NEWBS-STOP OVERTHINKING SUMPS!!!

[dmopar74]

The water is forced through the media, the media goes from side to side (front to back) of the sump throughout the whole water column. It's basically a canister on its side.

I feel that I have tweaked and improved upon my systems throughout the years, this is what works for me.

 

[Pharaoh]

As much as I'd like to agree with everyone..... yes it will work if the stock/bio is relatively light...... but if the bio is high, that design will not work as it will not be able to keep up with the necessary beneficial bacteria needed to grow..... in such cases, a wet/dry or moving bed is called for...... I will agree some sumps are just way too complicated.....

There's a lot of talk of how useful wet-drys and movings beds are to the average hobbyist. Sure, those with extreme filtration needs may need to resort to something better, but I have yet to have a tank that couldn't be supported with some ceramic media. In most cases, people put too much media and under utilize it.

Most of my tanks just have a sponge filter. Stocked well and have had zeros issues. I think people tend to over-estimate the bio-media requirements.

 

[ragin_cajun]

Uhhhh.....marine tanks don't need to channel water through bio-media. A reef tank's bio-filter is the rock in the display tank. Ammonia in water is evenly distributed throughout the water in the tank--diffusion. So the BB get the ammonia they need to live if tank water is touching them. Why have physical barriers doing what diffusion already does--evenly distribute ammonia throughout the tank?

 

[framcosco]

Uhhhh.....marine tanks don't need to channel water through bio-media. A reef tank's bio-filter is the rock in the display tank. Ammonia in water is evenly distributed throughout the water in the tank--diffusion. So the BB get the ammonia they need to live if tank water is touching them. Why have physical barriers doing what diffusion already does--evenly distribute ammonia throughout the tank?

Actually it does, that's why most reef tanks with live rock have powerheads..... powerheads help the water move through the live rock....live rock IS THE BIO MEDIA.

 

[framcosco]

There's a lot of talk of how useful wet-drys and movings beds are to the average hobbyist. Sure, those with extreme filtration needs may need to resort to something better, but I have yet to have a tank that couldn't be supported with some ceramic media. In most cases, people put too much media and under utilize it.

Most of my tanks just have a sponge filter. Stocked well and have had zeros issues. I think people tend to over-estimate the bio-media requirements.

The definition of stocked well is different for everyone.... I started backwards back in the days... overstocked with "BASIC" sump setups --- killed all my fish.....and yes I took my time adding fish (not all at once). JDM or highly stocked fish tanks (which many here do have but I realize it's not for everyone)....... I think people tend to under-estimate the need to more "efficient" sump designs to keep up with high bioloads..... if I were to use the sump design on this thread.... ALL MY FISH WOULD DIE....... BUT I AGREE...... as long as the bio is light/medium, simple designs do work.

 

[Woefulrelic]

I think we should all accept this for what it is, an informative picture to help introduce people to sumps. For me this is a very powerful picture that explains a sumps purpose and key components. One could clearly correlate the key components of the sump (drain, mech, bio and output) to other more advanced builds. I imagine it as the most basic example possible, and one could research how to further fit there needs while having a basic but functional understanding. I know before seeing a sump for the first time I had almost no clue how they would work.

 

[boldtogether]

There's a lot of talk of how useful wet-drys and movings beds are to the average hobbyist. Sure, those with extreme filtration needs may need to resort to something better, but I have yet to have a tank that couldn't be supported with some ceramic media. In most cases, people put too much media and under utilize it.

Most of my tanks just have a sponge filter. Stocked well and have had zeros issues. I think people tend to over-estimate the bio-media requirements.

I couldn't possibly agree more. I have tried every media commercially available. I have used fluidized sand, sponges, ceramic, scintered glass, bioballs, even the venerable scrub pad....and the truth is, and it may be hard for some, bio sticks to just about any and every surface.
There may be more efficient ways to accomplish the same task, but they aren't always the most practical....and simple is usually practical.
I like these threads for one simple reason...they tend to bring out the practical side of fish keeping....it is, after all, somewhat of a dying art.

 

[Jesseliu13]

There's a lot of talk of how useful wet-drys and movings beds are to the average hobbyist. Sure, those with extreme filtration needs may need to resort to something better, but I have yet to have a tank that couldn't be supported with some ceramic media. In most cases, people put too much media and under utilize it.

Most of my tanks just have a sponge filter. Stocked well and have had zeros issues. I think people tend to over-estimate the bio-media requirements.

there are some ways i would have to disagree with this statement... most of the time, people consider quantity of the bacteria when coming to sumps... how much media can hold certain amount of bacteria, so we increase the filtration media and try to manipulate the water flow... but when using different kinds of sumps like moving bed filter, quality comes just as equal if not more... keeping strong bacteria culture on the moving media is the main obstacle. not to mention... people normally would overload media because they are afraid of losing fish. especially those who have expensive fish such as us fellow ray keepers. Stingrays are worse than goldfish in plecos in my opinion. i once underestimated the bioload of a stingray, and overestimated the efficiency of my filtration. amount of filter media per gallon of tank is no longer valid in the hobby. it really comes down to how much fish you have. im constantly improving my filtration by addingmore filters. infact im putting in a 4 foot biotower to my 180 gallon ray pup tank... it already has a fx6, 100 liters of k1 moving bed filter in a 55 gallon sump. i dont think sponge filters will do well in a ray tank..

 

[krichardson]

Actually it does, that's why most reef tanks with live rock have powerheads..... powerheads help the water move through the live rock....live rock IS THE BIO MEDIA.

Also,I have been out of the salt side of the hobby for a few years now but I don't recall seeing a well established salt tank that wasn't equipped with a protein skimmer.

 

[Woefulrelic]

there are some ways i would have to disagree with this statement... most of the time, people consider quantity of the bacteria when coming to sumps... how much media can hold certain amount of bacteria, so we increase the filtration media and try to manipulate the water flow... but when using different kinds of sumps like moving bed filter, quality comes just as equal if not more... keeping strong bacteria culture on the moving media is the main obstacle. not to mention... people normally would overload media because they are afraid of losing fish. especially those who have expensive fish such as us fellow ray keepers. Stingrays are worse than goldfish in plecos in my opinion. i once underestimated the bioload of a stingray, and overestimated the efficiency of my filtration. amount of filter media per gallon of tank is no longer valid in the hobby. it really comes down to how much fish you have. im constantly improving my filtration by addingmore filters. infact im putting in a 4 foot biotower to my 180 gallon ray pup tank... it already has a fx6, 100 liters of k1 moving bed filter in a 55 gallon sump. i dont think sponge filters will do well in a ray tank..

I don't see you disagreeing with any of his statements, unless you mean to imply that the average fish keeper is keeping rays and other extremely high bio fish. I'm not saying you are wrong of course, I'm just of the opinion that you were not part of the demographic of average hobbyist. That said I can't imagine why sponge filters wouldn't be effective for rays, I've seen some crazy sponge setups on German tanks.