Calling all Minds

[nfored]

I need to make a sump that has as close to 0 surface agitation as possible.

I know I can run the intake to the bottom of the sump and reduce a lot of surface agitation, but what to do about the trickling of the bio media.

I have seen some people put biomax in bags and submerge them, this would help me get rid of the trickling. However is this effective without an air stone, under the media? how would all the water get filtered? or would this be taken care of by diffusion.

The reason for this, is my new plants don't like excel at all, and are being killed by it. So I may have no choice but to use some type of co2 injection, and I have been told a sump will gas off all my co2.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Look in to a wet sump and not a wet/dry. A wet only sump although outdated does not have a trickle effect on th bio media it is all under water.-----------For serious planted tanks a canister would be your best bet. Because an over flow will still agaitate the water alot. If your tank is that large that you need a sump get a few fx5's and call it a day.

 

[cassharper]

A drilled bulkhead will involve much less overall agitation than HOB style overflows.

 

[uncwnells]

I agree with the fx5

 

[nfored]

ITs two 20 gallon tanks hooked together through the sump. I wanted to do a canister, but I just don't have the money to buy 2 canisters. I dont think they make a canister that can filter two tanks.

If some one knows about a canister that can filter two tanks let me know. Its's no big deal to plumb the intake to the two tanks, but I worry about the output back into two tanks.

as far as the agitation from the drilled over flow, I have made a special adapter that eliminates almost all agistaion. The little bit of agitation there is wont gas off becuase its sealed. Ill take pictures so you can see what I did.

 

[Oddball]

I see a difficulty in that the bio-media won't be aerated sufficiently without agitation combined with the CO2 injection. A W/D or W/W filter's aerobic bacteria population requires quite a bit of aeration to flourish. Cutting down surface agitation will greatly reduce available O2 and cause the bio-filter to die off or 'sour' into an anaerobic state. The latter can cause the development/release of Hydrogen sulfide and methane gases.

As stated above, better to go with a canister but, even a canister filter's bio-media will require some form of aeration to maintain a population sufficient to handle the existing bio-load.

 

[nfored]

So how what do I do then? I am new to the planted tanks. How do they keep the CO2 at the right level if its gassing off? Do they over saturate to over come the gassing of the CO2?

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

In planted tanks the co2 is only used while the lights are on. So only inject it while the lights are on. And most better set-ups run air thru bubble stones while the lights are off.