Beginning Stages

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, Nargard said:

I've decided to buy a sump. Looking at the Eshopps R75 as it fits my space. In my mind I was going to have a fuge but I've been reading that it isn't really necessary. Here I could go with either a skimmer or a fuge.

 

Also, the connection here is 1" while my drain line out of the Fiji overflow box is 3/4". I can just use an adapter to downsize correct?

 

Any thoughts?

 

I can't comment. I never ran skimmers or refugium on my nano's. 

[farkwar]

On 12/19/2020 at 10:25 AM, Nargard said:

Any thoughts?

Skimmer literally, as in actually, pulls pollutants out of the water

 

Without your intervention

 

For me, that makes it better than most forms of filtration. Algae material, in a refugium, can break down, releasing all of what it pulled out, back into the water for example

[thecoralbeauty]

On 12/19/2020 at 11:25 AM, Nargard said:

I've decided to buy a sump. Looking at the Eshopps R75 as it fits my space. In my mind I was going to have a fuge but I've been reading that it isn't really necessary. Here I could go with either a skimmer or a fuge.

 

Also, the connection here is 1" while my drain line out of the Fiji overflow box is 3/4". I can just use an adapter to downsize correct?

 

Any thoughts?

 

Nice! I ran an Icecap 15 on my last tank (replaced the stock sump it came with) and just transferred it directly over to my new tank last week. This looks really comparable to what I've got! Don't worry about the input, I think you're good- my sump came with the same kinda input situation and I just took out the hard PVC connector and it's in the back of my closet. I've always plumbed my tanks with flexible tubing (at least at the end bit thats connected to my sump and return) so I just stuck the overflow tube directly into the input and it's been fine like that for over a year now. As long as the water gets where you need it to go, you're good. Looks like this is also a sump that you could at one point in the future, replace the filter socks with one of the Klir roller mats (I just did that myself, actually) so that is also nice. 

 

As far as refugium or skimmer, I'm going to second @farkwar in that skimmers are generally pretty set and forget once you've got them tuned, so that would be my vote, too. Refugiums can also be great, and if you're a purist and enjoy the potential extra maintenance/lighting/tinkering that those require, they can also be effective, and also pretty cool. At one point I had both a skimmer and a refugium in my old sump, but abandoned the refugium in the long run. I'll probably always have a skimmer, though! It should also be noted that many (myself included) have run small tanks without either one, relying solely on biological filtration from bacteria, and water changes- and have also done just fine. Only you can decide which options are the best fit for your own husbandry habits and animals you plan to stock. We are all happy to share our own opinions or experiences, but the beauty and the curse of that is that there are tons of different ways to "skin the cat". 🙂 

 

 

[Nargard]

3 hours ago, thecoralbeauty said:

Nice! I ran an Icecap 15 on my last tank (replaced the stock sump it came with) and just transferred it directly over to my new tank last week. This looks really comparable to what I've got! Don't worry about the input, I think you're good- my sump came with the same kinda input situation and I just took out the hard PVC connector and it's in the back of my closet. I've always plumbed my tanks with flexible tubing (at least at the end bit thats connected to my sump and return) so I just stuck the overflow tube directly into the input and it's been fine like that for over a year now. As long as the water gets where you need it to go, you're good. Looks like this is also a sump that you could at one point in the future, replace the filter socks with one of the Klir roller mats (I just did that myself, actually) so that is also nice. 

 

As far as refugium or skimmer, I'm going to second @farkwar in that skimmers are generally pretty set and forget once you've got them tuned, so that would be my vote, too. Refugiums can also be great, and if you're a purist and enjoy the potential extra maintenance/lighting/tinkering that those require, they can also be effective, and also pretty cool. At one point I had both a skimmer and a refugium in my old sump, but abandoned the refugium in the long run. I'll probably always have a skimmer, though! It should also be noted that many (myself included) have run small tanks without either one, relying solely on biological filtration from bacteria, and water changes- and have also done just fine. Only you can decide which options are the best fit for your own husbandry habits and animals you plan to stock. We are all happy to share our own opinions or experiences, but the beauty and the curse of that is that there are tons of different ways to "skin the cat". 🙂 

 

 

Thanks for the response TCB!

[Nargard]

So now onto substrate. Any thoughts on this topic? I'd like to go with something that burrowers can get into and shrimp and hermits can pick through.

[farkwar]

Starboard

 

Tap Plastics can cut it to size for you

 

Even comes in a sand color, SeaFoam

[debbeach13]

Starboard for burrowers?

[thecoralbeauty]

I've had good luck with "live sand"- especially if i can seed it with a cup of another reefer's sand. it seems like you get significant die-off, but it also seems to help speed up the process a bit. The larger grains/crushed shells are nice if you have lots of flow. the dust settles faster and theres less kick up. 

 

i actually kind of wanted to go barebottom in the new tank but i have tube anemones and wrasses so i just went with SOME sand. 

 

 

[ef4life]

Stay away from the super small stuff like the oolite. Fiji pink Or special grade is probably the best compromise for sand sifters and not getting blown around too much.