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20 gallon reef with 5 gallon sump/refugium?


GayFishie

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I have a twenty gallon reef and a ten gallon fresh, and two empty five gallons that they both started as. I want to put a five gallon sump for the ten gallon planted community (freshwater) since it is overstocked but cannot put the tank under it as there is no room, can I put it to the side? And how would I build it. Anyways this is quite reef forum so onto the saltwater. I want to put a five gallon sump or refugium (which one is better and why? I would like to house my mean coral banded shrimp in it) to the side. How would I build it, what materials would I need and how much would it cost?

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It's hard to do a side by side tank-sump. Sumps are below so that you can rely on gravity for water to go into the tank.

 

Sumps are more for mechanical/chemical filtration, like skimmer, floss, tractors, etc. A refugium is for nutrient export or a place for pods to live

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I would focus on getting your tank in order and the equipment you need before trying to sump your current tank. It takes a bit more than just having an extra tank laying around to set one up. I would start by trying to get quality water and a refractometer so you don't spike your salinity again. A sump is nice to have but at this stage is not a NEED.

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Okay. I was under the impression that once you get past a ten gallon sumps start to become a necessity. In fact since adding all those brine shrimp (thousands! Probably shouldn't have added them all at once) the water is extremely cloudy. A big water change is definitely in order tonight before my tank spikes.

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I run a rear sump (as opposed to below), and frankly would recommend against it if at all possible. You'll have a lot of trouble finding equipment that works in the shallow water that will result from having a tank there. Filter socks will be too long, skimmers will want more water depth, media reactors will want more water depth. It can be done, but if I were to do it over again, no way would I do it that way.

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Okay. I was under the impression that once you get past a ten gallon sumps start to become a necessity. In fact since adding all those brine shrimp (thousands! Probably shouldn't have added them all at once) the water is extremely cloudy. A big water change is definitely in order tonight before my tank spikes.

 

That was not smart to add them all at once. They will start to die, and then the resulting detritus will cause a lot of algae.

 

It seems you are being a bit impulsive, try to calm down. Nothing good happens fast in reefing.

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Lol. I know. I didn't realize that there would be so many, I had no experience with live food. I will definitely not be repeating this mistake and I'm probably going to do two gallon water changes everyday for a few days until it clears up again. I guess I am a bit impulsive, the store only sold as 1/4th teaspoon and I thought it would direct my shrimp's attention away from the new cleanup crew. I had thought my coral banded stimulants my previous clean up crew and did not want a repeat but I was checking under rocks for their old shells for the new crabs and what do I find but my old cleanup crew after a molt. They are all fine and all but one crab (who just molted today) are accounted for.

Do you think the two gallon daily water changes for about a week will help?

And they are all eaten except for about ten. Redrum and my corals were hungry. The remainders were turned into brine shrimp soup after I turned on the wavemaker after everyone was done eating

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