sump?

jb92

do i have to have a sump if i want to start a marine reef aquarium with fish.

usmc121581

Yes a sump is very benifical to a reef system as you can keep all the equipment you have in the sump and outta the way. Also its a place were all the tank water will get filtered though the skimmer, and the algea that you grow in the refug part of the sump.

jb92

ok thanks what would i need and how would i build one

musho3210

you will need an extra tank, theres no proper way to determain how big of a sump for how big of a tank you need. But there are smaller ways so how big is your tank. The bigger the sump the more stuff you can store in it and the larger the refugium can be.

jb92

i have a tank which is 2foot long and about 15inches wide and about 15 inches deep which i was thinking of using for a sump, how big could the main aquarium be with a sump of about that size.
also what do i need to get to put inside it and how do i build it?

musho3210

thats somewhere around 20 gallon tank, its a 20 gallon high so you cant fit much, the nesesities of a sump is the microbubble filter and the equipment part, as an option but recommended is a refugium. There are 3 main parts to a sump, the intake chamber, the equipment chamber, the refugium/outake chamber

jb92

so how big could the main aquarium be

usmc121581

I used a 20 high for a 72gal bow front. Which might have been a little small for that size. I currently have a 30 gal. long on a 120gal but will be up grading to a 65 gal. sump when I move.

musho3210

well theres no real way to determine how big the tank can be, you can have a 10 gallon main tank with a 20 gallon sump (unpractical though). What fish do you want and what equipment are you getting. YOu need to measure the heater, the filter, the skimmer, the filter, you need to calculate that stuff to see how much space your sump takes, then you can average it out to the main tank. I would say anywhere between 55-75 gallon main tank is ok but you need to know what equipment is going there first.

jb92

i was thinking about clowns, angelfish, gobies, tangs and damselfish