what does a sump do?
- Thread starter cabin7882
- Start date
ray28576
Member
A sump is something that you can hide your filtration in, also gives more water volume to your system. You can have differnt types of filtration in it. To answer the question, do you need one. I say no. I have had my tank for over three years and have never used one. All it is, is another tank that usaully sits under the main tank. Hope this helps.
pontius
Active Member
Originally Posted by cabin7882
oh thanks so much for your help sump sounds like pump to me so it seemed like I might have needed one!
the sump is the area in the in-cabinet filter that has the pump which carries water back to the main tank. the sump is attached to the tank filtration, usually either a wet/dry filter with bio-balls or other media. or a refugium, with LR, LS, and macroalgae.
the benefits of having a sump are:
+having a place other than the main tank to hide equipment like heaters, skimmers, probes, etc
+the water that flows to the tank from the sump accounts for a lot of the turnover amount needed for a tank. the flow from the sump pump usually is greater than 3 or 4 powerheads.
+the extra area allows you to add more biological filtration and water volume to the overall system
+refugiums allow a place for natural food (like copepods) to grow and multiply without predation. this is especially useful for fish like dragonettes.
+with a properly operated sump filter, the water level in the main tank never decreases due to evaporation. this may not be a problem for you, but to me, it's unsightly to do a water change and then 3 days later the water level is 4 inches below the top of the tank.
is a sump/filter absolutely 'necessary'? no. but most aquarists will probably agree that it's the best way to go if you can.
oh thanks so much for your help sump sounds like pump to me so it seemed like I might have needed one!
the sump is the area in the in-cabinet filter that has the pump which carries water back to the main tank. the sump is attached to the tank filtration, usually either a wet/dry filter with bio-balls or other media. or a refugium, with LR, LS, and macroalgae.
the benefits of having a sump are:
+having a place other than the main tank to hide equipment like heaters, skimmers, probes, etc
+the water that flows to the tank from the sump accounts for a lot of the turnover amount needed for a tank. the flow from the sump pump usually is greater than 3 or 4 powerheads.
+the extra area allows you to add more biological filtration and water volume to the overall system
+refugiums allow a place for natural food (like copepods) to grow and multiply without predation. this is especially useful for fish like dragonettes.
+with a properly operated sump filter, the water level in the main tank never decreases due to evaporation. this may not be a problem for you, but to me, it's unsightly to do a water change and then 3 days later the water level is 4 inches below the top of the tank.
is a sump/filter absolutely 'necessary'? no. but most aquarists will probably agree that it's the best way to go if you can.
cabin7882
Member
Thanks for the great explaination I have a 46 gal with 3 green chromis 1 oc clown a yellow tang blue hermits and 3 snails I have a bak pak 2 for filtration. My tank is still some what cloudy though and I have what I think are diatoms growing on almost everything? It has been set up since the 1st of the year
