210 double sump filtration

[AlaskaJammin]

I have an overflow 210 gallon tank with two marineland tidepool two sumps filtering it. They have three 2 liter media boxes apiece plus a very larg biowheel. I am currently using a layer of foam, a layer of carbon or zeolite and a layer of 3 chemsorb pads.
This system with water changes works very well, but I am wondering if anyone has any ideas about a way to do things more biologically. Does anyone think it is possible to run a system like this on pure mechanical and biological filtration with no carbon? Frequent water changes would be a must, but I do that anyway. Is a rufugium an option? Mabye grow some java moss and anachras in the sumps? This is a heavilhy stocked tank, so keep that in mind. Any ideas would be great.

 

[Miles]

I run almost all of my filtration with biological and mechanical.. Never any chemical Sometimes I use Chemi-Pure, but only when wild fish are arriving.. I do water changes almost daily, however.. I also have a planted refugium on one of my systems.. However, I pump the water into a seperate tank, where the water slows down and I can inject cO2 into JUST the planted refugium. It works well, Ammonia never spikes.. Java Moss should work okay in a sump that has alot of oxygenation happening, because if I remember correctly java moss lives in waterfalls in the wild? Use intense lighting, but don't fry the plants..

Your on the right path

 

[AlaskaJammin]

Thanks man, good to hear someone else is doing this as well. Im thinking about using java moss for the sumps, and using seachems' matrix for the baskets. I dont mind the maintenance, but it seems rediculous to be replacing that much carbon.

 

[utakaguy]

i use tidepools too and i am very pleased with them. i rarely use chemical media and rely on water changes as well. to increase the biological capacity of the sump i dump a gallon of bioballs/bio barrels and just let the flow of water tumble them. i have also had success placing a few layers of bioballs in the media trays replacing the bottom two mechanical pads. the biowheel has proven to be efficient at colonizing desired bacteria.

 

[sohfatfish]

Remove the carbon and zeolite and dump in lots of ceramic rings and Eheim substrat.... and there you have it, biological filtration. I dont use carbon unless it is to remove medication and zeolite doesnt work well with biological filtration as it deprives the BB of their food source(ammonia), this causes the BB to die off rendering the biological filtration media useless.

 

[rvrrays]

All mechanical and biological here - no chemical.

Colin