questions about a sump

[jorie9699]

We are new to this so here it goes....:help1:
We presently have a 55 gallon which has finished it's cycle. finallllly.....we only have about 20 pounds of live rock...little at a time it's 7.99 a pound, one green star polyp, 2 yellow tail damsels....a few turbo snails, a mexican turbo snail I think(has a thorn and pink foot)and about 5 sand sifting snails. We're running a rapid pro3 filter 700gph/mechanical/biological/chemical. Now we have a 125 gallon that we want to put everything into and we're thinking of using the 55 gallon or we have a 50 gallon for a sump. My question though is....I get the impression once you have about a pound per gallon of live rock that a filter isn't necessary. Only the protein skimmer is. So do we make a filter in the sump and purchase a stronger pump for the increase in gallons. Also I keep reading about taking out the bio balls. But is that only when we have sufficient live rock? Thanks for any help or suggestions...

 

[warforged]

Take a moment and dive into the pool of resources available here...http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2

Bio-balls are nitrate beds... they do not have the de-nitrifying bacteria contained in the center of live rocks..

Liverock and Protein skimmer are the filters most common amongst users in here. Some go as far as adding Refugiums as a nutrients export.


As for sump its mian use is cosmetic. To hide all the ugly equipment under the stand vs having it hanging off the tank... That being said.
Sump + very good skimmer = you are set to go. There are links somewhere for making baffles for your sump so you can incorporate a refugium area within it ...

Im sure someone with expert experience will reply to your thread soon. good luck and Welcome To RF.

 

[jorie9699]

So even though we only have 20 pounds of live rock for the moment should we slowly start removing the bio balls out of our filter? also there are the bio cylinders on the bottom should we leave those? Does a refugium go through a cycle? I'm wondering if it's cheaper for the moment to put in the refugium instead of the live rock temporarily until we get to be where we want as far as how much live rock we have. When we transfer everything from our 55 to 125 are we going to go through another cycle? Should I wait to remove the biological filtration till after we transfer to the larger tank and give it time to cycle? Tons of questions I know sorry. Just trying to understand everything. My head is spinning after reading so many things. Thanks for all the help and where would I be without internet

 

[DonW]

You dont need to spend $7 a pound on LR. You can buy dead rock for $2 and you will be fine. You also do not need 1# per gallon. Aquascape your rank with the rock you want the way you want it and you will be fine. Chances are pretty good by the time you aquascape and get a look you like there will be plenty of rock.
No a refugium will not replace LR. Buy some dead rock add it to the tank and take out some bio balls. Keep doing that and you will be ok with no cycle.

Don

 

[jorie9699]

should I also take out some bio cylinders also? Is my goal only mechanical filter and protein skimmer? Thanks for the help so far...........

 

[DonW]

should I also take out some bio cylinders also? Is my goal only mechanical filter and protein skimmer? Thanks for the help so far...........

If it were me Id get it down to just LR (dead will be live), skimmer and carbon nothing more. If the tank can maintain low nutrients with just those then your going to have better long term success.

Don