What Kind of media do you use in your sump?
 

I just bought a sump and I am wonder what to put in it for media.

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Hi Coderad,

What do you mean by media?
Are you considering a sand bed (deep or shallow) or do you mean filtering media like bioballs or do you mean chemical scrubbers like carbon and phosguard etc...?
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Kawasaki GPZ900R

I don't think I will go with a sand bed, cause that would requier a light in the sump. I think I am leaning towards live rock, but I was at wai's the other day and he showed me this bag of stuff you put in a media bag, but that was like 110.00 for the bag of media. I am just trying to get my sump a mantinence free as possible my canister I have to clean once a week.

I use Marineland Black Diamond carbon as media. It is what Dr. Randy over at RC uses as shown by this link: (see first reply)

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...oto=nextoldest

LR rubble and I'm also rotating filter socks on the overflow pipes.

By the way, nothing wrong with a DSB in the sump without a light.

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I'm a heavy nutrient feeder so I use:
A skimmer (empty and clean cup once or twice a week)
R.D.S.B. (no light, no maintenance)
Refugium (24/7 lighting, thin macro algae occasionally, flip snails right side up every day or two)
Very little maintenance in total
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e cigarette

My sump has LR and Chaeto

R.D.S.B. (no light, no maintenance)

Rock, Dead Sand.. and... is this what you mean?

I think it means "Real Deep Sand Bed" but I could be wrong.

I think R.D.S.B means remote deep sand bed. There is a big thread over at Reef Central over here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=595109

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Yes it is a remote DSB.
The RC thread says it all. In my case, instead of a bucket, I sectioned off a chamber in my sump 36"L x 5"W x 12"H fed by my skimmer return line and draining into my return pump chamber. I filled it with a coral based substrate.

Here's a pic during the building phase (The plastic plants were there to better highlight the refugium chamber).

The sump flow initially goes:
Display drain (black PVC pipe), Mechanical filtration (AC 500 Sponge), Skimmer chamber.
From there it goes either:
Skimmer returnline, R.D.S.B., return pump chamber
or:
skimmer chamber, Refugium chamber, baffles, return pump chamber.


http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...r/100_0906.jpg

Coderad, What size of display do you have and what does your sump look like? Is it a prefab model or just a tank? How you set up a sump depends somewhat on the space available and the livestock you intend to keep.
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BMW R1150RT

Sorry about the delayed reply. My display is a 32 gal, it is a FOWLR right now 2 clowns a bunch of snails and and eurchant and a couple zebra hermit crabs.
Hopefully I will be adding some easy corals this fall. The sump is a prefab 10gal here is a pic of my sump.

Bump

I just took everything out and run it bare now... I'm SO sick of nitrates!
:twised:

Not even live rock?

Nope... I had about 60 lbs in there and a RDSB... You shoulda seen the crap in there when I took it out... and STINK! I'm almost ashamed... I can't believe my fish lived in a system with all that crap in it!

The school of thought is constantly changing... some stuff you may have read may suggest using media in your sump, and believe me I had all that too as do many people, but now thought is swinging to keeping even less rock and having more flow around it to make it more efficient... rocks & sand in a sump tend to act as detritus collectors so read "higher nitrates"... I LOVE my sand in my system and all the critters in it, but after this I am seriously considering removing all of it if I can't get zero nitrates using other methods.

So what do you use for filtration just the LR and sand in your tank? your Just using the sump for more water volume?

more water volume, a place to stash equipment (heaters, skimmer, micron bag...) or run it as a fuge. also make a good o2 exchanger and volume turnover.

From what Ive heard/read/understand is that a deep sand bed(5" to 7") will contain more benneficial anaerobic bacteria, which help "filter" water.

My last system was run on a DSB that was in my sump, kept in the dark(no lighting for the sump), this is also supposed to be good for lots of critters to live/reproduce/feed your sps.

Having your sand bed remote also goes well with having more flow:) Not to mention if your sand bed "crashes" then you can remove it or clean it with less hassle.

Reefer addict, your onto something with having less rock in your system. If you look at this system this guy barely uses any rock. Not sure about all the details of that tank but... I had 50 # in a 75 gallon which is also way less than the amount recomended and my fish /corals/inverts did well.

http://www.zeovit.com/DTOTQ/edwardindex.html

So an empty sump will keep my tank as clean as my canister dose?
I have 20lbs of ls adn 25lbs of live rock in my display is that enough?
In my canister I run carbon and foam, and ceramic bio media.
what are the benifits of a fuge?
would that just involve adding live plants?

Bump

Bump

$110 is pretty hefty for ANY media. Do you recall what it was called? It wasn't... ROWAPHOS by anychance was it?

The media is called mirical Mud ecosystem medium. it is 104.99 now.

You have enough live rock and live sand.

Dont leave your carbon runing for more than 2 weeks, it will leach phosphates and such back into the water. Which will cause you problems.

If you dont plan on taking your foam out of your cannister EVERY week then you might aswell remove it because it will be a nitrate factory and it will cause you problems in a reef.

Unless you have a fish only system than you want to get rid of your ceramic biomedia, in a reef it will become a nitrate factory and will cause you problems.

A fuge contains live algea that will use the nutrients in the tank water to grow. This is benneficial in a reef system so is a protein skimmer. Running carbon is realy good so is phosphate remover.

Now all you need to do is not get too many fish and youll be fine:)

i run mm in my sump, the prices they want in canada are insane! you have to order it from the states, last time i paid 55 us for 10 pounds.

I am planning on taking off the canister filter and just adding a sump or fuge which would be more benificail for keeping the tank clean?
What would be the best media to keeping in it is what I am trying to figure out.
No media at all, just live rock rubble, Mirical mud, make it into a fuge and add plants. Which is the best way to go?
I want to keep my tank looking clean,
But I want to get away from the weekly filter cleanings.
My tank is a FOWLR now but I am planning on making it into a reef eventually.

Thanks for all of your input everyone, I just want to know the best way to set it up so I only have to do it once.

Bump

Anyone?

I don't think there is any "best" way or everyone would have their tanks set up like that. Ultimately, based on your own research, you are going to have to decide what you want to do and why you want to do it.
There have been examples of what different people use in their sump/fuge/canister filters.
Personally I find canister filters to be useless for anything other than running carbon - my opinion. I have 2 large tanks set up. On my 230g I have miracle mud, various macro algeas, and live rock. I also have a 4-5" sand bed in this tank. I have mostly LPS, softies, anemones and of course fish in this system. On my 190g I have just live rock and live rock rubble with some chaeto algea in there. This is a high flow tank that I run bare bottom with some mushrooms, LPS, anemones, fish and a few sad SPS that I haven't lost yet due to some heat and skimmer issues this summer.
On a 100g tank that I am just setting up I am just going to use my sump to house equipment and for extra volume. Period.
So you see it depends on what you are trying to accomplish, and why. At the end of the day it is your choice and your decision.

Cool thanks