Sump help and questions.

[Runitis]

I want to make a 10g sump for either a 20g long or a 30g saltwater tank (not drilled). First off do you think its worth it to make a 10g sump or should i just do HOBs for this size tank?

Second I have no idea how a sump works or how to build it. Do I need 2 submersible pumps? one for return and output? Whats the significant of overflows? Could i just do and intake and an outake tubes like a canister? For the sump/refuge do I need to put all those glass pieces in for the chambers or could i just throw in sand liverock and some chaeto?

Thanks.

 

[Kash]

I couldn't comment on the cost efficiency of it, but for a sump, you need an overflow which uses suction to pull water out of your tank and into the sump. You only need one pump to force the water back up into your tank. As far as the different sections, if you devide up the tank for bio media sections, etc. it would make clean up much easier and if done correctly, the sump will work much better since it forces all the water to go through your media rather than creating stagnant, still areas. Another reason for having the dividers is that without one, in case of your over flow getting blocked, the pump will pump every bit of water out of the sump which will destroy the pump and the sump's bacteria colony.

That being said, I'm really no expert on sumps and am working on setting up my first one as we speak!