get some more oxygen mixed in with the water. As long as the fish can handle it shouldn't be a problem. And once you start putting corals in there and they grow, you're probably going to end up having to add some supplemental flow in the aquarium like powerheads or wave makers.

Current state for reference, algae finally going downward but almost all corals are very happy in the tank. This was added less than 24 hours ago even and looks amazing. So def don’t wanna break something already working! Appreciate the feedback

 

[Science/G]

Oh you have plenty of flow. The tank looks great. Yeah I wouldn't change too much.

 

[vittpsu21]

If your system is doing well and numbers are good I wouldn’t make any major changes. I think the variety provided by a “dirty” refugium far outweighs any negatives.

Are you seeing a lot of detritus throughout?

yes, under the rocks and the refug, and prior to the last 2 weeks (I cleaned refug week over week during water changes). It was crazy how much was in the return chamber, I should state I was doing my water changes out of the display for a long time and recently swapped to the sump which prompted this

 

[vittpsu21]

Oh you have plenty of flow. The tank looks great. Yeah I wouldn't change too much.

It is just hard for me to understand if the diamond gobys (which I plan to move one, never planned on two just got two and had to react) are making things look worse than they really are etc. Or if I just picked this return number early on without a real reason and needed to recalculate. Also going down to 1 goby in the display I think will help massively

 

[KrisReef]

You said the corals are happy. That's what I use to measure success in a reef tank, and you are reporting success. Does it look natural, and not pretty like a show room race car with a half naked model posing to show us her assests? Most successful reef tanks that are growing coral do not look like a car show, ime. Stay the course.

 

[sgdnycct]

If your system is doing well and numbers are good I wouldn’t make any major changes. I think the variety provided by a “dirty” refugium far outweighs any negatives.

Are you seeing a lot of detritus throughout?

yes, under the rocks and the refug, and prior to the last 2 weeks (I cleaned refug week over week during water changes). It was crazy how much was in the return chamber, I should state I was doing my water changes out of the display for a long time and recently swapped to the sump which prompted this

Whatever your are doing it seems to be working. If you’ve started cleaning out the detritus and not seeing any negative impact I’d keep going with that regimen.

I don’t know if it’s fact, but I hear a lot about large pipes of detritus eventually becoming noxious. I’ve not experienced it but that would be the only thing I’d worry about.