One of the best working sumps/refugium that have ever seen incorporated both meathods. My LFS has a 210gallon reef tank that is absolutley beautiful. They have a bunch of Hang on refugiums to display their products as well as a great custom acrylic sump. They have an elevated compartment full of bio balls were the overflow system flows right over everything. from there they have a nice baffle system into a large lighted section (60 gallon or so, this is where they get their live sand to sell to others) with a 6in live sand bed with live rock and micro algea. from here they a have another nice baffle system that feeds into the return section wich houses a huge protien skimmer and their return pump. Everything is plumbed through the wall so the mess of tubs and equipment is in one of the store rooms. Very impressive if I say so my self.
Refuge - vs- Bio-ball Sump
- Thread starter soulFish
- Start date
you all put up good info on this, but on a 90g tank I just don't see the benefit. How much do you think this will decrease his water changes? Personally I believe to keep nitrates under 30ppm at worst you still need weekly water changes, or +50% bi weekly.
On a refugium, your nitrates are cut down at leadst 75% if properly setup and growing. The point of this is not to reduce water changes alone but I have gone from 30% water changes every week on a 125 to 20 gallon water changes a month. This is on saltwater however.
I have a bio ball sump in my garage for a 300 gallon and it just sits there because when I look at it, all I see is a nitrate factory. I do agree that sumps are great and work perfectly for alot of people on here, but when it comes to me, it would just create havoc in my tak with nitrate issues.
I have a bio ball sump in my garage for a 300 gallon and it just sits there because when I look at it, all I see is a nitrate factory. I do agree that sumps are great and work perfectly for alot of people on here, but when it comes to me, it would just create havoc in my tak with nitrate issues.
my 240 planted didnt need water changes to reduce nitrates i only changed the sump water about 40gallons once a week i actually had to add KNO3 every other day to keep nitrates around 20ppm this is not uncommon with planted setups
most submerged plants grow slower than those exposed to air (applies to those plants with an aquatic morph) so floating types use nitrates very quickly
most sumps dont have the space for enough plants to drop nitrates to zero but it will decrease
them maybe even enough to skip a W/C with the cost of water in my city its a must
i just pulled out my water bill 650gallons cost $61.30
