I have a 65 gallen with about 95lbs of live rock. I would like to finally set up my sump. Im going to use a 30 gallen tank for my sump. I was planing on just packing it in with live rock and lots of flow.
Should I have a light on the rock?
Would the coraline algea die off if not, and pullute the tank?
Or would Filling the tank with cheato and know liverock be better? I have a 24"pc I could use.
Also Im thinking of making a large round 12"x1" housing that will be mounted between the two baffles with mesh on both ends so water can flow through and have phosban and charcol in it. I will atach a pump to it so the phosban and carbon would be flowing in a continueus circle
you dont want hardly any flow.
no need for light on rock.
unless u have chaeto in a separate baffle.
I am not totally clear on the processed sump setup? Have a drawing?
A GFO reactor can be bought for approx. $50 and there have been a couple posted for sale in classifieds. Most reactors can run both carbon & GFO just use a little more flow. Unless you really want to make something for fun a manufactured reactor is not expensive. IMHO playing with algae prevention is playing with a rebuild. Besides most of my DIY projects are as expensive or more... ;) but I like to make stuff and tinker.
Quote from: dan2x38 on July 05, 2010, 09:36:03 AM
Most reactors can run both carbon & GFO just use a little more flow.
Do not run Carbon and GFO a reactor at the same time.
This does not work....
The LTF reactors are designed to be daisey chained so that one reactor can be carbon and the other can be GFO.
Quote from: redbelly on July 05, 2010, 10:20:18 AM
Do not run Carbon and GFO a reactor at the same time.
This does not work....
The LTF reactors are designed to be daisey chained so that one reactor can be carbon and the other can be GFO.
I don't see why you can't. If you can daisy chain them then there is no reason why you can't have the same media in the same container just separated by another divider. Just go to the fabric store and get some of that plastic mesh, cut it to size then get some foam and put it on both sides. Now you have a Dual Purpose Reactor.
Yes can't see why not? But add carbon at top because it needs to be changed first.
Quote from: Vince. on July 05, 2010, 06:21:09 AM
you dont want hardly any flow.
no need for light on rock.
unless u have chaeto in a separate baffle.
Hmmm I was under the impretion that more flow the better, if you have any low flow spots you will get settiment build up. If I dont run a light wont the coraline algea die off and pullote the water?
Quote from: JetJumper on July 05, 2010, 10:43:01 AM
I don't see why you can't. If you can daisy chain them then there is no reason why you can't have the same media in the same container just separated by another divider. Just go to the fabric store and get some of that plastic mesh, cut it to size then get some foam and put it on both sides. Now you have a Dual Purpose Reactor.
The only reason I could think off is could the carbon absorb the phosban? I may just drop a bag of carbon in the tank. I make my own phosban reactor. Thanks for all the help and imput everyone
Wrong. its a misconception of fast flow, the sump does not work properly. you want very little flow to get the maximum effect. the less flow the better for ur skimmer to remove more organics. (3-5x turn over rate per/ hour >> dont quote me on that) .. all depends on the person you talk to. some ppl want more flow. id stick with less.
it also depends of size, pump, number of baffles, is it just lr? is it just a fuge? is it both?
no coralline will not pollute ur water.
i don't used carbon in my sw tank, so risky specially if you have tons of sp. coral in it. yeah will clean your water but it will take all out your nutrients you ended up tortuering your livestock in it. but im not saying this is bad to used for carbon in some way, although im using my R/O units this good enough for me and regulary changing water every 2 weeks to a month defending on what's my water condition ..cloudy etc.. but i normally do a water change every 3 weeks that's my basic routine. the last time i used carbon on my tank i'd noticed a few of my sp. coral just started to bleach out :'( some didn't recover, and some ended up being stressout. im just running a phospate reactor w/ hang on sump, live sand along w/ cheetos, plus zeolite media inside my phosban reactor works great though insted of buying those zeolite reactor would cost 3 bills ;D
Quote from: Vince. on July 05, 2010, 10:34:28 PM
Wrong. its a misconception of fast flow, the sump does not work properly. you want very little flow to get the maximum effect. the less flow the better for ur skimmer to remove more organics. (3-5x turn over rate per/ hour >> dont quote me on that) .. all depends on the person you talk to. some ppl want more flow. id stick with less.
it also depends of size, pump, number of baffles, is it just lr? is it just a fuge? is it both?
no coralline will not pollute ur water.
Do you meen slow flow in sump or going through, I would think if it was hi flow inside it would help filter the water through the live rock better, setiment from building up and increasing nitrates. But you would want a slow flow return to your tank so the sump/skimmer has time to filter the water.
Quote from: kole18 on July 06, 2010, 12:08:11 AM
i don't used carbon in my sw tank, so risky specially if you have tons of sp. coral in it. yeah will clean your water but it will take all out your nutrients you ended up tortuering your livestock in it. but im not saying this is bad to used for carbon in some way, although im using my R/O units this good enough for me and regulary changing water every 2 weeks to a month defending on what's my water condition ..cloudy etc.. but i normally do a water change every 3 weeks that's my basic routine. the last time i used carbon on my tank i'd noticed a few of my sp. coral just started to bleach out :'( some didn't recover, and some ended up being stressout. im just running a phospate reactor w/ hang on sump, live sand along w/ cheetos, plus zeolite media inside my phosban reactor works great though insted of buying those zeolite reactor would cost 3 bills ;D
Im not a fan of carbon ethier, but tried it for the first time because we moved and did a tank swap, from 125gallwith a 55 sump and 30 refuge to a 65. and havent gotten around to building the sump yet. If been running the carbon for 1month now and water is crystal clear, and nothing seems to be suffering, but I do add supplements every other day, i dont plan on running it long term though. good idea with the zeolite
LR in your fuge can cause a nitrate sink since will be a bio-filter NH2 - NO2 - NO3. If the water flows to fast through the fuge them the macro will not have a good chance to absorb the PO4 & NO3. same is said to be true for floss in baffles & trickle filters for that matter any canister or filter with mehcanical media or bio-filter. I suppose even reactors would have some NO3 created since it will be a bio-filter of sorts too.
It is tough to find a concenus on anything that is for sure. In my research and what I learned from many experienced SW folks if flow approx. 5x from display and create the rest of the current with PHs. In the sump my turn over is likely even lower maybe 3x. I set it up this way off the majority of info. received and majority of info. from some SW folks I've come to trust. But flow through is a major topic between all salwater aquarists. Have to see what works best for your setup.