sump?

[stephen chadwick]

hi im new on this forum and the marine aqurium schene. i curently have a 23 gal tank witch iv hav for a while now and would like to get a bigger tank. for this tank i would like to have a sump. i dont realy understand how they work could someone please tell me how they work and what designs are best in my sump i would also like to have a uv filter. many thanks

steve

[scubadude]

Hi Stephen
Welcome to Reefland!

I suggest you take a look at some pictures you can do a search under the equipment category on our picture database and come up with alot of pics that show you some pretty creative sumps. You might be able to utilize your 23g tank as a sump and/or refugium? I would definately look into refugiums as well as sump. HTH

[metalhead]

By definition a sump is just a place for overflow water to gather and equipment (heaters, skimmer, probes, etc) to be located in the system out of sight of the main display. However, alot of reef-keepers also maintain a refugium in their sumps for nutrient export and algae/nitrate control purposes which I think is good if it is done correctly.

Personally I do not run a refugium in my sump for a couple of reasons... One, my sump is not really big enough for everything else I need along with a refugium and, two, my sump is located such that I would be unable to keep it on a reverse lighting schedule from the main displays.

There are other alternatives to refugiums such as algal turf scrubbers and other chemical-based devices that supposedly control/reduce nitrate levels in the system. I just posted a thread in the equipment forum section about one such device that is new on the market but for a beginner I would probably recommend sticking with a refugium or ATS.

That said, I wouldn't worry about a UV filter at this point if I were you (you don't really need it) and your current 23g tank may make a good sump for your new tank depending on how big you go (75g or less).

But this is just my $.02... Do lots of research before-hand and it will pay off greatly in the long run. Hope this helps and welcome to ReefLand!

[berkdog]

this article explained it well for me: Overflows and Sumps - Reef Hobbyist Online Magazine