sump build

[Tkelley]

got my eshopps overflow in today and plan on starting to build my sump this weekend.

just wanted some thoughts on my plans

<a href="http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m198/tanman1209/?action=view&amp;current=fishy.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m198/tanman1209/fishy.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

i plan on having an algae scrubber and refugium included in my sump.

thoughts and criticism please

 

[Tkelley]

epic fail... :frustrat:

 

[jr7168]

picture didnt show up but i'm glad you are cause i'm doing one this weekend also!

 

[Tkelley]

might seem kinda odd and complex but my stand is split in the middle and i already have a small return pump i got for free i figured i'd put to use for an algae scrubber.

 

[chichimom79]

No skimmer?

 

[softchxntaco]

ive heard some people dont use skimmers when they have scrubbers, i have both havent decided if i want to eliminate the skimmer yet

 

[Tkelley]

yeah i was going to include a skimmer at first but once i learned about algae scrubbers and the available space i have i decided not to..

 

[R3verb]

IMO a protein skimmer is more beneficial than an algae scrubber. While scrubbers are good, they are mostly removing nitrates from the tank. This means that the waist has break down into ammonia, then to nitrites, and finally to nitrates where it can be consumed by the algae growing on the scrubber. Its a great idea but the skimmer removes the waist BEFORE it goes through the nitrogen cycle! This is beneficial because you don't have ANY ammonia in your tank. Also, If you plan on growing cheato in your fuge, this is essentially the same thing as a scrubber so you may have algae trying to out-compete each other. IMO, go with cheato in your fuge to soak up any nitrates that get through and keep the skimmer

 

[chichimom79]

+1 R3verb

 

[R3verb]

Yes, got a plus one. lol

 

[Trigger Happy]

+1 R3verb

 

[kevdogg]

Hows about a +3 R3verb!?!

 

[little_fish]

Its not a bad thing for your tank to go through the nitrogen cycle, that is what happens to anything that rots in your tank. All you need to do is remove the resulting nitrates, which can be done by preventing their formation or by growing something that eats up the nitrates.

If you do run a scrubber, just put rubble rocks in the fuge area, the scrubber will out compete any macro algae you put in there. I personally would put the scrubber in the in the area you have labels fuge, that way you can put as much the scrubber in the tank as possible. I have a scrubber and while it works great, it is super messy. I will often get a little stream of water shooting out to the side which has resulted in many many many mini floods and is a major pain in the ass to deal with. It is also noisy and produces micro bubbles so sending the water to the sump after the skimmer will help cut those down.

The other thing i would do is not run it off of an overflow from the tank. I would put it on its own pump coming from the section you have labeled as heater. That will make it much easier to clean, because you will only need to turn off that one pump when you disconnect the screen. I would cut a small hole in the bottom of the scrubber tub and allow it to drain back into the sump area via gravity.