question about diy sump

hey guys i have built my sum stand and tank, but i am waiting on sand for the display tank and possibly the sump, my question is do i need a DSB in my sump, i plan on having the middle section filled with LR and possibly some marine plants, as well as the wet dry on the sumps intake, if i could get away with not having to put in a dsb that would be great as i could start running the whole system in the next couple of days while i wait for my sand




this is the sump, although the last baffle looks hight then the base of the wet dry zone its not and the stand has since been lined, then sump is 1150 long and 450 deep by 500 high

 

I would cut that huge section in half to run a skimmer. If you aren't running one other then that looks good real clean. And not sure what dsb is sorry.

 

deep sand bed 4" or more

 

the skinner and heater are going in that middle section towards the front im going to use the out put from the skimmer to help circulate some water though the live rock

 

Circulation from the overflow and the return should be enough alone but thats not a bad idea either.

 

And you dont need a dsb with just rock and cheato. But if you want something like mangroves they do need a deeper sand bed. You could allways just cut a piece of eggcrate to keep the sand in.

 

thats a good idea, maybe along the lines stick in some miracle mud and a few mangrove stemsthanks for all the fast responses

 

Yupp I had bad luck with the mangroves in shallow sand they never grew

 

Actually you don't even need sand at all for mangroves to grow. I have about 20 growing in both marine and salt water. Some have sand, some don't, and they are all growing at the same rate. Fast!

You don't need a DSB. It's more a matter of personal preference. Live rock is a good addition to any fuge, but I would try to leave more room for macro algae. You should have plenty of rock in the DT so try to focus on the denitrafying macro algae for your fuge.

If you do plan on putting the skimmer in the large middle compartment and have macro algae in there, you will want to separate a section for the skimmer. If you don't macro algae can get sucked into the skimmer pump input.

 

i want as little rock in my DT as possible as it will be home to a blue spot sting ray, so i would like to have as much sand surface area as possible. So i would have liked to get a lot of my rock into the sump.