to Sump or not

Hi everyone,
Look i am very green. and i am going real slow. because there so much i don't know.
I bought a 55 Gal. tank with 2 bio wheels filters and i also have 2 power heads. witch brings me to my question. I read to have a reef tank you should use a sump. after looking what i have to do to have a sump, LIKE DRILLiING in my tank and buying of building a sump. Quite frankly scared the hell out of me. Can i get away with the 2 filters or is a sump the only way to go.. Note I don't even have water in my tank yet because like i said I am going slow. I don't want to have some of the probs that most newbies have?

 

You don't need to drill your tank. Some, if they use tempered glass, can't even be drilled. They sell HOB overflows, I recommend Eshopps.
And what do you mean by "build a sump"? All a sump is, is another tank underneath. That's it. If you want to add a fuge or something like that, you will have to install baffles, but that is very easy.
And no, you do not have to have a sump. I ran my 40 for a year without one and did just fine. But they sure are nicer to have. You can store all your heaters, filters, etc down there so there is no clutter inside the tank. And if you add a refugium, that's extra natural filtering power.

 

First off, welcome to 3reef.

I would suggest getting a book regarding setting up a saltwater aquarium and give it a good read. This forum is a great place to learn, but a (recently published, of course) book will have all the information you need in one place, and give you a good idea of what you're getting into. You can also find quite a bit of information online, if you do some looking around.

Regarding your question. In the long run you're probably going to want a sump. It will provide you with greater flexibility regarding your aquarium, and increase your filtration capacity dramatically. Plus you can hide all (most) of your equipment in the sump and give your take a more pleasing look. That being said, it is not the only way to go. If you lightly stock your aquarium, and keep it as a fish only (not coral) you should be fine.

Regardless if you want a sump or not, you need plenty of live rock for your tank. Live rock is essentially very porous rock covered with bacteria. This bacteria performs a great deal of your filtration, converting ammonia to nitrites to nitrates. Live rock is your friend.

As far as the sump goes, you do not have to drill your tank. An overflow box is a box that hangs on the side of your tank (looks like a filter) that takes water from your main tank and siphons it down into the sump. Do some research on this and see if you like this option better than drilling your tank.

A lot of information I know, let me know if I need to clear anything up for you. Again, welcome to 3reef!

 

I think it's mostly been covered so far but just to add another resource for you.
Melevsreef.com - What is a Sump?

 

I personally would not set up a reef tank without a sump, or if you wanted a small setup (nano) then I would at least do a HOB fuge with chaetomorpha algae and a mangrove or 2.

Having an algal "scrubber" like that is IMHO essential to a healthy reef tank that is easy to maintain.

 

OK, i get it, i should defenty have a sump.
I like putting stuff to gather so it myt be fun to make as well.
Now a guy at my LFS sed for a 55 gal. tank i should not need a protean skimmer. But everything i read says this is not true. I hate to spend the money as they are pricey. But i want to avoid having prob. So what do you guys, think?

 

You don't NEED a protein skimmer just like you don't need air conditioning in Virginia. I ran my tanks for 4 years wihout a skimmer and 4 years with a skimmer that was anything close to what you can get today. That being said, a protein skimmer is a very efficient way of removing organic wast from your tank and can go a long way towards keeping a healthy tank especially if you are running anything more than a very light bioload.

 

You don't need a sump or a protein skimmer, but both have proven benefits and most people putting together a medium to high level system wouldn't run without either. The purpose of a sump is to increase water volume and to get equipment out of the display tank. There's nothing wrong with having this stuff in your display tank, but most people don't like the look of it. After spending lots of money on fish and corals want those to be the main attraction and not be detracted from by having lots of equipment in the display tank.

There are many benefits to having both of these in your system, and there's so much out there already about the pros and cons that it doesn't make much sense to repeat them here. It's good that you are going slowly as it will give you time to research.

Here are a couple of comments though in an effort to help you out.

Once you see what a good protein skimmer removes from your system, you probably won't ever want to run a system without one. If you decide to get one, don't skimp on the price. Do your research and buy one that gets good reviews. There's a lot of junk out there, so do your research!

If you plan to put sps in the tank, you will almost definitely need a protein skimmer, and a high end one to boot. There are exceptions such as Leng Sy's system using Miracle Mud. Again, research the heck out of it before you decide.

If you are starting out, it's far better to take the tried and true route to get started and then when you have gained enough experience and knowledge to know how best to go outside of the norm, do it later.

Tanks are extremely easy to drill and the equipment to do it is really cheap on the internet. Once you do it, you wonder what all the fuss is about. That being said, you cannot drill tempered glass so you do need to know whether the glass you plan to drill is tempered or not. There are ways of telling - search the internet - but for the most part, manufacturers tend to use tempered glass on the bottom panel. There are exceptions so you do need to be cautious.

There's definitely a lot to learn to have a decent tank, but it is definitely do-able or you wouldn't see so many out here talking about it. Keep researching and learning and asking questions.