My own newbie thread
- Thread starter iidylii
- Start date
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Running phosphate media in your phosphate reactors will do one thing, and one thing only... remove phosphate. This is fine and dandy if you want to help reduce one of the foods that nuisance algae thrives on, and especially if you intend to have corals. You don't need to use macro algae in your sump, but it sure comes in handy when it comes to keeping Nitrate levels down. Without macro(s), you'll be performing water changes more often, as that will be the only form of Nitrate reduction available. With enough live sand, live rock, and macro algae, you can literally eliminate Nitrate in the system. Eliminating Nitrate and Phosphate is every hobbyists dream, and many of us are able to accomplish that dream.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Correct. It's always better to have a skimmer that can cruise through the skimming process, than to have one that can't keep up with the demand.
iidylii
Active Member
Makes sense thanks
pegasus
Well-Known Member
+1.
A skimmer that's rated for more than your system is going to be far more efficient, as it'll remove most of the "crud" that is created in the tank. An under-powered skimmer will remove some waste, but if the tank has a fairly heavy bio-load, the waste will build up at a faster rate than it's removed. That scenario kind of defeats the purpose of having a skimmer...
pegasus
Well-Known Member
You're quite welcome.
iidylii
Active Member
+1.
A skimmer that's rated for more than your system is going to be far more efficient, as it'll remove most of the "crud" that is created in the tank. An under-powered skimmer will remove some waste, but if the tank has a fairly heavy bio-load, the waste will build up at a faster rate than it's removed. That scenario kind of defeats the purpose of having a skimmer...
Yep I understand that I could just never get a straight answer as to if u count your sump as part of your total gallons...I thought that should be pretty obvious but then I started seeing posts saying get a skimmer big enough to support your display tank so I was unclear on that...but like I said in my eyes obviously it should be the total volume of everything...thanks again
iidylii
Active Member
Thanks jay...I did have a pretty successful 55 gal for like a year but it was up on my fireplace mantle and I just wasn't happy with where it was in my house and had really no other place for it...my cube tank fits my house much better...but yeah I'm learning a lot in the whole sump department lol
lmforbis
Well-Known Member
I've only used a sump since January. I'll never go back. It makes things so much easier. Equipment is not only not in the display tank but much more accessible. I can add things to the tank into the sump. I can use an ATO. Other than cleaning the glass and feeding the fish I don't have to go into the display tank. I also have a healthy population of pods in there for my mandarin.
flower
Well-Known Member
Sump systems are great! I purchased a small canister that I could use to create a a mini water vacuum cleaner, to get the sediment off the bottom of the sump tank, because cleaning it up is a big pain in the butt. Filter socks get clogged, and you have to mess with them all the time. So once a year, I cleaned the bottom of the sump tank with my canister filter. Use a longer intake hose to suck the junk off the bottom, all the media I needed for that was the white filament stuff to trap the sediment. All it took was maybe 10 minutes for me to rub the bottom with my "vacuum hose", and I was done with it for another year.
iidylii
Active Member
The sump
pegasus
Well-Known Member
The normal turnover rate (4-6 times tank volume) is enough to keep the water temp in the tank where you want it. The key is to use a heater that's (at least) rated for the total water volume.
