It's your sump, and you have to be comfortable with it. but, lemme give you some things to think about.
Cleaning a sump is NOT FUN. If I had to clean mine every 2-3 months, I wouldn't like it. It's a 125 gallon sump, and cleaning it would be a job. Plus, it's underneath a display tank, so you'll be cleaning it out on your knees, hunched under the display tank. Not comfortable.
If you put bio-balls, they'll need to be cleaned out at some point. If you put a foam mat in there, it'll get nasty and have to come out to be cleaned. Whatever you put in that sump, you need to be thinking long and hard about the day that you'll have to take it out and clean it.
I have filter socks and nothing else for that very reason--maintenance. Surely, you can see that it's MUCH easier to remove 4 filter socks than it is to remove 500 bio balls, or a foam mat. Also, a foam mat will let some dirty water pass, and that means that eventually the entire sump will have some skum on the bottom--that REALLY ain't fun to clean.
The pond matrix I have in my sump....only dirt that collects on it is a fine dust. To clean that, I just reach in the sump and shake em around in the water. clouds the display tank for a half hour, then gets caught in the filter socks. That's EASY to clean. Fitler socks, just change 'em out. That's EASY. Removing bio-balls is not quite as easy. I know they stay clean a long time, but still--not convenient. They're not all in a laundry bag. If you add a bunch of lava rock, and matrix, and it's alot, you'll have alot to shake around in the sump. Just add what you need and nothing extra.
Make this as easy as you can, man. A 600 gallon tank is big, fish in it get big, and the sump underneath it is big. If you design this wrong from the start, it can be a HUGE job to maintain. If you design it right from the start, it can be less maintenance than a 125 gallon tank with a canister filter.
It's up to you.
OH, I almost forgot. On a tank that big, you don't ever want to do a water change. It takes a long time to put 400-500 gallons of water into a tank. So, just don't. Put a drip system on it. If I couldn't put a drip system on my big tank, I wouldn't have got it. I planned for that before I decided to get the tank. The drip system is THAT important. To me anyway. Your mileage may vary.
Cleaning a sump is NOT FUN. If I had to clean mine every 2-3 months, I wouldn't like it. It's a 125 gallon sump, and cleaning it would be a job. Plus, it's underneath a display tank, so you'll be cleaning it out on your knees, hunched under the display tank. Not comfortable.
If you put bio-balls, they'll need to be cleaned out at some point. If you put a foam mat in there, it'll get nasty and have to come out to be cleaned. Whatever you put in that sump, you need to be thinking long and hard about the day that you'll have to take it out and clean it.
I have filter socks and nothing else for that very reason--maintenance. Surely, you can see that it's MUCH easier to remove 4 filter socks than it is to remove 500 bio balls, or a foam mat. Also, a foam mat will let some dirty water pass, and that means that eventually the entire sump will have some skum on the bottom--that REALLY ain't fun to clean.
The pond matrix I have in my sump....only dirt that collects on it is a fine dust. To clean that, I just reach in the sump and shake em around in the water. clouds the display tank for a half hour, then gets caught in the filter socks. That's EASY to clean. Fitler socks, just change 'em out. That's EASY. Removing bio-balls is not quite as easy. I know they stay clean a long time, but still--not convenient. They're not all in a laundry bag. If you add a bunch of lava rock, and matrix, and it's alot, you'll have alot to shake around in the sump. Just add what you need and nothing extra.
Make this as easy as you can, man. A 600 gallon tank is big, fish in it get big, and the sump underneath it is big. If you design this wrong from the start, it can be a HUGE job to maintain. If you design it right from the start, it can be less maintenance than a 125 gallon tank with a canister filter.
It's up to you.
OH, I almost forgot. On a tank that big, you don't ever want to do a water change. It takes a long time to put 400-500 gallons of water into a tank. So, just don't. Put a drip system on it. If I couldn't put a drip system on my big tank, I wouldn't have got it. I planned for that before I decided to get the tank. The drip system is THAT important. To me anyway. Your mileage may vary.
