I bought a 60 gallon tank off Craigslist recently, and it came with a sump-style filtration system originally designed for saltwater, if a bit poorly. At the moment it's just a small (maybe 5 gallon) acrylic tank stuffed with bioballs, which may explain why his fish died and he got rid of it. I could just buy a real filter, but since I have a very nice overflow box and pump already, and there are certain other advantages to having a sump, like breeding scuds in it, I was thinking I might adapt the existing system.
I'll have near-infinite space in my garage for this setup, but I need some advice on how to go about turning the spare tank into a filter.
Here's the plan so far: his sump tank, which is more like 3 gallons now that I look at it, will contain the gallon or so of bioballs it came with in a wet/dry sort of setup, and it has some space left over in a second chamber. I'm not sure what to do with that. I've picked up a 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub for the main sump, so I'm thinking I'll have an outflow from the mini-sump pouring into a standpipe of 3" PVC stuffed with pot scrubbies, so the flow into the first chamber of my sump will come out at the bottom and spill over an acrylic barrier. I plan to fill that first chamber with crushed oyster shell to provide a permanent pH buffer and water hardness since I plan on keeping crayfish in the main tank. The second chamber will take up most of the tub, and will have Azolla and Anacharis for nutrient uptake but otherwise I don't know what to do with it. I may raise cherry shrimp or something in there. The last chamber will be separated at the surface by another sheet of acrylic so the water flows underneath it, holding the floating plants where I want them, and will also house the return pump.
Anybody have any ideas what I might do with the remaining 2 gallon space in the first tank, or other things I could add to the big sump tank?
I'll have near-infinite space in my garage for this setup, but I need some advice on how to go about turning the spare tank into a filter.
Here's the plan so far: his sump tank, which is more like 3 gallons now that I look at it, will contain the gallon or so of bioballs it came with in a wet/dry sort of setup, and it has some space left over in a second chamber. I'm not sure what to do with that. I've picked up a 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub for the main sump, so I'm thinking I'll have an outflow from the mini-sump pouring into a standpipe of 3" PVC stuffed with pot scrubbies, so the flow into the first chamber of my sump will come out at the bottom and spill over an acrylic barrier. I plan to fill that first chamber with crushed oyster shell to provide a permanent pH buffer and water hardness since I plan on keeping crayfish in the main tank. The second chamber will take up most of the tub, and will have Azolla and Anacharis for nutrient uptake but otherwise I don't know what to do with it. I may raise cherry shrimp or something in there. The last chamber will be separated at the surface by another sheet of acrylic so the water flows underneath it, holding the floating plants where I want them, and will also house the return pump.
Anybody have any ideas what I might do with the remaining 2 gallon space in the first tank, or other things I could add to the big sump tank?
