too much rubble - good or bad?

reef tank 2.0 · Feb 21, 2024

Started to piece together my rockscape. Doing so, I broke a lot of my large pieces of reef saver rock up, to make a buncha little pieces. I have a lot of it. A little smaller than a hand full, and a lot of rubble. I started placing the larger chunks in the center section of my sump. Got to thinking, what would it hurt if I spread the rubble so that it went under my sump stand, ad well as close to the return pump? I have a lot of rock left that I could easily spread throughout. I decided to stop where it is right now, just in case, having too much ends up proposing a problem for me down the road.

I am showing a picture of where I stopped.
Can I add more rock, as long as it's all covered with water?

reef tank 2.0 · Feb 22, 2024

And on a side note. .......how critical is powerhead placement in the sump? I'm sorta limited on placement due to length of cord, and sump tank shape. The curves of the tank make it hard to mount the powerhead. You can see where I currently have it in the photo

Joe31415 · Feb 22, 2024

I don't think you can really have 'too much'. I think, based on the pictures I see, it'll be more of an inconvenience than anything else. But even that's because it looks like it's taking up a good bit of space and you'll probably find yourself having to move it as you try to cram more equipment into the sump. Also, you're almost certainly going to end up with a lot of detritus building up down there. Which brings us to the next question, pump placement. The placement is, for the most part, not important. I'd venture to say most people don't have powerheads in their sumps at all, unless they have a specific reason for it. Typically, to help reduce dead spots. In your case, I'd probably point it directly at the rock pile and maybe even move it around from time to time, and just put it wherever you can comfortably make it work. The rocks don't care where it is.

Having said all that, the one thing that I can't ignore every time I look at the picture is the placement of the heaters. If that's where you plan to leave them, I think there's a very good chance you'll be picking shattered glass out of that rock pile. I know there's not really a good place in that setup, but if it were me, I'd probably look for a way to zip tie the cords to something outside of the sump so they hang against the side and/or find a way to protect them. Maybe build a cage out of egg crate or something so they don't come in contact with the rocks.

reef tank 2.0 · Feb 22, 2024

good idea on the "cage" for the heaters. I can definitely do that. That's probably a better option. i could probably stand the heaters up vertically in the cage, if i have the height. If not, I can lay them down....I certainly have the flexibility there.

My last tank I had set up had everything in it, that you see in the photo. I never had to add anything else. I guess if I want to add anything, I'll figure that out when the time comes. Maybe I'll just keep a lot of the rubble in a reserve bucket (dry), for possible future use. I'll keep the rock in the sump to the hand sized / larger. Make it easier to move in and out for cleaning.

i had a really small powerhead in my last sump, just to add flow to help disperse dosing liquid. I was even considering adding two to the sump area, but I think that would be overkill. My thought is to keep the sump from having any dead spots, as you mentioned above.