As some may have noticed in the pet picture thread we are setting up a new tank in the house. Wife and I decided that since we were starting over we were going to get us a Jack Dempsey and set up a tank around that fish. That meant eventually getting a bigger tank then our current 55gal Long story short we ended up with a 120gal tall (4'x2'x2') with a 25gal sump under it. After selling our old setup and getting this we ended up coming out ahead by about $50!
HOWEVER - We are using a sump system for the first time so there are missteps along the way. So this is the current setup.
First. The sump was specifically manufactured for saltwater, having two different paths for water to get through with one path mean for a refugium and the other for polishing and everything else.
So after much thought and consideration I set up one path (green) for the water to go through a fluidized bed of k1 style media for biological filtration with a wavemaker to keep the media moving. The blue path I set up for polishing with sponges and a filter sock in the first first chamber, and charcoal bags that the water needs to pass through to get to the next chamber. In the next, largest chamber I have my heater, another wave maker that I set up for surface agitation and put a sponge from a sponge filter I had laying around over it so that it, in theory, catches any particles that make it that far, or charcoal dust I didn't get. I also currently have some stationary biological media in here from the old filter to help seed the system.
From either path there is a sponge that water needs to pass through in order to get to the return pumps.
I left a fair amount of open water in the largest chamber intentionally so that it's available as a separate space in case a fish starts getting beaten up.
Now to the first misadventure so far, well after setting up the plumbing and sump in a very tight space.
The 2 overflows in the tank do not go all the way to the bottom of the lids, just to the bottom of the top molding of the tank. This I found out is enough space for fish to jump and get into the overflow. So after spending probably an hour total over a few days using a net to fish the fish back out of there, an finding one living fish, and 2 dead ones, under the tank in the sump. I was able to get it set up so that they couldn't get in there anymore.
I'll admit to future mistakes as they come up.
HOWEVER - We are using a sump system for the first time so there are missteps along the way. So this is the current setup.
First. The sump was specifically manufactured for saltwater, having two different paths for water to get through with one path mean for a refugium and the other for polishing and everything else.
So after much thought and consideration I set up one path (green) for the water to go through a fluidized bed of k1 style media for biological filtration with a wavemaker to keep the media moving. The blue path I set up for polishing with sponges and a filter sock in the first first chamber, and charcoal bags that the water needs to pass through to get to the next chamber. In the next, largest chamber I have my heater, another wave maker that I set up for surface agitation and put a sponge from a sponge filter I had laying around over it so that it, in theory, catches any particles that make it that far, or charcoal dust I didn't get. I also currently have some stationary biological media in here from the old filter to help seed the system.
From either path there is a sponge that water needs to pass through in order to get to the return pumps.
I left a fair amount of open water in the largest chamber intentionally so that it's available as a separate space in case a fish starts getting beaten up.
Now to the first misadventure so far, well after setting up the plumbing and sump in a very tight space.
The 2 overflows in the tank do not go all the way to the bottom of the lids, just to the bottom of the top molding of the tank. This I found out is enough space for fish to jump and get into the overflow. So after spending probably an hour total over a few days using a net to fish the fish back out of there, an finding one living fish, and 2 dead ones, under the tank in the sump. I was able to get it set up so that they couldn't get in there anymore.
I'll admit to future mistakes as they come up.