Help with new Aquarium Sump (Identify this sump please!?)

DJ-Deeee

Feeder Fish
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Sep 6, 2016
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I just bought a 110 gallon acrylic aquarium from craigslist. Its a restore job, but i got a great deal. It came with a sump. I know how to restore the acrylic, but i have never had a sump before. I watched a million videos on youtube on sumps, but i cant figure out what kind this is. The baffles have slits they slide into but dont appear to be water tight, they are also super short. There also isnt a lot of room for a return pump. My other concern is behind the weir there are only two holes, while online everything has 3 (main, backup, and return).

Please, please, please give me some advice.

The plan for the tank is to keep red terrors.

Also take any advice on red terrors, how to keep them and how to buy them.

Thanks!

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JK47

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This is a saltwater sump. Easy to use for fresh with a couple tweaks. The sump (from right to left, facing the tank) is:


-Right: the filter sock (black acrylic with large hole to hold sock) is the inlet from the tank into the filter. The first stage of filtration. The sock is mechanical filtration.

-Middle: where a saltwater protein skimmmer is stored. That is why the small baffle to the left is so low. This is where you should store your biological media. I would suggest submerged media like pond matrix etc...

-Left: the baffles are bubble traps. Something saltwater guys need to keep the pump from returning bubbles to the display. You don’t need those in freshwater. Run your water level higher and keep that media submerged.

Bulkhead (far left wall) is the inlet to an externally mounted pump. Models like Reeflo, Little Giant etc...

Good luck!
 

DJ-Deeee

Feeder Fish
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Sep 6, 2016
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JK47,

thank you so much!!!

I assume i need to cement the acrylic forcing the water to spill over to the chamber where the bulk head return line sits. would you just have one baffle on that side? in the setup i have, where would you put chemical filitation, i am a fan of chemi pure blue.
 
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Jexnell

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Red Terrors are my dream fish. Two places I have seen then for sure is The Wet Spot.
www.wetspottropicalfish.com
Also Jeff Rapps get some in from time to time. A couple weeks back he had some wild 6in ones.
www.tangledupincichlids.com

I had a juvenile one from The Wet Spot for about a month or so but it was shredding everything so I took it back.
20170722_090440.jpg
 

JK47

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MFK Member
Aug 4, 2008
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Red Terrors are my dream fish. Two places I have seen then for sure is The Wet Spot.
www.wetspottropicalfish.com
Also Jeff Rapps get some in from time to time. A couple weeks back he had some wild 6in ones.
www.tangledupincichlids.com

I had a juvenile one from The Wet Spot for about a month or so but it was shredding everything so I took it back.
View attachment 1289028
festae are great fish. This thread is for helping a member with filtration. Please start a different thread to discuss other topics, thanks!
 

JK47

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Aug 4, 2008
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JK47,

thank you so much!!!

I assume i need to cement the acrylic forcing the water to spill over to the chamber where the bulk head return line sits. would you just have one baffle on that side? in the setup i have, where would you put chemical filitation, i am a fan of chemi pure blue.
You bet! Don’t remove any baffles. It will pretty much destroy the sump and often times the baffles are needed for structural integrity. Acrylic thickness for sumps is often very thin.

The far left chamber looks like a great place for your chemical filtration. You want chemical after biological anyway.

The baffles will be there to basically hold the externals walls of the sump in place and not bowing. They won’t serve much of a purpose in this case but they aren’t worth messing with. For used sumps I work around baffles and do my own thing.
 

Jexnell

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Well the last line in the ops post.

I just bought a 110 gallon acrylic aquarium from craigslist.

Please, please, please give me some advice.

The plan for the tank is to keep red terrors.

Also take any advice on red terrors, how to keep them and how to buy them.
So I was just giving some advise on where to get some.
 
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DJ-Deeee

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 6, 2016
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You bet! Don’t remove any baffles. It will pretty much destroy the sump and often times the baffles are needed for structural integrity. Acrylic thickness for sumps is often very thin.

The far left chamber looks like a great place for your chemical filtration. You want chemical after biological anyway.

The baffles will be there to basically hold the externals walls of the sump in place and not bowing. They won’t serve much of a purpose in this case but they aren’t worth messing with. For used sumps I work around baffles and do my own thing.

JK47,

So the baffles are not cemented, they can be removed. If you take a close look at the picture there are slits that they sit in. they dont seem to be water tight. thats why i thought it might need to glue them. not sure how they were used in the previous setup. i guess they might still work.
 

JK47

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Aug 4, 2008
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JK47,

So the baffles are not cemented, they can be removed. If you take a close look at the picture there are slits that they sit in. they dont seem to be water tight. thats why i thought it might need to glue them. not sure how they were used in the previous setup. i guess they might still work.
I cool. I didn’t notice that. Yeah take them out if you would like. More room for bio is always a good thing.
 
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