# Suggestions?



## sick of chiclids (May 25, 2010)

ok. setup so far... 60g 48"x18"x16" tank, 40g sump with 1.5 cu ft bio area, play sand sub, lightly planted, glass top with suspended hood, and a handfull of RBB. the question to be answered is my sump has no mechanical filtration. what do you guys suggest for mecahical filtration? also there is not even water in the tank (much less fish) so any other suggetstions are welcome.


----------



## Criley (Jun 2, 2010)

I might be out of my league on sump inputs but... cant you just put some kind of a cloth bag on the intake to the sump tank, and that can act as your mechanical filtration? I dont have a sump myself, but the LFS setup that I saw looked like they just dropped a bag for the water to flow through before entering the sump tank. Cant imagine it would be hard to clean, or that much would get thruogh it for debris.


----------



## Soul Assassin (Nov 21, 2006)

You can use filter floss, sponges etc. for mech. youtube sumps and watch a few vids to get a good idea what others are doing

you have to cycle the tank for a month b4 Ps


----------



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Generally you can use a filter pad that is cut to shape. If you have a prefab sump there may be special pads, but id still cut my own as it would be cheaper. You could also use a filter sock or two for the input to the sump. Post a pic of your sump and i can give you a better answer


----------



## sick of chiclids (May 25, 2010)

Thanks for all the help guys. Cluster it's being stored at my moms house untill I'm ready for setup but I will try to get some pics up this weekend.


----------



## sick of chiclids (May 25, 2010)

Ok. Got a few pics of the sump. Crappy lighting and taken with my iPhone, but oh well. I'll try to get them posted when I get home.


----------



## sick of chiclids (May 25, 2010)




----------



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Did you build the sump yourself or buy it like that? Personally i dont see this as being an overly efficient sump as is.

What i would probably do is put bioballs in the first section and have water pured onto them preferably from a spray bar or something to distribute the water arcoss the surface. I wouldnt fill the bioballs more then 3/4 of the way so you can put a coarse mech pad and filter floss on top. Another thing i was thinking is to make a biotower with a 5g bucket or 2 filled with bioballs for added bio filtration. If you do this you could just put the first chamber a a filter sock and a couple large chuncks of lava rock as more biomedia


----------



## sick of chiclids (May 25, 2010)

It's a hand me down. What about a combo of your two ideas? 1/2 fill the first chamber with bioballs and the other 1/2 with a mechanical media, then some large lava rock in the refugium (spelling) area? I was also thinking of removing that second pane of glass after the bio chamber. I may be new to the hobby, but I see no use for it except to impede flow. I will also have a eheim 2217 running, but I don't expect miracles from it.


----------



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Hers what i would do. Fill the first chamber with bioballs and topp it with a coarse mech sponge and mayby soem filter floss. Between the first and second baffle a large mech pad like ac110 media may work depending on the size of the opening. If not id probably just add some large pieces of lavarock. Large so you dont have small pieces getting blown around and clogging something. The little blue dots are where id fill bioballs. The white thing in the big section is a 5g pail on pvc legs with its bottom drilled a ton so water can go through it after it passes through exposed bioballs. The orange boxes ontop of the bioballs are mech media. The large red circles are lava rock. If you can fit 2 5g pails i would do 2 instead of one.


----------



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

You should make a spray bar system or something to spread out the water over the exposed bioballs for maximum efficiency. Something like a drip tray would be ideal. You will have to just mess around with the size or holes you would need. Just make sure if the holes are too small and the bucket or the first chamber overflows that it will overflow back into the sump and not over the side of the tank. Personally I dont like having baffles to the very top of this tank for this reason. I usually keep my baffles about 1" from the top so if a chamber overflows (a chamber where whater should go over a baffle, not under) the water will just easily overflow into the other chambers of a sump so my sump must be totally full before it any water can get over the side as i dontwant to rely on a tank rim to contain any water going over a baffle thats right up to the tank rim


----------



## sick of chiclids (May 25, 2010)

Wow man! Heck of a write up! Thanks


----------



## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Cluster One you're the man. That's pretty much all I have to say,


----------

