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Stig of the Sump

I know what you mean, but the wood is still buoyant at the moment (not sure you can see the string tying it to the rocks) so it wont sit quite where I want it. Once its waterlogged I'll tilt it so it runs more diagonal from bottom left to top right, it's quite horizontal just now. But actually in the flesh I rather like it like this!

It may be sacrilege, but seriously tempted not to plant it...
 
First stage of planting complete, transferred the plants from 60cm tank I'm decommissioning. Everything looks a little battered after being torn up and replanted.

Took 4 hours!

Some new plants were meant to arrive by today. But clearly 24 hour delivery isnt what I thought... Annoyed as I'll have to drain the tank again to plant, but couldn't wait, not often I get 4 hrs to myself.

Will do a full plant list later.
Scuse phone pics.


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I've just bought the exact same tank and plan to do more or less the same as you. I've never used a sump before can you give me some more info on how you have yours set up?

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Aye of course. The pipe drains into the return chamber, there's no filter sock. In that chamber there are some off cuts of course filter foam just floating about and some bits of alfagrog. In the next chamber is more filter foam at course then medium then fine densities. This is sold as for pond filters. Cost about £15. There's the duckweed and salvinia natans floating. Then into the big chamber. In here is more alfagrog (2kg in total), some elodea and some cabomba and also some bog standard spider plants growing in clay pebbles in a shower caddy. The water falls over a weir into the final chamber, as it does it runs through more spare filter foam that I just attached with clothes pegs, so its like a trickle filter. Final chamber has two more shower caddies sitting on the bottom with peace lillies and echinodorus barthii in them, all the leaves are emersed, planted in clay pebbles again. Then return pump back up. And there's also a wee bag of activated carbon. The sump is lit for 12 hours with a cheap interpet led on the reverse to the main tank. So far so good.

If I was doing again I'd ditch the cabomba, its shedding a lot of foliage. I'd also maybe get a big floater like pistia instead for the main chamber and avoid any submersed growth at all.

I've not used the ATU chamber yet.

All in all it seems highly effective at the moment
 
Kezzab said:
Aye of course. The pipe drains into the return chamber, there's no filter sock. In that chamber there are some off cuts of course filter foam just floating about and some bits of alfagrog. In the next chamber is more filter foam at course then medium then fine densities. This is sold as for pond filters. Cost about £15. There's the duckweed and salvinia natans floating. Then into the big chamber. In here is more alfagrog (2kg in total), some elodea and some cabomba and also some bog standard spider plants growing in clay pebbles in a shower caddy. The water falls over a weir into the final chamber, as it does it runs through more spare filter foam that I just attached with clothes pegs, so its like a trickle filter. Final chamber has two more shower caddies sitting on the bottom with peace lillies and echinodorus barthii in them, all the leaves are emersed, planted in clay pebbles again. Then return pump back up. And there's also a wee bag of activated carbon. The sump is lit for 12 hours with a cheap interpet led on the reverse to the main tank. So far so good.

If I was doing again I'd ditch the cabomba, its shedding a lot of foliage. I'd also maybe get a big floater like pistia instead for the main chamber and avoid any submersed growth at all.

I've not used the ATU chamber yet.

All in all it seems highly effective at the moment
Click to expand...
Thanks that's perfect sounds like a great setup.

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Now fully planted.
Various crypts- wendetti, balansae, costata, nevelli, usteriana (tragically melting after taking a year to grow to 45cm in the tank I took it from, boo)
Marislea hirsuta
Ranunculas inundata
Sagittaria sabulatta
Hygro. Araguaia
Lileaopsis new Zealand and brazil
Enchinodorus tenellus
Echinodorus ozelot green leopard
Anubias nana bonsai
Weeping moss

Without co2 and the slightly debatable light it remains to be seen how some these 'medium difficulty' plants will do. The water is fairly stained too, needs a bit of a change. I may have to think about the light, ill give it a few weeks and see if we get growth.

No live stock yet, but plenty of hitchhikers from the live gravel I used. Different snails, copepods, tiny nemotodes and bigger ones too, tubifexish worms. Hopefully a healthy sign.

Two existing tanks have been stripped to create this, so it better bloody work!


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Liking this a lot, very natural.
Blue-ish light adds a different dimension, tho' I suppose it won't exactly bring out the colours in critters when you add them.
But it should be OK as far as plant growth goes...
 
Looks amazing. Good news on the free plants. I'm just setting mine up today and testing out the return pump etc. How are you finding the nose from drain? Mines is gurgling quite a lot at the moment

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Thanks for the replies folks
steevwatson said:
How are you finding the nose from drain? Mines is gurgling quite a lot at the moment
Click to expand...
Sometimes mine gurgles, sometimes it doesn't. There's a common mod involving putting an air vent in the sump drain a few inches above where it enters the sump. If you google "noisy TMC signature" you'll find it. I might get round to trying it myself. My main complaint is the volume of the pump, an Eheim 1000!

Regards the light, it's less blue to the eye than in the phone pics, especially with the water quite stained. If water was crystal clear it would look very white though.

It's very early days, but there are signs of growth. Although all my crypts are on full 100% melt, fingers crossed they'll bounce back - the light level is very low in that back right corner. In the sump i've ditched the cabomba, it was a bad choice. Now stuck in a floating raft of Cardamine Lyrata from another tank and some refugee crypts.
 
Great read, I'm coming back to planted from marine, big house move from one end of the country to the other and another baby on the way. I sumped my own tank and made the sump, just need some inspiration on what to put in there and where!
Matt.

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Kezzab said:
Thanks for the replies folks

Sometimes mine gurgles, sometimes it doesn't. There's a common mod involving putting an air vent in the sump drain a few inches above where it enters the sump. If you google "noisy TMC signature" you'll find it. I might get round to trying it myself. My main complaint is the volume of the pump, an Eheim 1000!

Regards the light, it's less blue to the eye than in the phone pics, especially with the water quite stained. If water was crystal clear it would look very white though.

It's very early days, but there are signs of growth. Although all my crypts are on full 100% melt, fingers crossed they'll bounce back - the light level is very low in that back right corner. In the sump i've ditched the cabomba, it was a bad choice. Now stuck in a floating raft of Cardamine Lyrata from another tank and some refugee crypts.
Click to expand...
I tried the mod yesterday. It works very well. There is no gurgling at all now. In fact now I've started to notice how loud the return pump is. I have a TMC V2 1500 pump.

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Kezzab said:
Thanks for the replies folks

Sometimes mine gurgles, sometimes it doesn't. There's a common mod involving putting an air vent in the sump drain a few inches above where it enters the sump. If you google "noisy TMC signature" you'll find it. I might get round to trying it myself. My main complaint is the volume of the pump, an Eheim 1000!
Click to expand...

I've done the mod and confirm it does fix the issue my pump is an newa pump 2200 I think. It's operating well within it's capacity, I had to add a valve on the return to throttle back flow..
 
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