hi every one!

i have a 130ltr salt water aquarium. at the moment i use the filter that is built into the tank. it does a good job i think.

but we have a lot of algae, we also don't have good lights at the moment. so thats an issue as well! we are working on that one :P

but i was curious about sumps? what are they and what do they do exactly?

are they worth setting up?
can i have a beautiful maintained tank without one??

thank you so much for your time :D

You don't have to run one. Your algae problems probably stem from having to much phospahte in your tank. Maintain that, and you won't have algae issues.
Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

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ok thanks :D
whats the best way to handle phosphate?
I'm very sorry about all the questions. i am very new to this and i think the local fish shop guy has been giving pretty bad advice :(

Given a choice I would always choose a sump. It gives you more total water volume so things do not happen as quickly, more surface area for evaporation, cooling and oxygen transfer and most of all it gives you additional room out of sight for things like GFO or carbon reactors, protein skimmers and heaters. It will also make the water level in your display remain constant since evaporation will show up in the return section of the sump not the display.

Phosphate Reactor.
Aquarium Phosphate Control: PhosBan Reactor and Parts from Two Little Fishies
Phosphate Removing Aquarium Filter Media: PhosBan Media from Two Little Fishies

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I use both a Phosban Reactor filled with granular ferric oxide and a refugium filled with macroalgaes like chaetomorpha and caulerpa algaes which pull phosphates out of the water naturally.

Wow, I never knew that, thanks a million!

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IMHO the best way to handle phosphates (and other plant nutrients) is to simply expand your algae. Of course using macro algae in a refugium would look way better then all the class covered with hair and cyano (red slime).

Basically what the algae does is recycle fish wastes into fish food.


my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

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Sumps make tank management easier, cleaning easier, and they keep your tank free of equipment like heaters and skimmers up top. I'd go with the sump

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