Sump Above Tank

I am very new to this hobby. I've had my 55 gal BB set up for about 3 weeks now. I have 62 lbs of live rock with an Octopus 100SS HOB skimmer and Koralia 1 and 3 powerheads. The tank is tempered glass on all sides (I had no idea what that meant when I bought the tank and set it up but it's too late now.) I have an Icecap 660 with 3 36" daylighters and one 36" actinic T5's. I would like to add a traditional sump at a later date but my question is: I will be building a custom canopy soon to accomodate 48" VHO's but I keep coming back to the idea of making a small 5 inch deep by 48 inch long by 13 inch wide "tank" inside the canopy above the lights. Does that make sense and has anyone ever done something like that? I'm thinking that would add about 10 gallons and I could use gravity to drop water back into the tank. Is there something I'm missing about forseeable problems? I could do a DSB on a small section to remove nitrates from the system and could lay my heater up there as well. What do you guys think? Thanks for the input; again I'm very new at this so try not to come down too hard on me!


As a side note: Is the amount of fish you can add dependent on the amount of water in your total system or the size of whatever tank they're in? How many "fish inches" would you expect me to be able to add to this system?

 

Not a hot idea. That's alot of weight up in a canopy. It would trap in even more heat from the lights, and you'd have water over your lights and electrical... Plus your tank can only hold so much weight on top of it, and 55's have much thinner glass than 1/2".

 

I've seen some setups similar to that, but it wasn't a sump-- there was a sump below feeding into a refugium above, offset from the lights a bit. I haven't seen one fully enclosed in the display tank canopy though... Bogie's points are something to consider if it all goes into a box.

 

what was you going to use the 10 gals. of water for again? weight and heat i think would be a problem.

 

I was just thinking it would be an effective use of space but I definitely see where you're coming from. I wasn't sure how much weight the top of the glass could support but I wasn't thinking 10 gallons would be too much. I didn't have anything real specific in mind as to what to use it for but was thinking it would be different.

 

If I remember correctly a gallon of tank water is roughly (8.35 * 1.026)= 8.56 lbs. In other words, that's about 86 pounds you'd be putting up there!

If you supported it with a wooden frame, sure. Just on the glass though, trouble!

 

Thanks guys, appreciate the info. How many fish do you think I'd be able to stock in a 55 gal?

 

How would you move the water? Most pumps I can think of are designed to push water and pulling water is bad for the pump.

Seems like keeping the water level right would be a problem. Not saying it won't work just sounds bassackwards.

 

I agree with the others about the sump placement.

As for fish, are you planning on having coral in the tank? If so, you should go very light on fish since you are a beginner. Otherwise you would need to get into some pretty sophisticated equipment to make it work. If it is fish only, then you can have more.

To answer the question of how many more directly, I would suggest about 1-1.5 inches of fish per 10 gallons. Maybe less. As you learn more you will find that there is no hard and fast rule--you will have to research the individual swimming and feeding requriments of the fish. For example, triggers are going to require much more space for themselves than, say, a blenny. Size, appetite, and activity level all play a factor. Sometimes a small fish will need a sizable tank, such as a mandarin. They will not add significantly to the bioload but have a voracious appetite. In other words, there is a sliding scale. When in doubt, go light!

 

The general rule of thumb has been one inch of fish per three gallons of water. In a reef tank with inverts and a clean up crew, I would not exceed 1 inch of fish per five gallons. However, I am pretty conservative when it comes to these numbers. People do stock more and get away with it. There are a few things you can do to skew the numbers in your favor.

In terms of ridding the tank of waste, get a really good skimmer. That being done, turn your concentration on what really matters.....oxygen availability. BTW, a good skimmer will really help with gas exchange also. A good skimmer is very, very important.

In a freshwater system, you can do about 1 inche per gallon. In saltwater, it is different because oxygen saturation is lower by three times. So you can do a few things to help yourself out. Most keep SG around 1.025 or 1.026 in a reef aquarium. The lower you keep the SG, the higher the O2 satuation. Also, maximize gas exchange. This can be done a few ways. First, keep a power head pointed at the surface to get a good amount of surface agitation. You can run airstones also. This does not help a tremendous amount, but some is better than none. Also, sump design can help out.

For example....let's take my old sump vs. new sump. My old sump was a 15g tall. Not a lot of water surface area for gas exchange. My new sump is a 20g long. Lots more surface area for gas exchange. IMO, the sump is not so much for additional water volume, but to help trade of CO2 and O2 at a greater rate.

Now, you bring up a great question about including the sump as part of your total water volume with respect to maximum stocking. The answer is yes and no. If you have power and the pumps are active, the O2 from the sump is available to the system. If you have a power outage, than it does not, and if you are counting on the sump as part of your volume and have stocked accordingly, you will be overstocked when the power goes out. That is how they keep all those fish alive in the Petco and Petsmart little tanks. They count on the circulation and O2 availability from the large tank of water in the back room. If the power goes out, those fish will die fast if something is not done quick. So that's my story and I am sticking to it.

Rock on.......John.