Fump!

[qwiksilver]

I have been running a 20g sump, but divided it into quarters. The first quarter is my wet/dry (bioballs and underneath them my sponges and chemipure and phosban). The next 1/2 is the fuge with a DSB and caulerpa and different red macro's and some LR, followed by the last 1/4 being my pump and heater area.

What I am considering is taking out the first section and just making my fuge bigger, then putting the chemipure and phosban in the pump area. I only have a 54g tank. My thinking is that the bioballs are really only for bacteria, but the LR and other surfaces of the tank are good for growing bacteria on. Any thoughts on why if I shouldn't do it and if not why not? Just curious, cause I like the idea of a bigger fuge as my caulerpa grows like mad and my main tank is crystal clear (apart from some hair algae on a couple of pieces of rock. Thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

i agree with your thinking.
a bigger fuge will be of more benefit to you than bioballs.
something i plan on adding to a sump for my tank (if i ever get to the point of actually moving forward) is an area to serve as an intruduction area. somewhere i can slow drip acclimate and/or keep misbehaving creatures.
i always seem to have some of these trouble makers, most people would just smack them with a hammer or something but i tend to keep them around.
down in my rubbermaid sump i currently have a few different hermits of a species that i find to be mischievious as well as a peppermint shrimp that wants to eat everything.
me thinks it would be best to have them contained in a smaller area.

 

[J.Howard]

Most folks here will tell you to throw away your bio balls regardless of what you do. If you have room in an overflow box, you can always throw some in there if you don't have any trouble with associated nitrates and want to keep them. I've been bouncing back and forth on whether I want to divide part of my sump for a fuge or just get a hang on and be done with it. A bigger fuge never hurts IMO.

 

[qwiksilver]

Thanks for the replies. Time to do some rearranging!