Reef Sumps for Beginners Part 1, What are they for?

[Original Fin]

When I started my first reef tank, I had no fishkeeping experience of any kind. Besides the pumps that are used to keep basements from flooding, the word "Sump" was completely foreign to me.

The first itteration of my freshman reef tank was a 55G Kit with 30 watts of T8 lighting, a hang on powerfilter, a powerhead, and a heater with live rock (at $7/lb) and sand. My LFS advised me "Here, take this and these 7 damsels, and that's all your really need for now, but you might want to get a protein skimmer and better lighting down the road." On the ride home I noticed the big backwards "S" on my forehead in the rearview. Yeah, they saw me coming. Did I mention they forgot to sell me salt?
Sound familiar? By the way, I'm still no expert. That was just a little over a year ago, but what a year it's been! This hobby has completely consumed me in the most fulfilling and frustrating ways. Suffice it to say, I've done a lot of reading and surfing since then.

I'm starting this thread because of the difficulty I had trying to figure out just what a sump is supposed to do, and why all these experienced reefers kept telling me I was going to want one. I thought it might be some sort of hazing ritual and that they were going to ask me to go snipe hunting next.
I hope to guide new hobbyists to do their own research and maybe take away some of the confusion about where to start.
I figured it would be as easy as going to the LFS and buying one off the shelf. I'm here to tell you it's not. These are almost all custom by definition, but you need not let that deter you from building your own. It's not that bad. If I can do it, you can do it!

There's tons of info out there, and that's sort of the problem. It's a daunting task for the unfamilliar to decide which threads to delve deep into and which to ignore. I had almost convinced myself that I'd need to hire someone to design and build a sump for me. Truth is, anyone can do it.

Alright, let's get to it, shall we?



What is a reef sump for, and why do I need one for my reef tank?

I'd like to start with what a reef sump is not. If you have a FW background, get that idea of a wet dry trickle filter right out of your head. Bioballs and filter floss have no place in a reef tank.
I don't know if I can coin the phrase "Reef" Sump or not, but I've noticed when we use the simple term sump, that a lot of people with FW backgrounds assume it's some sort of trickle filter like they'd see in a fish supply catalogue. The word seems to conjur a mental picture that always involves bioballs! We need to be able to differentiate from those, so henceforth, I will refer to them as Reef Sumps.
A reef sump, is basically just an auxilliary tank (or some other kind of vessel to hold water) connected via plumbing to your main display tank. Typically, these are housed inside their display tank's stands. It gives you extra space to house filtration equipment, heaters, and other things you don't necessarily want to see in your display tank. Sumps can also contain, amongst other things, a refugium, which is just a fancy word for a predator free space to culture pods, macroalgae, or other fish and inverts that wouldn't do well in the display. Certain types of refugia are beneficial in providing a means to export nutrients from the water column, something that is very advantageous in reefkeeping. They can also provide a self sustaining source of food for some display tank fish and inverts.

Back to the heading title...perhaps NEED is the wrong word. You can keep corals in a standalone or all in one (AIO) tank, let's just get that right out there. You can also grow a vegetable garden on your roof, (No really, I've read about it!) but it is a little more challenging than planting one in say, your yard, would be. I don't wish to alienate anybody here. If you are an experienced reefer who is succesfull and happy to go on without using a sump, well...wait a minute....why are you reading this anyway?

There are lots of reasons to use a sump, but the most obvious and important one for reef tanks is to have a place to house your protein skimmer. If you have a smallish tank, sure, you could use a hang on the back skimmer, but here are the problems with HOB's as I see them:

• Their placement is inconvenient for cleaning/servicing
• It's an eyesore in the display tank
• You may not have wall clearance or want to pull your tank/stand out from the wall to accomodate one
• They interfere with use of a lighting hood/canopy
• There is little to no surface skimming
• They are generally not as capable as in sump skimmers, ratings over 100 gals are almost unheard of
• No cover to hide the noise!

So, what to do? What about all that unused space underneath the tank in the stand? BINGO! Except this is the kind of bingo that costs you money when you win.

So, is that the only reason you should get a sump? Heck no! You need more reasons? Ok:

• Space for Media Reactors, like GFO, Activated Carbon, Biopellets, Calcium, Kalkwasser
• Space for dosing pumps for Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, Phytoplankton and other foods, etc...
• Space for heaters
• Space for chiller coils
• Space for ReefController probes like PH, Temp, ORP, Cal, Phos, etc...
• Space for nutrient sinks, AKA deep sand beds.
• Space for other nutrient export methods like algae turf scrubbers
• Space for extra water volume to aid in overall system stability
• Space for an automatic top off system
• Space for a refugium
• Space for UV sterilizers (if you believe in their use with reefs)
• Space for mechanical filter socks
• Space for coral frag grow out
• Space for live rock biofiltration if you wish to keep more of an open look in the DT
• Space for accomodating water changes without having to access the top of the display tank
• Space to banish misbehaving fish and inverts...lol

Enough for ya?

In my next installment, Reef Sumps for Beginners Part 2, We'll focus on basic sump layout and design. I'll provide links here to all future parts of this subject. Just to be clear, I am not an expert, I'm hesitant to even call myself a novice in these regards, so although I will entertain some questions, I definately don't have all the answers!

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Great post about the benefits when using a sump! Looking forward to the next article.

[chrisfont23]

Great post. I'll need part 2 for my 90 g upgrade since I am a stealth HOB type of guy. Pls try to include overflow boxes too since they go hand in hand. Snipe hunting anyone ? ;)

[SouthBayPhoto]

Nice job on this. I'm also looking forward to part two. Especially for the HOB overflow boxes. I may have to use one if I get the undrilled 135 gallon that I'm looking at tomorrow.