Stingray & Ammonia Troubles (Pt 2 )

[Leo Messi]

The water can go through your sump without really passing much of the media in it, at all. As I said above, I'd guess about 80-90% of your media is "useless" in your current sump.
You'll see it especially on the first pic. The water can really easily go above all the media and thats where 90% of the water will pass, because as I said, water always tries to go the way with the least resistance.

 

[Pitty27]

The water can go through your sump without really passing much of the media in it, at all. As I said above, I'd guess about 80-90% of your media is "useless" in your current sump.

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Alright, so how can I fix this? Should the rock take place of the sponge that's occupying those two chambers and make it level with the socks? How should the sump be properly set up? This is my first sump and I did a lot of research but everyone does it million different ways.

 

[Leo Messi]

Put in more dividers, so that the water has to travel up and down. You have to force the water to go through as much media as possible. Something like this:

 

[Pitty27]

Put in more dividers, so that the water has to travel up and down. You have to force the water to go through as much media as possible. Something like this:

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Do I need my sump out of commission while I add these panels or can I slip them in as long as their snug?

 

[Leo Messi]

Do I need my sump out of commission while I add these panels or can I slip them in as long as their snug?

You can slip them in if they are very snug, but if you want to do it "perfect", you should remove some media, slip them in and silicone them in place so no water can pass under or from the sides.

 

[Pitty27]

You can slip them in if they are very snug, but if you want to do it "perfect", you should remove some media, slip them in and silicone them in place so no water can pass under or from the sides.

How many inches from the bottom should I go? Do I need trays at the bottom to hold the rock so it's not on the bottom? How many chambers should I do?

 

[Leo Messi]

How many inches from the bottom should I go? Do I need trays at the bottom to hold the rock so it's not on the bottom? How many chambers should I do?

Chambers depends on the size, don't make them too narrow or the dirt that gets stuck in them will clog the sump pretty fast. I'd say go for 3-4 champers alltogether.

And yeah, having trays at the bottom is smart.

 

[cigars]

I also like to have redundancy with filtration Incase something fails so you could add a canister or two or make a K1 reactor out of a canister

 

[00kevin]

I would fill that entire sump with K1 and a few airstones. The low turnovers rate works well with K1, and the airstones lowers the chance of water bybassing any of the tumbling media. Also, the sump wouldn't need to be out of comission. Just remove the lava rock, plug in an air pump, and dump in a few gallons of k1