Concerned with my sump...maybe

Okay, all of my experience with a below tank system consists of my dad's wet-dry with bio-balls, etc...

Now his was a 'trickle' type system where water was trickling over the bio-balls.

Fast forward to my sump setup below:



As you can (maybe) see, the entire setup has water that is approximately at the same level. There's no trickle, it's just a constant water flow. I was thinking about putting a denitrator down there, but I don't know how that setup would help aireate anything.

Now my thought is that this simply isn't a wet-dry system, but a pure 'refugium' style setup. If you look to the middle of the far left, you can see the inlet for the water. With as low as that is, there's simply no way this could ever be a wet dry system. In other words - there's nothing inherently wrong with this setup, I'm just inexperienced enough (see: ignorant) that I'm not familiar with what is a perfectly operable system.

You can see I already have some reef mud in there. My plan is to put a bunch of live-rock in there on top of the reef mud. Is that the way to go with this setup?

Additionally, I had intended to put an in-sump skimmer in the far right compartment but the water level appears waaaay too high to pull that off. Is there any way to drop that water level or do I need to figure out a way to hang the skimmer from the side. I really can't figure out how to put together an in-sump skimmer with a water level that high.

Thanks in advance.

 

well, you can build a little stand with eggcrate to raise the skimmer, rather than hanging it. unless it's a HOB skimmer. You don't need a trickle to oxygenate the water. The water coming down from your tank will do that, as will your skimmer. Hope this helps.

 

is that a filter in the middle? if so does the water run under the baffle to get to the right side? If so you can just take some water out to adjust your level. from what it appears you have to much water in the sump. With that much water in the sump you may have issues with it overflowing during power outages.

 

It looks to me that the water should come in the top on the left and the return pump should hook up to the bulkhead on the right, and use the left for your live rock and a skimmer on the right.

 

it kinda looks like the megaflow sump. i agree that that if you took some water out then the water level would drop to the baffle in the left compartment.

 

Yes, the water flows left to right. That is a filter, the water comes in from the left (off picture), fills the main chamber, crests the first wall, goes through that filter then comes out from the lower level into the final chamber where you can see the bulkhead (I have a Gen-X 40 pumping water back out of it).

The picture isn't quite complete, there's an extra chamber that's blocked by the door, that's where the water comes in. If you look up about six inches at the far left of the sump, you can see the slit that the water comes in at.

Won't removing water from the sump remove water from the system in general? I would expect that it would just take the water level of the DT down some while the sump would equalize....no?

 

Here is a pic of mine. looks pretty much the same.

Look at the pic of yours. there is a line on it at the middle baffle. just a guess but that is probably where your water line should be.

 

Thanks, I haven't picked a skimmer yet. The egg-crate idea is a good one. I'll keep it in mind.

 

No the level on the right hand side of the sump will change. try syphoning some water out down to the line that is marked on your sump

 

Is that just an optical illusion or is your water below the 2nd baffle in your picture (cool setup, BTW, that's exactly what I'd like to do)?

I'll give it a shot, thanks.