NEW tank....need suggestions on filtering

[addicted2]

Okay...ultimately I would like a reef tank with as little mechanical filtration as possible. I am going to purchase a 90 or 100 gal this weekend. I have had many fish stores give me their opinions but let's be honest...they are not always giving me advice with my best interst in mind. I have read many times on here that LR and LS is all you need...with power heads and skimmer..is that true?I would like a tank with a little bit of everything concerning livestock ...fish, inverts, corals anenomes..etc..I have a 29 gal now that has alot of live rock and sand...and a HOB filter with 2 powerheads for waterflow..it does great.
Please..any opinion on this would be of great help to me.

 

[trainfever]

Since you already have the 29 gallon tank, why not use that as a sump/refugium for your new tank? It would be perfect.

 

[nofish4u!!]

how would you convert his 29g tank into a sump?

 

[birdy]

Get a Reef Ready tank, and like trainfever said use your 29 as a sump/fuge, I built a sump/fuge out of a 29gallon tank and it did a really good job.
All you need is some glass or acylic cut to make baffles and you are ready to go, get a good in sump skimmer (ASM, euroreef).
Here is a picture of mine, sort of hard to see because of all the coralline algae but you get the idea.

 

[nofish4u!!]

I have a 120 gallon tank and I want to build a sump, can I do this with a 10 gallon tank (i have it in my garage).

 

[birdy]

I really don't think a 10gallon tank is a very good sump, they are just not big enough, you need enough space in the sump for the bubbles to dissapate and a 10gallon is going to give you trouble.
Some people use rubbermaid containers if you are looking for a low cost sump idea.

 

[madman133]

rubber made containers are great. Theyre cheap and theyre big. just cut some plexi glass and make baffles. In the frist compartment you can also but bio balls if you want to with the water pouring onto them.

 

[nofish4u!!]

Cool! I'm actually on my way to the LFS. Is there a specific size I should get (rubber maid container??? Can I get this plexi glass at the store? I have a 120g tank so I didn't know if I needed a bigger container because of the larger size tank. Thanks for your help!

 

[birdy]

It can be difficult securing baffles to rubbermaid containers, might have more luck putting the return pump in an additional rubbermaid to keep stuff from getting sucked up into the pump.
size depends on one thing, how much room do you have? Get the biggest one you can that will fit in the designated space, you might want to get two of them and double up so the weight of the water doesn't bow them out.

 

[trainfever]

You can use a rubbermaid container as a sump. The only difference is that instead of plexiglass baffles, you put another containser such as a plastic bucket or another smaller rubbermaid container inside of your big rubbermaid container. Your water would drain down from your tank into the smaller container and then overflow into the larger container. From there it would be pumped back up into your tank. The only reason for baffles is to keep bubbles from being pumped back into your tank. The water splashing down from your tank creates bubbles and is actually putting oxygen into your water. You dont want to pump these bubbles back into your tank. Theoretically it would be possible to have a sump with no baffles at all as long as the overflow hose were far enough away from your return pump. The baffles are just added security against bubbles being returned to your tank.
As far as using the 29 gal tank as a sump, you could put a container into the tank just as I described above with the rubbermaid container. You could also just use some silicone and secure some baffles to the walls of the tank. I will try and post some pics of my sump.