Sump size

aggie05

aggie05

Member
I bought a 20 gallon long tank today at the LFS and will be moving my freshwater fish into it after the Christmas break. While I was there a saw a 40 gallon long that I want to get to set up a SW after the summer. My intentions are to use the 20 gallon as a sump when I set up the 40. Would it work out ok? It is 30" long so I will have plenty of room for a skimmer and even some sand and LR. Just curious if it is too big for only a 40 gallon.
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
40 gallon display w/20 gallon sump is cool.
The sump will be running half full most likely - so you'll be adding around 10 gallon of saltwater to the system.
My concern is this when it comes to sump size vs display tank size.
When the sump size is equal to or greater than the size of the display tank - some attention must be given to the water in the sump - especially concerning sump circulation and avoiding dead spots.
You could have have a 100 gallon sump next to a 10 gallon nano reef tank if you wanted to, but you'd want to focus some attention on the sump even more than you would on a smaller one. You still have to return the water to the display at a very low flowrate ( compared to the sump ) ~ so you would want to add some powerheads in the sump to avoid too slow water flow in the sump.
Make sense ?
 
aggie05

aggie05

Member
Makes perfect sense and I will keep that in mind. Another thing I am curious about is the overflow box. I found one I liked at the LFS but it seemed really tall for a 40 gallon. Are they usually around 8" tall? It was a single and had a sponge filter around the intake tube to the sump. Sound like a good one?
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
Yeah - most of the external overflow boxes I've seen and own are all 8" tall.
Must be a standard "good" design, and everyone's making them is copying it.
I'm sure there are some shorter one's out there - but I've never seen any "real" short ones.
I've got two of these 8" units running on my 30 gallon long tank.
 
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