Very new, so please excuse the dumb questions in advance...

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bamaboy333

New Member
Ok I keep reading about how crucial a SUMP is. I also see these Nanocubes which claim to have all that is needed for a successful reef. So I guess what i am asking is that do these Nano's not need a SUMP, or have something similar? I see read the Nano specs about filters, heaters, and what not, but thats it. I just need to know EXACTLY what a need to get of to a good start and give my reef a chance.
 
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Ritsuko N

New Member
Okay, a sump is a compartmnent usually another smaller tank that your tank water will drain into via a drain tube or Siphon Over Flow box. The water will normally drain into a filter pad of filter sockto remove particulate matter before flowing over carbon or various other resins to remove impurities. The water will then often trickle over Bio-Balls, Live Rock orother simular materials for increased biological action. Often times a sump will have a small refugium included that will have additional live rock and macro algae before flowing to another compartmnent within the sump where a protien skimmer will further clean the water before the return pump, takes the water back to the display of the tank.

A sump often contains the the protien skimmer, heater and all other misc equipment which keeps the display portion of the tank cleaner looking and less cluttered.

In your case using an AIO tank set up many reefers will often convert one of the compartments to a "mini sump/refugium" by adding some rock rubble or in some cases some macro algae that will work in conjunction with the rest of the filtration system. This is a bit of a twisted spin off of the sump concept but will function very much in the same manor despite not being a seperate tank.

Most AIO tanks pretty much have what you need for a filtration system. Some are better than others and some can be modified to give improved performance. Probably the biggest short comming of these style of tanks filtration system is the in ability often times to move enough water through the filtration system and the lack of protein skimmers that will "really work" and are still small enough to fit in a Nano Tank. While one can get by without a skimmer by doing frequent small water changes a skimmer if you can find one that works and fit it into your system is of far more benefit to these small tanks as there limited supply of water can quickly go south on you in a heart beat. Frequent water changes can deal with this adequately but its not much of a substitute for the amount of gunk a good skimmer can pull from the water. There are a number of excellent HOB skimmers but these usually take up way too much room inside a nano to really be feasable when the tank is 10-20 gallons or less.

You dont have to have a sump for filtration. But after about 40 gallons or so they are the filtration method of choice as far as being effcient and effective! But there are some creative and resourceful Nano Reefers out there though that will plumb a sump into a Nano Tank in an effort to achieve the ultimate in Nano Tanks. Its that one upsmanship hard at work!
 
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bamaboy333

New Member
That helps tremendously. That brings me to another question. I am leaning toward the nano 24 because it will hold all that I want so I wouldn't need a sump correct? My brother has a spare 5 gal I could rig up for a sump if that's big enough and worth the effort.
 
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KidNano

New Member
I'd say start out with out a sump. Just learning and getting everything figured out is hard enough with out having to deal with that extra headache. I'd say keep your options open when setting up so you can add it in the future if you chose, but start off simple. Good luck.
 
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