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[macrosill]

Hello everyone, this is my first post. I have been reading this forum for about 3 weeks and have spent alot of time researching sumps. I had a FO about 5 years ago and boy have things changed since then.

I aquired a 55 gal tank and have my old 30 gal as well. I want to set up the 55 as a FOWLR and add a sump. I am planning for a sand bed and starting off with 15 to 20 lbs LR and add about another 50 lbs of lace rock.

Because my Bio will be low to start off I am going to use my Emperor 400 in addition to a skimmer, two Aquaclear 402 powerheads and a pump for the sump return.

Any suggestions on a clean up crew? I am thinking of some snails, a crab or two and some shrimp. As far as fish go I have not yet decided, they must fit in with my plans, need to do some reading on that.

I want a refugium in the sump but am not sure how big to make it, lighting required and how to start it. Do I just put in sand and some LR and let it take care of itself or do I need to add macroalgea?

What benefits are there to building an acrylic sump versus modifying the 30 gal tank I have?

I am not too keen on the idea of using siphon overflows and am probably going to drill the back of the tank real low for bulkheads. What size piping is used? 1 or 1 1/2 inch?

My brain is going into aquarium overload.

Thank You in advance,
Brian