do i need a sump for a small reef? 29 g

bill109

Active Member
do ineed a sump for a 29 gallon reef with NO stony corals?
also is a cleaner shrimp reef safe?
 

reckler

Member
I believe all reef tanks need some sort of sump. I'm not sure about cleaner shrimp but I believe they are. they clean parasites off fish and corals from how I understand.
 

gatorcsm

Member
You never really absolutely need a sump, but you can always have a sump.
It's most likely not worth it on a 29, but if you have the ability to do it, it wouldn't hurt as long as it is setup well.
You'd also be increasing your water volume, which never hurts. But there are a lot of potential problems coming from sumps if things aren't all right and certain things like snails/crabs/etc cloging overflows and top-off are taken into consideration, with thought put into methods to circumvent those issues.
but.. for the 29g, it probably isn't worth the hassle of setting up a sump and taking the precautions to prevent overflows and such. If well designed, you can eliminate those problems, but probably not really worth it for a 29g unless you want to. Eliminating the pumps and other gear in tank is very nice, and again, if thought out well and executed properly with overflow safe guards and redundancy on drains, you won't have to worry about overflows.
 
O

oreo12

Guest
sumps are just an option. I would never have one. I like dry floors.
 

michaeltx

Moderator
yes cleaner shrimps are reef safe and I agree with everyone above exceot the dry floors when one is setup right and maintained and some precautions are taken you can have both a sump and dry floors LOL
mike
 

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by MichaelTX
yes cleaner shrimps are reef safe and I agree with everyone above exceot the dry floors when one is setup right and maintained and some precautions are taken you can have both a sump and dry floors LOL
mike
lol
is there a way to do a sump type of thing with a tank but use it JUST for all my equipment like heater skimmmer, filter??
or is that basically a sump?
i bought a coral for 5o + percent off for 25 dollrs when it was 65 it was a coral that he said to try and if it thrived then i could do a reef.
so how long does it take for a newly added coral to open
and also there are tons of micorbubbles in my tank so i added a spnonge to me skimmer water return ledge and added a little something to limit the amount of water that the pump on my skimmer took in.
it helped but now its my dang filter it hink it putting out way to much wtr. so i might go to the lfs and buy the one that they have on a tank that is set up verynice.. its a little smalle so what do you think?
 

michaeltx

Moderator
thats what a sump is a place to put equipment and other items you dont want visible in the main tank.
as far as the coral some can be testy and take a few days to open up do you know what type of coral it is??
mike
 

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by MichaelTX
thats what a sump is a place to put equipment and other items you dont want visible in the main tank.
as far as the coral some can be testy and take a few days to open up do you know what type of coral it is??
mike
no not to much maybe a zoo?
im not sure he kinda gave me a cheap one but i didnt catch the name
he said it was broen with a green center so maybe it is some kind of a zoo but it dosent have that look like the grassy kinda look t hing if you kinda know what im talkin about? :thinking:
can i take a 5 gallon put all my equipment in it and fill it with saltwater and what do i do with plumbing?/overflow? any pictures anyone?
i really hate h ow the tank looks with all that equipment in it
 

michaeltx

Moderator
here is what I had setup on my 100 gallon and a picture of orange centered zoos is this what you have.
Mike

 

bill109

Active Member
i dont have a sump for equipment. i have a spare 5 gallon hex. so can i fill that and put my heater skimmer if it will fit and filter in it? then plumb it?
 

michaeltx

Moderator
yeah but I wouldnt use a hex its not got a lot of room in there if soemthing goes wrong plus your putting a lot in a small tank.
Mike
 

reefkprz

Active Member
you can use a rubbermaid tote for a sump (thats what I did first starting out) and itll give you more room than the five hex. just make sure if its square to brace it so the sides dont bow out. and make sure its clear plastic because some colored plastics can leach plasticines into the water.
 

roushracer

Member
I went with a refugium on my 29, and it's the best thing I've ever added to the tank.
I credit most of my sucess to it.
 

volcom69

Member
I run a 55 gal reef with no sump, just a canaster filter to run some carbon and i have a refugim on mine and i love mine, so i say no u dont need a sump.
 
Top