need suggestions for a new sump design

luc24cobra

luc24cobra

New Member
I have a 210 gallon reef tank. Its been up and running for about 4 years now. Anyways I want to start keeping more sps corals and my nitrates are at 20ppm. I would like to get them to zero before getting some expensive sps corals. I was thinking about starting a turf filter to see if that would take care of my nitrate problem. For my sump now i just have some live rock in it and thats it along with a protein skimmer. I do 20% water changes every two weeks and i still stay at 20ppm nitrates. What should i do to keep my nitrates from coming back up? I was also thinking about getting larger skimmer, I have one rated for a 250 gallon tank right now.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
I would try adding some chaeto to your sump, its extremely effective at reducing your nitrates. You will have to have a light over your sump but you can use a cheap clamp light from walmart and put a 6400k CFL bulb in it.
What do you have for flow in your DT? Inadequete flow can contribute to high nitrate readings as well.
Can you give us some more details on your tank in general too, like how much live rock, depth of sand bed, stocklist, ect...
 
luc24cobra

luc24cobra

New Member
in my DT I have 5000gals an hour for flow which is not the constant flow. I have my power heads to come on every 15mins for 30mins except during the night. I have about a 4 to 5 inch live sand bed and 210 pounds of live rock. I also have a 1900gal pump for my sump. I do have a light on my sump already for my live rock.
As for what live stock I have; 3 yellow tangs, sailfin tang, powder brown, mandrian goby, copperband butterfly, dragon goby, 2 four-line dams, 4blue dams, 1 yellow dams and thats it for fish.
I have three brittle stars, 10 snails and 10 crabs.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
It sounds like you have a pretty decent setup, I would try the chaeto since it would be simple to just drop it into your sump with no changes.
Turf filters do work, but it will be another piece of equipment to put under your tank which you may or may not have room for.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
too add to that....a chaeto ball with basic light would do wonders down below.
yes a scrubber is a tiny bit more complicated...but truth is....
add a small in sump pump, have it feed a line up a couple feet, at the end of the line have your turf screen hanging down back into the sump. put a light on it...and watch ti grow.
other options include an ordinary gutter with screen lining the bottom of it...and a thin layer of water flowing over it. have it originate from the sump, and end in the sum. your looking to add a total of 6 inches extra height down below.
just some thoughts. hopefully you got a chance to read some of the ideas people used when building thier scrubbers.
 
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