Adding a sump, what should go in?

[emabie]

I am getting ready to change over my 72g bow tank to a 120g with 2 overflows and a 50g sump in the basement. The 72 was setup with about $200lbs of live rock, a skimmer and an external canister filter running just LR rubble in it. it was intended jsut to keep everything alive untill I set up the 120 w sump.

I am amp going with just a basic sump design with 3 chambers. Overflow compartment, fuge with bubble trap and the return compartment. I will be using an MRC skimmer with the setup. Besides LR/LS what should I add to the fuge? I am starting out with mostly fish and LR but as I become more experienced I will want to add some corals.

Any info you can provide to this noob would be great!
alge?
Light?
anything else?

 

[SkinnyPete]

I'm using a 50g for a sump/fuge. Grab some chaeto from a member located near you to seed your fuge. You'll need a light. Most try to use a floodlight from home depot. If you do a search on this site, you should be able to find a few posts about fuge light recommendations.

I keep my main heaters in the sump as well as a media bag with carbon. Just suggestions.

- Skins

 

[ScooterNH]

My new fuge

I used my old 55g FO as the sump/fuge under my 90g.

I partitioned off about 1/3 of it for skimmer and return pump. They are seperated loosely by a piece of plexy. The seperator to the fuge part (the other 2/3) has large holes with plastic mesh (like a thick screen - it's used for needlepoint I think).

Anyway, my setup is that the drain from the display tank goes to the skimmer area, which pumps into the refugium, the water circulates and works it's way back out to the return pump.

I was going to get fancy with some sort of control plates or valves to control the flow, but for now I just have my seperator plexi-pieces a little loose so that there is some water exchange between all 3 parts. This is so that I don't just force ALL the water through the fuge ALL of the time. When the pump & skimmer are "on" there is a step down (couple inches) in water level from the fuge to the return pump. When they are "off" it equalizes out.

As far as fuge stuff. I have LS and LR (need to get more), at one end it's mostly LS, at the other end it's mostly larger shells and LR rubble on top of the LS. I have tons of crittters in there now.

For macroalgae, I have a mix of cheato, Feather and Grape Caulerpa, some Sargassum, some red gracilaria, and some green kelp like stuff (Ulva I think). I got the cheato from OneEye here on the BRS and I bought the macroalgae 6 pack from http://www.ipsf.com/#anchor39576. The yellow didn't take but the other stuff is doing OK. The feather caulerpa is spreading quickly.

I just have 2 40W plant-grow florescent shoplights - alternate day/night cycle from the main display.


Where are you located? Even though it's pretty new, I can probably share the some of the stuff that is doing well in my fuge.

 

[emabie]

Thanks for the info. It seems that keeing it simple is the way to start.

How deep a sand bed do you think is needed?

I hear some people keep the light on all the time in the fuge and soem have it alternate with the display light. any opinions on that?

I am located in Leominster, MA

I don't have it set up yet, but i might take you up on the offer of the alge when I am ready. thanks.