Diy Sump Questions For A Nano Planted Tank!

[craynerd]

OK, i`m well into my planted tank, i love all aspects, the aquascaping, the upkeep, the maintainance and most of all the complementing fish!

Now, i have a 24x15x12 which is all nicely set up in the living room, but for my office i`m looking to go nano! Yet still heavily planted and VERY high tech. So i got a 24x8x8 which is obviously long but VERY shallow and not very wide at all. Now i know this isn`t sensible and is a lot of hard work, but its a challange more than anything so i`m not too worried about the sillyness of the idea, i just want it to work!

OK heres the question and plan:

Basically with such a small tank AND with the """"artisitic"" aquascaping that i have already got planned for the tank, i want zero room taken up by filter, heater, CO2 ect! Also with it only being around 4g stocking the tank would be hard and limited (not that i want loads of fish, but with me having my hand in all the time arranging plants i don`t want water quality upsetting them at all). so it got me thinking, what about a small sump, nothing big, infact probably something similar in size...like another 3-4g. THEN could i not filter the water, and heat the water (its such a small tank that heat loss would be minimal?) in the sump. It would also give me the advantage of being able to add my daily EI ferts into the sump and maybe even the opportunity to diffuse my CO2 in there (as long as i could get a method that didnt cause to much distruption and thus CO2 release!) It would also increase the water volume and therefore be better for the fish and water quality!

I really have very little experience with sumps but would appreciate your views and opinions. Infact if anyone has any time a detailed description of what i would need would be appreciated! I have the idea...but dont really know how to start!!

Hope someone can help

Chris

 

[Valyrian]

I think you would lose a lot of CO2 moving the water between the sump and the tank.

 

[dylema]

Hi, I think the marine hardware guys would be a good place to ask also, they seem very knowledgeable on this topic.

Firstly that sounds like a really cool tank I have been toying with an idea for a similar shaped tank myself.

Is the tank Drilled? If not you will need an overflow of some description you can buy neat overflow boxes that siphon water over the side of the tank and send it down to the sump (see my thread 'DIY Overflow' if you want a different, and cheaper, idea). You will also need a return pump to send the water back up to the main tank. I am no expert on CO2 but I would think that something could be rigged up inline with the return. Can you venturi CO2?

The marine guys seem to often have baffles to reduce the small air bubbles in the water. You will also want to decide on filter media and how you have it set up. A series of compartments separated by baffles each with a different media looks good to me but I guess you are looking for least disruption for your CO2.

 

[andywg]

The process of putting the water down to the sump and getting it back up will cause a lot of gas exchange=loss of CO2. I have never had anything like the plant growth on my sumped tanks than those with external filters.

They are far more use to people keeping larger, messier fish than the lower bioloads of planted aquaria.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yes, to the marine guys you go . As mentioned, the overflow pipe will create a lot of gas exchange and require a hefty CO2 addition. Whether or not you'll offgas too much CO2 I couldnt say, but it will be much more than your current setup. If you really want to do a sump for the aesthetics of having no equipment in your main tank, you can go for it. You can put your heater, filter media, and CO2 addition all under your tank for a nice clean look. The only problem of course is that you'll need it drilled. An overflow box can be used but these are usually very large and space hogs. Other options for overflow include cutting out part of the back of your tank and overflowing that way, although thats MUCH harder to do right, in the end can be the "cleanest" looking way to overflow.

To get started on how a sump works, check out Melevs Reef for some info on how a standard sump with overflow box works. Keep in mind there are many options with overflow boxes, but the idea is that water only goes into the sump once the level in the tank reaches a certain threshold. Have yourself a grasp around that site and then perhaps you can decide if its still something you want to do