Sump/Refugium Questions

[Frederick Edwards]

I am looking to build a 40 breeder sump. My question is what is the difference and pros and cons of these different setups i am seeing? I see some have sand and or mud with chaeto and some that are bb with live rock and some that just setup a frag area. Could use some help in these matter and a good read, if there is something out there explaining these setups.

 

[lion king]

They all have pros and cons, they all work. It will be up to you how much you want to invest. I don't believe any one could be considered the best, that is all in the eye of the beholder. Me, for instance; I have bb, live rock, chaeto and gracilaria. It works for me and does it's job. My main concern is nutrient export, not pods. The extra rock so I could leave some more open spaces in the display. Chaeto is the best for nutrient export, and red gracilaria looks nice.

 

[fabutahoun]

They all have pros and cons, they all work. It will be up to you how much you want to invest. I don't believe any one could be considered the best, that is all in the eye of the beholder. Me, for instance; I have bb, live rock, chaeto and gracilaria. It works for me and does it's job. My main concern is nutrient export, not pods. The extra rock so I could leave some more open spaces in the display. Chaeto is the best for nutrient export, and red gracilaria looks nice.

Exactly like my sump without red gracilaria, for pods they are every where in sump without sand.

 

[Frederick Edwards]

My main concern is nutrient export, not pods.

Could you elaborate please? Treat me like I have no clue what your talking about

 

[p7willm]

When you feed the fish you add nitrogen and phosphorus. Some food the fish eat but they give off ammonia and phosphates. Over time the levels of Nitrates and Phosphates go up. Eventually Nitrates will get high enough to kill fish. High Nitrates and Phosphates lead to algae growth. Sumps are great for getting rid of stuff.

A skimmer is the first line of defense. More complex molecules from food and fish waste are taken out by the skimmer. The rest of the stuff in your sump depends on what you want to do.

If you do not have enough of an area for bacteria that eat ammonia and nitrites in your tank add some live rock to the sump. If you are good on that grow some macro algae that will use nitrates and phosphorus and regularly toss some of it out. If you have algae in your sump eating the nitrates then there will be less food for the algae you do not want in the tank. If you build an area with low water flow, like in a deep sand bed, you might get bacteria that convert Nitrates to Nitrogen gas.

Do you think frags should be hidden in the sump, or do you have so many they no longer fit in the tank? Then add a light and keep some in the sump.

What do you want to do to your tank that you don't want to see all the time. Whatever it is the sump is a great place for it.

 

[Frederick Edwards]

Ok. so my plan is to build a sump from a 40 breeder. Should i wait to add baffles until after my tank is cycled and see what type of setup i will need for my sump build? Or should i just go ahead and put the baffles in for a drain/skimmer, refugium, return and then reconfigure as needed?

 

[lion king]

Could you elaborate please? Treat me like I have no clue what your talking about

The 2 main reasons people decide to add a refugium to their systems is 1 to give a place for pods to live and reproduce, to feed certain fish, mandarins, seahorses, etc. 2 is for nutrient export, nitrate and phosphate, the algae will absorb these nutrients; as excessive nitrates and phosphates are undesirable.

When building your sump make the space for the refugium as large as you can. My custom made sump I did a simple 3 chamber design, even split the filter socks so I could push up the skimmer further up in chamber 1 to give more space to the refugium in chamber 2. Chamber 3 return pumps.

 

[jttaillon]

The pros and cons of refugiums for a reef aquarium.

Pro’s
· Helps to reduce nitrates and phosphates in the reef
· Helps keep a stable ecosystem for your reef tank
· Good source of food for your fish and corals, both the macro algae itself, as well as the copepods that will grow and multiply in the refugium

Con’s
· Space - The biggest con is that a good, effective refugium will need to be about 20% the volume as the display tank to be an effective nutrient export method.

Note’s
· A good protein skimmer is still required.
· “The Triton Method” which recommends no water changes actually recommends a high quality protein skimmer and a large Refugium as the only nutrient export methods.

 

[PedroYoung]

The pros and cons of refugiums for a reef aquarium.

Pro’s
· Helps to reduce nitrates and phosphates in the reef
· Helps keep a stable ecosystem for your reef tank
· Good source of food for your fish and corals, both the macro algae itself, as well as the copepods that will grow and multiply in the refugium

Con’s
· Space - The biggest con is that a good, effective refugium will need to be about 20% the volume as the display tank to be an effective nutrient export method.

Note’s
· A good protein skimmer is still required.
· “The Triton Method” which recommends no water changes actually recommends a high quality protein skimmer and a large Refugium as the only nutrient export methods.

Part of that "added stability" also is that it can stabilize pH swings at night if you run the fuge lighting at night when the display lighting is off.

 

[Idoc]

Ok. so my plan is to build a sump from a 40 breeder. Should i wait to add baffles until after my tank is cycled and see what type of setup i will need for my sump build? Or should i just go ahead and put the baffles in for a drain/skimmer, refugium, return and then reconfigure as needed?

That's a lot of freakin work! Just build a basic sump with a 40b and leave plenty of room in the skimmer section for anything you might want to add later.

If you cycle your tank and then decide, then you have to shut your whole circulatuon system down while you reconfigure everything, which will take days. Re-siliconing the baffles alone puts your system down for a week... most silicone suggests 7 days cure time before putting in contact with water.

 

[jttaillon]

Part of that "added stability" also is that it can stabilize pH swings at night if you run the fuge lighting at night when the display lighting is off.

Good Point, I totally left that out.

 

[McArcher]

That's a lot of freakin work! Just build a basic sump with a 40b and leave plenty of room in the skimmer section for anything you might want to add later.

If you cycle your tank and then decide, then you have to shut your whole circulatuon system down while you reconfigure everything, which will take days. Re-siliconing the baffles alone puts your system down for a week... most silicone suggests 7 days cure time before putting in contact with water.

^^^
+1
Decide which direction you want to go, build, install. Your tank can run indefinitely without a sump, so you should not hurry the process. I would research all the different methods and decide which you think is best for your situation. Despite what some say, just about every method works.