Sump setup

[bigmike015]

I am changing sumps and was given this tank already built for FREE! Its a 20 gallon sump.

Questions:

Should i put my bio balls from my old sump into this new one?

Can i run my overflow box lines to the bottom of the 1st chamber to eliminate some of the water noise?

what all should i put in the sump?

[+Capt. Obvious]

Give the bio balls to your cat

If anything do miracle mud or live rock rubble

[subsea]

Whomever designed your sump, choose to make the first chamber large. In my EcoSystem mud/macro filter, the first compartment is very small, only 4" wide. Tank water enters at top of bio balls with much oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange. The noise that you hear is that process. If you don't want the noise and already have aggressive water/air gas exchange, then either use a filter sock or put line below water surface. In my situation, the water from first compartment enters the mud section 3" from bottom. I have had this mud filter set up for 11 years with no replacement of mud. In those 11 years, detritus is broken up by bio balls and enters mud section where it is assimilated in the organic soup crawling with worms and things. Calurpea Prolifera grows abundantly and is used as nutrient export. Pods in macro section eat micro algae and multiply, when they are pumped into the display tank, that is nutrient recycling. When larvae from worms and things are pumped into display tank, corals are feed, that is nutrient recycling. This is the basis for multiple nutrient pathways and diverse food webs.

Patrick