New Sump Opinions ?
- Thread starter taksan
- Start date
Seems overly complicated I’m sure cost a lot too. I’m willing to bet a 55g barrel fill with k1 will be cheaper and more efficient
It's all singing and dancing by the looks of it. It'll do a great job, there's no denying that but as mentioned it just looks over the top for me. I'm a firm believer in keeping things very simple.
Just curious, how tall are you going to make your stand? Your sump at its highest point is 30" you say. Taking into account plenty of wiggle room in your stand for maintainance your stand is going to have to be quite tall yeah?
Just curious, how tall are you going to make your stand? Your sump at its highest point is 30" you say. Taking into account plenty of wiggle room in your stand for maintainance your stand is going to have to be quite tall yeah?
If I were going to pay big bucks for a sump I would want filter socks instead of a filter pad, they are a lot easier to change. The filter pad slide out tray is nice if you are going to be using filter pads though.
Why is there a "Rain Drop Water Distribution Tray" i.e. drip tray above a compartment that is going to be fully submerged? Makes me think the designers don't know what they are doing.
A drip tray is usually used to break up the incoming water stream into "rain like drops" to maximize the water surface exposed to the air as the water is tumbling over a bunch of bioballs which are suspended in the air.... i.e. a trickle (wet/dry) filter.
The way the sump is designed there is no place for any bioballs to be suspended in the air. Submersing bioballs makes them pretty much useless as bio media. So with no where to put bioballs why would you need a drip tray? With no need for a drip tray I would loose the filter pad and use filter socks instead.
I would not pay big money for that sump. If I got a great deal on that sump I would rework it into something more practical and usable.
Why is there a "Rain Drop Water Distribution Tray" i.e. drip tray above a compartment that is going to be fully submerged? Makes me think the designers don't know what they are doing.
A drip tray is usually used to break up the incoming water stream into "rain like drops" to maximize the water surface exposed to the air as the water is tumbling over a bunch of bioballs which are suspended in the air.... i.e. a trickle (wet/dry) filter.
The way the sump is designed there is no place for any bioballs to be suspended in the air. Submersing bioballs makes them pretty much useless as bio media. So with no where to put bioballs why would you need a drip tray? With no need for a drip tray I would loose the filter pad and use filter socks instead.
I would not pay big money for that sump. If I got a great deal on that sump I would rework it into something more practical and usable.
P.S. I you are going to get this sump I would recommend putting an air stone under the multipurpose bio-media reactor chamber then filling the chamber with several bags of ceramic rings.
Bio balls work well, whether submerged or not, as long as there is a constant oxygenated water flow, beneficial bacteria will colonize b-balls, lava rock. or any other substrate surface you use a bio-media.
And the compartments are a purely atheistic human concept, the ammonia consuming bacteria don't care if they are in a box, or in bags scattered around the sump, as long as there is uninterrupted flow. If ammonia passes by they consume it.
I don't use compartments anymore, just simply put media in bags and toss them in a sump where water flow is best.
I found more compartments create more dead spots, so stopped using them about 40 years ago.
Besides being a fish keeper, I worked in a water filtration plant that used biological media as part of the process. Part of my job was to do tests that assess the efficiency of the filters. The places with the least amount of robust bacteria were in squared off corners where flow tended to stagnate.
And the compartments are a purely atheistic human concept, the ammonia consuming bacteria don't care if they are in a box, or in bags scattered around the sump, as long as there is uninterrupted flow. If ammonia passes by they consume it.
I don't use compartments anymore, just simply put media in bags and toss them in a sump where water flow is best.
I found more compartments create more dead spots, so stopped using them about 40 years ago.
Besides being a fish keeper, I worked in a water filtration plant that used biological media as part of the process. Part of my job was to do tests that assess the efficiency of the filters. The places with the least amount of robust bacteria were in squared off corners where flow tended to stagnate.
I agree. When I said bioballs are worthless when submerged I did not state that correctly. Bioballs are excellent when suspended in the air because they do a great job of breaking streams of water down into drops of water maximizing the surface area of the air/water interface.
When submerged bioballs are no better than any other bio media and many other bio medias have much greater surface areas and much better bang for buck.
I think this will be a nicer sump with socks and I would really like to see it in a filter sock configuration! I am a trickle filter fan, it would be really cool to see the drip plate raised 6" - 12" to create a dry chamber for bioballs! With the slide out filter pad tray that would be really slick... I don't know how practical it would be and if it would still fit under the aquarium stand that is intended to be used.