Fish room super sump ideas?
 

Im in the middle of building a 12foot x 4foot "fish" room with a super sump. Im going to be picking up some rubbermaid 100g water troughs to create the sump.

Im looking for some ideas on how to lay out the sump.

So far im going to have two rubbermaid trash cans at the beginning of the line. First one to hold enough water for a water change which can be taken "offline" to refill and mix. Second trash can is going to hold filter floss, which then goes into first 100g water trough that has skimmer, bio pellet reactor, calcium reactor, which then goes to the second trough which will be filled with live rock and a ATS and has the return pump that feeds the reactors, chiller, ATS and main tank (soon frag tank also).

does this sound ok or does anyone have links to a nice one done somewhere?

Try and design you system so that you aren't using filter floss, pads or socks. I hate having to constantly change and clean my socks. But I need them for microbubble control because of my poorly designed overflow. RC seems to be down at the moment but there is a good thread on there called 'show me your rubbermaid sumps'. I'll try to find it and post a link for you later when they're running again.

This is what I did at first with mine. I had everything inside and I ran two tanks off of it. However I more recently changed it to this by moving everything out or to the side so that I could grow coral in there instead. I always seem to have just fed my tank every time I take a picture. Thats why the foam head in the skimmer has crashed.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...icture1404.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...o/IMG_7664.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...o/IMG_8184.jpg

pictures here

Why not filter floss or socks? I use those mainly to keep my water clear not for bubble trap

Also, where are people getting those large water containers for mixing salt water with the numbers on the sides? Those seem like a better idea than the brute trash cans.

Can I see some Rubbermaid sumps
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1551665

I personally just do not like having to do avoidable work (I think its human nature but maybe I'm just lazy). Cleaning socks, pads and floss is avoidable if you design your system to not need them. I also like to leave the house from time to time and I don't like having to ask my tank sitter to do that for me. A 100gal trough is a lot of space. Unless you have a ton of flow through it the suspended particles in the water will probably just settle to the bottom where you can siphon them out whenever you do a water change. Your skimmer will also pull out a lot more to help compensate.

Are you talking about big plastic drums? You-brew places often sell those.

Waw I have to admit that's impressive. It looks like you're performing brain surgery. If only I knew enough to set up a basic 75g tank :lol:

What do you guys think of having one rubbermaid through just for rubble/remote deep sand bed and a ATS? Even with my biopellets.

sump
 

Here's a nice sump for you diy'ers

http://www.melevsreef.com/280g/280g_sump.html

DSB are more trouble than they're worth in my opinion. Most of us set them up wrong and then end up with H2S problems as a result. The more liverock and water volume you can fit the better. However at some point you do hit diminishing marginal returns (my economics prof would be proud). I guess I'm falling behind in the lingo... what is ATS?

algae turf scrubber. I hear they are good for pods and good for removing nitrates.

Ah that's why I didn't recognize it. It would be kind of cool to see it done on a private tank. I've only read about them being used on some large public aquariums. I'm personally more fond of an over sized skimmer for getting rid of Nitrate and GFO + macro algae for Phosphate. Have you budgeted space in your fish room for a fragging station and a laundry room style sink?

This fish room will be outside so I cant really run a water line into it easily for a sink. What are you thinking for a fagging station?

One of these days when I eventually get to build a fish room I want an easy to clean counter top beside a large sink with a bright light and a few shelves for doing all of my fragging. Locally I've seen a couple of really cool setups. In addition to a laundry room sink a floor drain and even a toilet would be great additions to your fish room. But of course you'd have to find some way of plumbing them in.

+1 on not having any filter floss, we get lazy and dont change it enough, if you have to use a filter sock to cut down and microbubbles and it will trap and gunk then you can just throw them all in the wash

I think what I will end up doing is designing it without filter material and also having an easy way to add filter material just in case