newbie questions

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
aropwn;5119100; said:
last ones he had he had them eating shrimp and the sump is 30x15x15 15 gallons was a random guess and im not good at guessing i will get pics when he comes in
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A 30x15x15 is 30 gallons. I would still try and get a 40 gallon breeder for that size tank. Over filtering is better than under or rt at.
 
Sump size won't matter as long as you have enough bio-media in there. Are you planning a bio-tower or just a rubbermaid style filter? I would suggest about 3-5 gallons of bio-balls per hundred gallons of tank.
 
BigPic;5119832; said:
Sump size won't matter as long as you have enough bio-media in there.
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Im sorry but i gotta "lol" that one. The size of the sump does well in some sort of way determen how much media you can have in there? I see what you mean,but lol. As a general rule for sumps they say atleast 10% of the volum in the main tank. As for rays i would go a little bigger. Depends on how big the main tank is.
 
i will be doing a wet dry and the pass it through some ceramic media and i dont know if i will be able to get a bigger sump but i can ad a hob filter i know they suck.
 
oh and he wont be in there long i hopefully will be getting a 5x3x2 tank for him and to house a silver aro but not the silver for ever and with that size tank could i get 2?
 
Tor-Eriik;5119916; said:
Im sorry but i gotta "lol" that one. The size of the sump does well in some sort of way determen how much media you can have in there? I see what you mean,but lol. As a general rule for sumps they say atleast 10% of the volum in the main tank. As for rays i would go a little bigger. Depends on how big the main tank is.
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A good rule of thumb is that the sump needs to be big enough to hold all of the overflow water when the power goes out. The bio chamber doesn't HAVE to be in the sump, for example, the bio tower could measure 8" x 8" x 48" tall (should hold alomst 10 gal of bio balls), that would fit in a 5-10 gallon tank, no problem, or, a 15 if you want to go by the 10% rule you pointed out.

In this particular case, there is NO need to "upgrade" to a 40 breeder from a 30, especially when the OP already has the other tank and intends to build with it. If you are going to encourage someone to upgrade their sump, why not make it worth while, like, get a 75 and really upgrade the volume of the system, as larger volumes are easier to maintain and don't have water quality swings like smaller systems.

Not trying to ruffle feathers, just want to make sure a self proclaimed Newbie gets some constructive answers.
 
BigPic;5120225; said:
A good rule of thumb is that the sump needs to be big enough to hold all of the overflow water when the power goes out.
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i can vouch for this. having experienced this myself in the not too distant past, a sump that can hold all of your overflow water without overflowing itself is a must unless you're ok with having to replace parts of your house every time the power goes out.
 
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