Planted tank sump design - need your feedback. :-)

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Interesting idea with the foam baffles Mr Shenanagins. I was reading that 20ppi foam is the equivalent of 840 microns. How effective is that as mechanical filtration? I would have presumed a lot of visible particles would escape to the display tank. I guess one advantage of the surface scum is that it would keep more c02 in.

it works quite well, very little floating debris in the sump or the tank. You could always add something like floss to catch finer particles. My main goal was surface area for bacteria and the foam is a massive breeding ground for it. the only thing I don’t like about the sump is the detritus, something you don’t see with a canister until you decide to clean it. But, plenty of mulm for when you want to start another tank.

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

The detritus and subsequent removal of it was one of the main concerns when putting together a simple sump last year.

Having a large first chamber and gentle flow results in all the detritus collecting on the left at the bottom of the first chamber in this design. Despite large turnover the speed of the movement of water from chamber to chamber is slow, so it settles. When draining it, the whole lot gets sucked up by the shepherds hook and regularly removed. Nothing really makes it to the final chamber despite how easy it looks to do so.

If any shrimp go AWOL through the overflow unit they can only be in the filter box with the foam as the exit holes are 0.5mm on the drip plate, so easily collected and returned to the display.

Recently saw a discussion where someone was trying to entice the mulm to gather for easy removal but can’t remember the post. Maybe food for thought.

 

[Michael1212]

What is the gallons per hour your are pushing through the sump, and what is the cross sectional area for flow connecting the first and second chamber to achieve gentle flow but high turnover? Also, what do you mean by a shepherds hook? I'm interested in any ideas that might help to keep a sump ocd clean

 

[anewbie]

Having looked through a bit of this thread I have a question. I notice a lot of people use bio-balls and similar in their sumps. It was my understanding (perhaps false) that 20ppi and 30ppi sponges are far more effective at bio-filtering than bio-balls as well as less expensive. So my question is why do people use bio-balls instead of sponges ?

 

[HarrietHippo]

Does anyone have any long-term feedback on their sumps for planted tanks? @Zak Rafik @zozo @Something Fishy . Still using them and happy? I am contemplating a 120g / 550L tank with a Herbie style overflow (Waterbox marine tank). I like the ability to have most everything out of the main tank, only mildly concerned about flood potential, just trying to get head around co2 off-gassing. Hoping I could hook a large co2 reactor up to the return pump.

Not sure if it helps @anewbie but I am planning to add sponges rather than bioballs. (Mainly from a physical filtration points of view, for bio was thinking ceramic noodles)

 

[zozo]

Still using them and happy?

Yup! Both still, since 2015 the tank is still up and running and have 0 complaints.

The Stove & Its Flowering Anubias.

Thank you... :) The Alocasia didn't during the winter period... That's the issue with this tank it is for the biggest part naturally lit, it stands directly under a sky light. I can grow anything during the summer, but when the light and temps decrease during the winter they suffer too much and...

www.ukaps.org

 

[foxfish]

If you are planning to run a high tec 550l tank then I would assume you have already found a good affordable C02 supply because you are going to use plenty of it.
What little more gas that might be consumed, wont be as significant as having a good suppy to start with.
There is no disputing that a sump can be run very sucssefully on a planted tank, I have used them for decades however they are not a requirement, more like a personal choice.
The plants themselves will provide a very effective biologically active and stable environment so you wont need huge amounts of space for biological media.
I think you should only use a sump if you want to, because you like the idea, not because it will grow better plants.
There are a few potential issues although mostly those will be during set up and can be ironed out as you go along.
Evaporation is one consideration , noise and safety as well.

 

[HarrietHippo]

Oh wow good to hear thanks guys. Cheers @foxfish, good to know I'm not committing any egregious errors. Sumps and CO2 are often considered mutually exclusive and it has been great to hear from people who have been and done this for proper planted tanks. Yes, not looking for better plants, just a way to hide 2 x filter pipe inlets and outlets, macro and micro dosing tubes, heaters etc. Dialling in flow to catch suspended material in the water column will be interesting as I am used to the Eheim inlets which pick material up from close to the bottom of the tank, whereas the sump obviously uses the overflow box and takes from the top of the tank. Bonus that this will perform some surface skimming.

You hit the nail on the head with the easily available CO2 supply. This is a major consideration which has changed over the last decade (at least in NZ). We have transitioned from a 'man in a van who can do you a deal' economy to full-on health and safety conscious marketplace where if the valve isn't completely open when dropping off the co2 tank they have to wait several hours to handle the bottle in case they accidentally get flash frozen like Han Solo and you then have to pick the tank up the next day. Many places now have a 3 day turnaround and the market has moved into easy swap (drop bottle off and exchange for a standardised pre-filled bottle) if you want something quicker. Increased overheads have led to increased refills prices as well. All this to say definitely investigate this part of the equation in your local market and current market prices and practices if anyone else is reading this later and considering co2 + sump.