# My Sump and the planted tank



## dZilla (Dec 30, 2010)

Here are some pictures of my sump. I have a 110g (tall)





Thats the tank, obviously drilled where the arrows are...



Is the sump even useful. I only ask as the guy had it set up as a SW tank beforehand when I bought it?

Cheers


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

In principle, if set up right, it offer huge volume of bio-filter area.

I used that in my SW if anything simply for the reason that I need top up much less frequent and not at tall after I set up an auto top-off. They sump has been running for almost 10 years - never need clean-up.

I am moving to sumps with all my discus set up. 

I am also interested in knowing if there is any cons on sumps for FW. I heard planted tanks do not like sumps?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Loss of injected CO2 from an unsealed and splashing sump are the only 2 cons that I can think of off the top of my head. Easily solved. Non-issue if not injected; in fact, beneficial for $aximizing CO2. The noise, non-specific to planted tanks is one not easily solved (compared to an Eheim canister) and the main reason I didn't sump either of my big planted tanks.


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

Kevin (madgic bug) Is running co2 with a sump and it is doing great you should send him a pm


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Splashing could be controlled by a fine filter which I prefer to control the detritus (spelling?).

It is a bit noisy with the overflow. Still scheming to solve that


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

gklaw said:


> Splashing could be controlled by a fine filter which I prefer to control the detritus (spelling?).
> 
> It is a bit noisy with the overflow. Still scheming to solve that


this might help with over flow noise

http://www.rl180reef.com/180/pages/standpipe/


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Ooooh, I want that tank. 

Did you see that stand Dave, wide open !

Will try that trick shortly but need to sleep now  Thanks.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

It's not the overflow noise. Durso and Stockman standpipes take care of that. It's the pump. You guys have Eheims, you know what I mean. People come into my living room and until they don't in the corner and see the massive cube, they don't even know I have a tank. With the FX5, they all ask, what's that noise? My wife complains about the noise all the time, as I started out with all Eheims and she really notices the difference. I can't imagine wanting that noise in my living room, as I have no music, no TV, etc. in my living room. That's my reading room.


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## dZilla (Dec 30, 2010)

Ok, so how exactly is my sump set up, is there a place I can read on what sections are for what? as I have ZERO info/knowledge for this.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> It's not the overflow noise. Durso and Stockman standpipes take care of that. It's the pump. You guys have Eheims, you know what I mean. People come into my living room and until they don't in the corner and see the massive cube, they don't even know I have a tank. With the FX5, they all ask, what's that noise? My wife complains about the noise all the time, as I started out with all Eheims and she really notices the difference. I can't imagine wanting that noise in my living room, as I have no music, no TV, etc. in my living room. That's my reading room.


Mmmm, lot os $$$ for Eheim pump. I am pretty sure my is makign a lot of splahing, the Rio humms a little bit. The humm is currently drowned by the other noise


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## davej (Apr 28, 2010)

When I first changed over from reef to planted I used the sump I had. I did as much as I could to minimize splashing, made a cover that was as airtight as possible. never was happy with the growth I got. After changing over to an eheim canister, the improvement in growth and plant health was noticeable. Good luck


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

I see a few problems with this tank, the holes are drilled on the side and lower on the tank which basically means it was for a closed loop set up. 

Generally holes for an overflow are drilled closer to the top as they skim the surface, the benefits to having an overflow is to skim the surface of the display while hiding all the equipment in the sump...

If you were to make that work on a freshwater set up you would need to plumb it so the holes on the side would have 2 90 degree turns straight to the top, kinda ugly if you ask me. It's a really odd location for overflow.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

If you need any help or suggestions you can feel free to pm me!


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