sump questions

i have a 20L nano reef tank. nothing too crazy just a clown, watchmen, a nice clean up crew, about 25,30 pounds of live rock, about 10 pounds live sand and a few shrooms. i have a t5 24in light, and a actinic florescent for mornings and evenings. plus a protein skimmer and a few power-heads.

now my first question is... is a sump needed?
what i was thinking was maybe a small little sump under m Dtank maybe a small 3 chamber but wasn't sure if i can do that in a 10 gal sump. also if somebody could tell me or if anyones knows a good link for a design for a sump like this i know there's some on here but id like a more specific design or some help for my own design

 

u dont "need" a sump at all how ever they are a great place to hide away yer heater skimmer etc, as far as design an empty old fish tank is fine unless u want to go crazy with extra mods.

the only catch is yer overflow with a power outage if its not setup right u will end up with a flood.

is yer tank drilled/getting drilled or are u going for a syphon overflow?

 

Doing a waterchange is so easy on a nano tank that I would think messing with a sump would be nothing but unnecessary work.

 

well i was thinking of doing a syphon but if you think it would be more of a hassle than anything maybe i should just wait until i upgrade to my 30 gallon...i know its not a huge upgrade but im gonna start off with my nice small 20L and than once im done cleaning my 30 (old ciclid tank) i might do a nice small reef in my 30 focusing on exotic fish. wish a few shrooms and anemones whats an easy one to start off with(anemone) with the lighting i have in my tank now?

 

id wait get yer new tank and get it drilled with a propper over flow box in it, t5 lights are ok for yer system, i have a BTA in my tank under t5's and hes happy in there but id wait a lil while before getting an anenomie they are much happyer in an established tank

 

Definately drill the tank and put a good overflow box on it. I would wait until you can do it with your bigger tank. I am currently setting up a 29 gall with a 10 gall sump and 2.5 gall fuge. Not to hard to drill the tank, unless it is tempered glass like my first attempt.

 

With nano tanks, (like Inwall said) its easier just to do a water change. I've got a 28G JBJ Cube - it takes all of five minutes to do a 10-15% water change. I do one once every two weeks. If you really, really want one, check the back of your tank - assuming you've got space in the back, you could just put live rock into the back of that, and it would work pretty much like a sump, but without the hassle.

(Note when I mean filter on back I mean something like this)

 

true very true the only reason i was looking into one was to put my heater in and skimmer cause i hate having all that crap in the DT

 

If you have all the stuff, i would def do it.

it will give you more water volume, and for me i think one of the best parts is that the water lever in the DT is always the same. You dont have to look at the evap and do a top off to make it look better.

Obviously you still have to do top offs in a sump but i think it just keeps your tank looking nicer.

Plus you can put all the crap underneath which will give more room and make it look better.

My overflow wont flood if the power goes off. Its an eshopps. Its got baffles built in to keep the siphon going so it will restart after a poweroutage but it also stops the flow. Just make sure you have enough room in your sump for the extra water. test it

 

What kind of overflow should i be looking into, and where can i find one for a good price. I have everything except a return pump and overflow. Any good deals?!