Sump media and setup?

[Wizard]

Hi , I got a 400ltr tank with a 100ltr sump ....its my 1st time setting up a sump filter and quite frankly I dunno what I'm supposed to be doing .....
I got alfagrog on top with the black , blue, then green filter media... this then goes into the middle partition with more alfagrog then this overflows into the 3rd partition which has the heater and 3500ltr / hour pump
I'm going to be using the tank as a freshwater tropical setup with a few live plants mainly low light ones but just need to get my sump sorted for now
:-/

 

[Wizard]

Just wondering if the setup is good? Or if it needs improving ?

 

[Martin in Holland]

Not many here are using a sump, the only one I know is Tom Barr (plantbrain). My guess would be to fill it the same way as you would a canister filter, but with a sump you have more options such as a trickle- or wet dry filter which are much better than any canister bio-filter could ever be.

 

[Wizard]

Yeah its my 1st time with a sump (and alfagrog) all I can seem to find on the web is "their great" "better than any canister filter" lol ,

Well I got the foam filter media in there so should be fine , water is clear enough going to go do some more reading

 

[Chris Jackson]

I'm using a simple sump in my 60 x 30 x 45 tank and love the ease of access and maintenance.

The advantage of a sump in terms of filtration is that far more oxygen is available for use by the filter bacteria so a far larger bacteria colony can be supported. Alfagrog or similar and foam is certainly all you need for a good filtration. The concern with planted tanks is that the added aeration with the overflow and sump also off gases the dissolved CO2. To help offset this it is considered a good idea to cover the sump or at least the first couple of chambers. It's fairly simple to make an acrylic lid fit that will theoretically help contain this CO2. Most of the negativity about sumps is spread by people who have never tried one and it should also be remembered that Takashi Amano's large and monster tanks are also sump filtered as are Tom Barr's.

In practice I have not found CO2 loss to be much of an issue at all. The filter bacteria are also producing CO2 as a by product so in a closed sump this help offset the de-gassing effect.

Easy grow amazon swords and vallisneria plants may manage fine in a nutrient rich substrate with the addition of liquid carbon but really if you are going to seriously grow plants and run a sump then pressurised CO2 injection is probably a must have. Enjoy, lots of reading is indeed necessary....

 

[Edvet]

I use a sump.
Though in a planted tank it isn't realy needed.
A sump has 1) a large volume (compared with any cannister filter),2) lower flow per volume (thus increasing the dwell time, and hence the efficiency) 3) the possibility to incorporate wet/dry or trickle filter thus increasing the amount of oxygen in the filter which increases the efficiency also 4) the possibility to have extra hardware (like heaters, probes etc) cleaning up the tank 5) extra volume thus decreasing the bioload.
When i designed my tank i did it with discusfish in mind, so high bioload ( large fish, lots of food) and little biological breakdown in the tank (no/little plants). The water came through an overflow in the tank through 2 huge trickle filters in the sump (both with some course foam on top to stop critters and snails, easily replaced). The sump was filled with coarse material ( pieces of lavastone) and filterfoam. Then a pump brought it up to the tank.
Lessons learned: 1) make sure you can remove the filter material easily to facilitate cleaning (put it in bags or so). 2) what you use as filtermaterial is relatively unimportant, it's there to hold the filterbacteria, nothing else (a lot of snakeoil sellers have "special" materials costing an arm and a leg) 3) design in a way you can handle powercuts and restarts without you being there.
I see you use a sock, that's good, make sure you change it regularly. You could use foam or filterwool in the last compartiment to "polish" the water.

 

[Wizard]

Yeah I'm gonna have a play with it later and post the results

 

[James O]

If you have a filter sock then any further mechanical filtering is unnecessary.

All that's left is biological filtering

But boy am I jealous of you guys with a sump

 

[Stu Worrall]

Ive just had an Innovative marine SR-80 delivered by Nordic Reef UK so Ill be in the same boat although its a rear chamber sump! Will be following this one with interest

 

[Wizard]

Well iv been playing with the sump today , the way mine works from left to right is :-
Input into sock:
over into foam media:
under into alfagrog with heater under it:
over into end with the pump

Idea was to create a place for any plants and small fish on the left which then filters into the foam which is accessible for cleaning , then the clean water flows up past a heater (200w set at 26*c) through the alfagrog (to promote bacteria growth) then into the last section to be pumped back into the main tank
Had to change my 3500ltr/h pump to a 2500 ltr/h but investing in a low watt pump soon so no problems for now ....need to get a mesh bag for the alfagrog so I can access the heater better if I need to

.

 

[Wizard]

At the moment I'm setting up the tank , getting everything just so , I will be looking at plants but more towards the low light low co2 low maintenance variety ....haven't been looking much into it at the moment as I still need to sort the ornaments I'm building and substrate :-/

 

[Wizard]

Speaking of pumps .....since this is the filter and pump section I may as well post here ....this is the one I'm thinking about....either the 10 watt or the 30 watt .....not sure at the moment