Freshwater sump?!

Interesting sump .
Water comes in through two socks that go in the circles .They will be a pain to clean so get extras .
I bleach mine in washing machine...
Where does the water that has to overflow on the right [ I guess a refugium] come out ?Might add sponges there if possible at the baffle .
Look for a sponge to fit across the first baffle where water goes under after the socks. Swiss tropicals has all sizes and density or you could probably get by with 2 aquaclear 110 sponges.
My sump uses drawers with 'cut to fit' mechanical pads and then I have sponges that water is forced through.
You want to have as much water available as possible in the reservoir area so you don't have to top off daily or use an Automatic Top Off device .[ATO]

Do you have any recommendations for return pumps or how much water turnover I should aI'm for? I’m trying to keep it as cheap as possible.

 

I just ordered another Jeboa 12,000 DC pump.
About $107. 12,000 LPH which is about 2600GPH max .
It is digitally controlled so you can turn it down and save electricity .
Basically silent and transfers little to no heat .
Might not last for 4-5 years but cheap enough I still don't complain much about them .
I am running 3 sumps with them now .

 

Thanks for posting this! I have a 90 gallon tank I bought off craigslist that has a sump that I need to set up. I have never had a sump before. I have watched several videos, but I am still unsure of how to go about getting all the pieces together correctly. I'll be watching this thread to see how it goes.
Thanks!

 

I just ordered another Jeboa 12,000 DC pump.
About $107. 12,000 LPH which is about 2600GPH max .
It is digitally controlled so you can turn it down and save electricity .
Basically silent and transfers little to no heat .
Might not last for 4-5 years but cheap enough I still don't complain much about them .
I am running 3 sumps with them now .

Sweet, thank you! I have a 300 watt heater now but at thinking about picking up a 150 watt as well, do you think this should be enough or should I go with another 300? As far as plumbing goes, does it matter what size pvc I use? The current pre drilled overflow holes are 1.5” and 1.75”.

 

Yeah the layout is odd to be as well. So I should just do all mechanical in the first chamber? and do biological in the open area? Is there a certain way I need to have to bio media or can I just have it laying in there in mesh bags? The refugium has me really confused lol the only part for water to enter or exit is the small overflow slots at the top, so does this mean I should have the sump filled all the way to the refugium overflows? Thanks for all the input, is there anything else I should know when setting this up?

I honestly use my sponges as bio media .I clean like bio in tank water and keep them submerged .I have started a thread years ago in wondering who thought what was best bio media and why they thought they needed it .Diana Walstad chimed in and I have never looked back ! This is whatI got from her !
All the rings /bio balls and the like are hype for those who have such tiny filters they can not function properly without ...Usually overstocked and under filtered.Beneificail will and does live in any surface area possible .
All bio media needs to rinsed periodically so that it does not become a nitrate factory and I have found sponges are easiest to clean ..

As for the fuge I notice a hole in the 'Euro brace' in the corner of the fuge above ...I suspect a pump was used in the section before fuge to pump water in that had to flow out through the overflow. so pump #2 or make a manifold and run both return and fuge from the jeboa !

Your holes are fine .
Most returns are 3/4 inches and flow 750GPH.
Most overflows are 1 11/4 and flow the same 750GPH
I would have 2 of the same heaters so they work in tandem and evenly instead of one working harder then other ?
I swear by Aqueon Pros ….another rant is possible !
You never know when you will want more flow ..I ALWAYS oversize my return pump and turn it down if needed even before the DC pumps .Throttling regular pumps increases the heat transfer . The average Mag drive pump will raise tank temp 4 degrees above room temp ! Ask me how I know ?
I run the 12,000 on my 180 in the living room above the filter [in fish room in basement ] at full speed through a rigid 1 1/2 " PVC line that "T's" in the stand under tank to each return.
I run the 12,000 on my 120 reef and another 12,000 on my protein skimmer in sump [60 g deep blue 4feet by 2 feet ]. The return runs less then 1/2 speed as
there is little head pressure. The skimmer runs on full power !
My last sump is a 20 gallon on a 75 gallon tank only filled 12". I run the 12,000 on a single return at about 1/3 speed.
I figure having all the same pumps makes replacement or getting an extra [as I just did ] covers all my bases . And when one fails it is only the power switcher /controller /or pump .Not all 3 will fail so you get usable parts from older pumps.. Just me ??

 

Second on the Jebao pumps. My 120 gallon freshwater tank with a 30 gallon sump is going to be running a DCP-5000 at half power and it's worked well thus far for testing. Very cost effective as well.

 

I honestly use my sponges as bio media .I clean like bio in tank water and keep them submerged .I have started a thread years ago in wondering who thought what was best bio media and why they thought they needed it .Diana Walstad chimed in and I have never looked back ! This is whatI got from her !
All the rings /bio balls and the like are hype for those who have such tiny filters they can not function properly without ...Usually overstocked and under filtered.Beneificail will and does live in any surface area possible .
All bio media needs to rinsed periodically so that it does not become a nitrate factory and I have found sponges are easiest to clean ..

As for the fuge I notice a hole in the 'Euro brace' in the corner of the fuge above ...I suspect a pump was used in the section before fuge to pump water in that had to flow out through the overflow. so pump #2 or make a manifold and run both return and fuge from the jeboa !

Your holes are fine .
Most returns are 3/4 inches and flow 750GPH.
Most overflows are 1 11/4 and flow the same 750GPH
I would have 2 of the same heaters so they work in tandem and evenly instead of one working harder then other ?
I swear by Aqueon Pros ….another rant is possible !
You never know when you will want more flow ..I ALWAYS oversize my return pump and turn it down if needed even before the DC pumps .Throttling regular pumps increases the heat transfer . The average Mag drive pump will raise tank temp 4 degrees above room temp ! Ask me how I know ?
I run the 12,000 on my 180 in the living room above the filter [in fish room in basement ] at full speed through a rigid 1 1/2 " PVC line that "T's" in the stand under tank to each return.
I run the 12,000 on my 120 reef and another 12,000 on my protein skimmer in sump [60 g deep blue 4feet by 2 feet ]. The return runs less then 1/2 speed as tthere is little head pressure.
My last sump is a 20 gallon on a 75 gallon tank only filled 12". I run the 12,000 on a single return at about 1/3 speed.
I figure having all the same pumps makes replacement or getting an extra [as I just did ] covers all my bases . And when one fails it is only the power switcher /controller /or pump .Not all 3 will fail so you get usable parts from older pumps.. Just me ??

Wow, thank you for all that information! What kind of sponges are you referring to? Just basic pot scrubbies or what? So you think 1.5” pvc will work all the way around? I noticed my sump has a bulkhead or something sticking out the side so does that mean I have my return pump outside the sump? How does that work?

 

I would cap the bulkhead with PVC glued on and go with a submersible pump .
I use aquaclear 110 or 'sump sponges that can be 13 inches long.
Swiss Tropicals offers the best sponges in the world but they are not cheap.
I use large poret sponges in several of my breeding tanks ; Mattenfilter Shop - SWISSTROPICALS
But these may be more inline with your needs ; Tower Block Filter Shop - SWISSTROPICALS
The ones without the lift tubes .
The facts are that sponges are great mechanical and biological filters .I and many other breeders run complete fish rooms on air driven sponge filters with massive stocking and regular water changes ..
I am if you have not noticed the 'sponge guy ' !
Everyone can spend their money how they want on bio media but if you have nitrates you have a cycled tank. I always wondered if people thought more media would lower nitrates .
I believe my suspicion was confirmed that more media could only yield more nitrates if what you have wasn't keeping up . Other then that tanks only grow the bacteria they need and never more ...beneficial bacteria will grow on every and any surface it can or has too.
The size 1 1/4 is probably the bulk head size[you need to match the bulk head coming from tank]. Same for return lines .
I either hard plumb water in or use bilge pump hose. No dips in water to sump line or that tank will be noisy from having to build up enough pressure to push water through. Nice ,short as possible evenly pitched line to sump is what you want .Make a disconnect in the line[union or fernco rubber boot].
Returns can be flexible hose . I like braided so it doesn't kink so easily.They can be disconnected at the pump for service .

 

I would cap the bulkhead with PVC glued on and go with a submersible pump .
I use aquaclear 110 or 'sump sponges that can be 13 inches long.
Swiss Tropicals offers the best sponges in the world but they are not cheap.
I use large poret sponges in several of my breeding tanks ; Mattenfilter Shop - SWISSTROPICALS
But these may be more inline with your needs ; Tower Block Filter Shop - SWISSTROPICALS
The ones without the lift tubes .
The facts are that sponges are great mechanical and biological filters .I and many other breeders run complete fish rooms on air driven sponge filters with massive stocking and regular water changes ..
I am if you have not noticed the 'sponge guy ' !
Everyone can spend their money how they want on bio media but if you have nitrates you have a cycled tank. I always wondered if people thought more media would lower nitrates .
I believe my suspicion was confirmed that more media could only yield more nitrates if what you have wasn't keeping up . Other then that tanks only grow the bacteria they need and never more ...beneficial bacteria will grow on every and any surface it can or has too.
The size 1 1/4 is probably the bulk head size[you need to match the bulk head coming from tank]. Same for return lines .
I either hard plumb water in or use bilge pump hose. No dips in water to sump line or that tank will be noisy from having to build up enough pressure to push water through. Nice ,short as possible evenly pitched line to sump is what you want .Make a disconnect in the line[union or fernco rubber boot].
Returns can be flexible hose . I like braided so it doesn't kink so easily.They can be disconnected at the pump for service .

Alright so I’m ordering everything now. I’m seeing 2 different options for the Jebao 12000 pump on amazon. One is the DCS 12000 () and the other just says DC 12000 () this one is blue and black and the other is all black. There is about a $20 difference in the two so i’m wondering what the difference is??

 

Alright so I’m ordering everything now. I’m seeing 2 different options for the Jebao 12000 pump on amazon. One is the DCS 12000 () and the other just says DC 12000 () this one is blue and black and the other is all black. There is about a $20 difference in the two so i’m wondering what the difference is??

There is also a DCT 12000 for $115

 

There is also a DCT 12000 for $115

Would a 1900 gph current usa be enough flow? For $40-$50 more, the reliability is intriguing.

 

DCS/DCT look to be the same . Newer versions using 80 watts not 100. They sent me DCT ?
I also found a replacement transformer that works all the 12,000 for about $16 !
The current looks interesting but I will not give current any of my money again .
Long story short all the tranformers for their True Lumen Pro LED lights fail pretty quick and they want $50 for replacement ?? Found them for $15 and swore off current after failed attempts to communicate with customer service to help me out with $1500 worth of lights that all had ballast/transformers failing in 2 years [8 hours a day says 50k is over 10 years ?
The jeboas are cheap so I don't mind picking up some of the slack ..More for a current ???? NEVER ! Not even the same as a deal for me ...

 

DCS/DCT look to be the same . Newer versions using 80 watts not 100. They sent me DCT ?
I also found a replacement transformer that works all the 12,000 for about $16 !
The current looks interesting but I will not give current any of my money again .
Long story short all the tranformers for their True Lumen Pro LED lights fail pretty quick and they want $50 for replacement ?? Found them for $15 and swore off current after failed attempts to communicate with customer service to help me out with $1500 worth of lights that all had ballast/transformers failing in 2 years [8 hours a day says 50k is over 10 years ?
The jeboas are cheap so I don't mind picking up some of the slack ..More for a current ???? NEVER ! Not even the same as a deal for me ...

okay thanks for the input, I think i’m going to get the DCP-15000. It is the newer version for basically the same price. Do you connect pvc straight to yours or do you use something like a braided tubing? Not sure which I should do.

 

okay thanks for the input, I think i’m going to get the DCP-15000. It is the newer version for basically the same price. Do you connect pvc straight to yours or do you use something like a braided tubing? Not sure which I should do.

Also how is the noise on yours? Do you think the 12000 will be big enough for my tank?

 

I think the 15000 runs my 180 from the basement !It is hooked up to 1 1/2 inch pvc.
I use flexible tubing on my other sumps that run jeboas.
I like the re enforced tubing as it kinks less.
As for noise I know of no quieter pump ..
You will not hear it at all over the moving water .

 

I think the 15000 runs my 180 from the basement !It is hooked up to 1 1/2 inch pvc.
I use flexible tubing on my other sumps that run jeboas.
I like the re enforced tubing as it kinks less.
As for noise I know of no quieter pump ..
You will not hear it at all over the moving water .

Okay sweet. I still don't know what to do with this refugium. Could I run one of the overflows to drain into it or would that not be a good idea since there isn't any filter socks or mechanical filtration? Could I just leave it empty or would I need water in there? I didn't know if the pressure on the acrylic when empty would be too much.

 

Okay sweet. I still don't know what to do with this refugium. Could I run one of the overflows to drain into it or would that not be a good idea since there isn't any filter socks or mechanical filtration? Could I just leave it empty or would I need water in there? I didn't know if the pressure on the acrylic when empty would be too much.

Or should I just have a smaller return pump in the main chamber pumping water into the refugium? I didn't think it would be a big deal if I left it empty since it's a freshwater setup.

 

I'd throw some kind of fast growing plant in there, and light it during the night. It'll help with nitrate and oxygen levels. Everyone knows that plants photosynthesize during daylight and produce oxygen. At night, when not photosynthesizing, they consume oxygen. So by having plants on a different schedule, it'll offset the loss of oxygen production from the plants (if you use any) in the main tank. And if you don't plant the main tank, meh, you have photosynthesis at night.

 

I would use the fuge .There should be water in it IMO.
Either pump with smaller pump or make a manifold for the Jeboa.

 

I would use the fuge .There should be water in it IMO.
Either pump with smaller pump or make a manifold for the Jeboa.

I think it may be easiest to just have a T on one of my drain pipe and have a valve on there and have maybe 10-15% going into the fuge. I figured it would save money and be a little more simple. Should I not do that?

 

A T on the drain will allow detritus to remain in system or you will just be making that section another mechanical filter with sponge or floss .
A T on the return with a valve will re circulate already cleaned water through a polishing [ finer grade sponge or pad ]or planted stage built into filter..
Possibly even a deep sand bed fed very slowly from return [de nitrator?]?

 

A T on the drain will allow detritus to remain in system or you will just be making that section another mechanical filter with sponge or floss .
A T on the return with a valve will re circulate already cleaned water through a polishing [ finer grade sponge or pad ]or planted stage built into filter..
Possibly even a deep sand bed fed very slowly from return [de nitrator?]?

What do you mean it will allow detritus to stay in the system?

 

You'll have to use something to clean water if you use DRAIN line from tank[unfiltered water] to supply that area.
When that section overflows it is inline to be returned to tank as is with detritus still in it unless you mechanically filter it [sponge/ pad] . You want to use water from tank not filter right ?
I think you should use water from filter and not tank in that section .It is already mechanically cleaned by first section and only being further treated for better water.

 

You'll have to use something to clean water if you use DRAIN line from tank[unfiltered water] to supply that area.
When that section overflows it is inline to be returned to tank as is with detritus still in it unless you mechanically filter it [sponge/ pad] . You want to use water from tank not filter right ?
I think you should use water from filter and not tank in that section .It is already mechanically cleaned by first section and only being further treated for better water.

That’s true, I may try to see if I can setup some type of mechanical filtration in front of the overflow.

 

You'll have to use something to clean water if you use DRAIN line from tank[unfiltered water] to supply that area.
When that section overflows it is inline to be returned to tank as is with detritus still in it unless you mechanically filter it [sponge/ pad] . You want to use water from tank not filter right ?
I think you should use water from filter and not tank in that section .It is already mechanically cleaned by first section and only being further treated for better water.

That means I would have to buy another pump though. Not really in budget to buy another pump.

 

No use the return pump to tank to feed the fuge .
Place a T inline on the return hose to tank and a valve to control how much goes into fuge .
I think same thing you were thinking from drain but using good water from the pump you run 24/7 already .
No extra pump you have more then enough pump to run many reactors..
Something you make or buy like this ;


Adding another mechanical area to the overflow will just be more maintenance spread out over the filter .You will have clean it also .

 

No use the return pump to tank to feed the fuge .
Place a T inline on the return hose to tank and a valve to control how much goes into fuge .
I think same thing you were thinking from drain but using good water from the pump you run 24/7 already .
No extra pump you have more then enough pump to run many reactors..
Something you make or buy like this ;


Adding another mechanical area to the overflow will just be more maintenance spread out over the filter .You will have clean it also .

Alright I’m going with your method. I bought all my materials, so hopefully i’ll have everything dry fitted tonight. Thank you so much for all the help, you’ve been amazing!

 

Alright I’m going with your method. I bought all my materials, so hopefully i’ll have everything dry fitted tonight. Thank you so much for all the help, you’ve been amazing!

One last thing lol. As of right now my return line is 3/4” because that’s what the bulkhead hole is. I was wondering if that is going to inhibit the return output and cause too much head pressure? Would bumping up my returns to 1” (drains are currently 1”) and tapering it back down to the 3/4” at the tank make enough difference for me to make the switch? Can too much head pressure shorten the life of the pump?

 

You should be fine eitherway.I run my 75 gallon on 3/4 hose no problem.

 

You should be fine eitherway.I run my 75 gallon on 3/4 hose no problem.

did you run into the issue of the fittings on the jebao not fitting all the way with your plumbing? My 3/4” pvc isn’t a tight fit so I may run to the hardware store and grab different fittings.

 

I'm building a custom DIY sump for my 180 freshwater tropical tank. Ill be using a 40 gallon breeder. I have most of the build figured out, I just need some advice on mechanical filtration, I would like to get my water as clear as I can, down to 50 microns or less if possible, I'm starting with a 300 micron filter sock then I want to step down to 200 micron then 100 then 50. I know that a 50 micron pad would clog almost immediately but what if I stepped down to that size? Could I still keep my cleanings to once a week? Or Could I accomplish my goal with filter floss? Just the cheap polyester quilt batting? I just want something that's going to pollish my water to god like levels of clarity that I don't have to clean everyday! Is that too much to ask? Also I'm shooting for 6X turn over, should I go for more or less when using a sump on freshwater?

 

IME with my sump on my 180g anything under 100micron needs to be last and by passed if clogged easily .
I have drawers with mechanicals [3 levels on my marineland model 4] ] then sponge for my bio then 100micron pad in water supported by 2inch thick poret sponge ..
The 100 micron pad needs cleaning every couple days .I used 40b for sumps but found the width too much trouble if not divided for flow path ..I like water bridging 12 inch tanks for my sumps..

 

Thanks. Got any pics?

 

I've never used a sump but I did do a lot of investigation a while back and spent time planning on how I would do it. This was for a tank that has since been moved to the back burner.

300 micron seems incredibly fine as a starting point. My plan was to do some kind of vortex settlement area as the first stage of the sump. I never did work out exactly how I'd do that. Maybe put the inlet hose in the side of a funnel. The spout of the funnel would lead to some containment that could be easily cleaned. The vortex should move the heaviest stuff to the center and out the bottom of the funnel. Everything else would flow over the top of the funnel.

Then there were a series of filter foams -- 10 PPI, 20 PPI, 30 PPI, 45 PPI. 2-3 inches of each arranged vertically so they'd start clogging at the bottom while still being able to pass sufficient water further up. This would delay cleaning as long as possible. I figured if I did it right I'd only have to clean the 10 PPI foam once every couple months and the others would probably go a year or more.

I don't know exactly how you'd work filter mesh into the system after that. The material for those filter socks has to come from some place. If you could find sheets of it you could stretch it over frames that would fit in the sump. I do see 100 micron polishing pads on Amazon. You'd need a frame of some kind to support it but something like that should be able to slot in after the foam pads.

I think this needs to be done somewhat like sanding wood -- start with the coarsest grit and slowly work your way down to very fine. If you start too fine you'll spend all day on it. If you skip too many grits you'll be left with sanding marks that will be very difficult to remove.

Same with filtration. Start with very coarse and slowly work your way to finer filtration. If you start too fine you're going to be spending all your time cleaning that filter media. If you skip too many porosities, the finer media will clog too fast.

 

That's almost exactly like the idea for my first build, less the the vortex of heavy debris removal, which is a cool idea but I think too complicated for me. I haven't actually built anything yet so I'm open to ideas. I like the idea of a series of foam filters from coarse to fine. Do u think having a single 2" chamber/baffle with the foam stacked in the chamber starting with the 10ppI going up to 40ppI 2-3 inches of each? And would you have the water travel down or up through the chamber? Then from there I could send it into my filter sock chamber? I'm making a dual side by side 7" square filter sock chamber out of a 1/4" thick sheet of PVC. Again nothing is built yet I'm just looking for someone to bounce ideas off of.

 

I would arrange the pieces of filter foam vertically, with the water flowing through it horizontally. I got the idea from one of the videos on YouTube. IIRC, he didn't specifically address it, but you could see the sump for his huge tank in the background and he had multiple pieces of foam standing on end with the water flowing horizontally. Basically, it was one large chamber with four or five pieces of foam acting as Matten filters.

My thinking on this is that if you arrange it horizontally like you suggested (and which I was leaning toward originally), the foam with get clogged at a uniform rate across its entire surface. This means the flow will continually slow as the foam clogs. It won't matter how big the foam is, the flow will start to slow as soon as you get any build up of muck at all.

If you arrange it vertically, the foam will tend to clog much more from the bottom up. The bottom may be completely clogged but the water will still flow mostly unrestricted because the part of the foam that's higher in the water column won't have nearly as much muck. If you size the foam such that half or more of it can be clogged and it will still allow water to pass without the pump chamber getting low, then you'll have much longer between cleanings. (One of my goals with the sump design was to avoid as much maintenance work as possible. I didn't want to do any filter cleaning at all more often than once every couple months, and then I wanted it to be quick and easy.)

I also gave some thought to using two pieces of coarse foam so I could clean one while the other continued to do the job. I wanted to come up with some way to swap positions without stirring up a lot of muck but never found a good approach to that. The idea was to clean the first piece, slide the second one up to first position, then put the cleaned one back in second position.

With a 40G breeder as the sump, I'd think about putting a divider down the middle, splitting it into two runs of about 30" each, with a 6" chamber at one end for the flow to change direction. Each run would be about 9" wide and 16" tall. You could use the space at the end for heaters, plants you don't want in the tank, invertebrates, whatever. The 9" wide pieces of foam also seem a bit more manageable while still being more than large enough to do the job. With that much horizontal space you have loads of room for filter foam and also for media to remove nitrates, be it Biohome, Matrix, biocenesis baskets of cat litter, Poret-aqua foam cubes, etc.

My plan was to use a 20 long as my sump. Running a divider down the middle gave me room for the vortex settlement area, eight layers of 2" foam (two of each porosity), a polishing pad, the 6" turn-around, a pump/heater chamber, and then a 19"x6"x8" space for denitrification media. You'd have 6" more of length and 3" more width on each side of the divider, not to mention 4" more height. You'll have way more room than really needed for media.

I was afraid the vortex might be overthinking things just a bit, particularly since I'm not going to be filtering a muddy pond or anything like that. My thought was to just get a funnel and cut a hole in the side to fit a hose adapter so it would inject the water horizontally around the side of the funnel. This would create the vortex. The whole thing would sit in a chamber with several inches of Mech (or marbles) at the bottom to break up any currents and allow the heaviest muck to settle out. That water would flow over the top of the divider into the next chamber. The problem with this is I never did figure out a good way to clean it out. I'd have to remove all the Mech and siphon out the muck. Not exactly the easy maintenance that was my goal. In the end it's probably a lot easier to put more coarse foam in the first chamber so it can be easily removed and cleaned.

My other thought was to use very coarse filter socks in the first chamber. They make coarse plastic mesh socks to fit on washing machine outlet hoses to trap a lot of the lint that would otherwise go down the drain and possibly clog the sewer line. I was thinking a couple of those, one inside the other, would make a decent first stage filter. They're about a foot long so I don't think they'd clog up right away. And they're cheap enough in quantity that you could just throw them away when they do clog.

 

That sounds way too complicated. I don't think its possible to make a sump that only needs maintenance once every few months, with that many sponges I think that nitrates would start to rise despite water changes after 2 weeks tops. I have a sump now, I just don't like it, its for saltwater, and I was having to clean filters socks every 3 days or so, but I've made a few adjustments and I'm down to once a week, sumps need maintenance more often, its just part of the gig. I don't really mind cleaning my filters. But after running this sump for 6 months ive exploited a lot of its pitfalls and I think I could make a more straightforward sump specifically for freshwater. I think 1 course sponge a 300 micron filter sock and a polishing stage made of filter floss should do the trick. my main goal is not less maintenance but super clear water. I'm going to add a canister just for extra mechanical.

 

Sponges don't make nitrates, bacteria do. Bacteria don't just spontaneously generate nitrates, they convert ammonia to nitrites and then to nitrates. You could have a hundred 2" foam sponges in your filter system and you wouldn't get any more nitrates than if you had just one of adequate size to properly filter the system. Nitrates depend on the amount of ammonia introduced to the system by fish waste and rotting food and vegetation, not on the number of sponges.

I suspect part of the maintenance issue is the use of filter socks. They don't have all that much surface area so they clog quickly. Combine that with a mesh that's rather fine and you have a recipe for near constant maintenance.

If instead you use a series of filter foams of decreasing porosity, the muck gets spread out among the different pieces of foam. The coarse ones catch the big muck and pass through the smaller stuff, which gets caught in one of the foams with smaller passages. Use foam with a sufficiently large face surface area and it won't clog for a very long time.

This arrangement is essentially a series of Matten filters. People using those report time between foam cleanings of a year or longer. Rachel O'Leary has a video where she cleans a corner Mattern filter in a large tank for the first time in 15 months, and she said it probably could have gone longer.

With the Matten filters in the sump, you have the opportunity for pre-filtering that will extend the maintenance period even longer. Sure, you have to clean the pre-filter more often, but that should be a simple and quick.

The only reason I was planning to run a divider down the middle was to get a longer linear run. A 40 breeder is 36" long, right? That's long enough as is. So just put large pieces of foam all the way across the aquarium. That gives you over 200 sq. in. of face surface area for each foam. In about 10" of linear tank length you could have 800 sq. in. of foam face surface area. It would take a very long time for that to clog to the point where you'd have to clean it. And the biologically active surface area inside the sponge would be enormous. If I did the math right, four pieces of 2" Poret foam 18"x12", one of each porosity, would give you almost 400 sq. ft. of biologically active surface area.

What you chose to do with further mechanical filtration after that would almost certainly be gilding the lily, but you could most certainly add more layers of micron-level filter media. All that filtering in front by the foam should keep it from clogging so quickly.

And you'd still have at least another foot of linear tank space for denitrifying media if you chose to use it. That's enough room for 36kg of Biohome, which is enough for a heavily stocked 450 gallon tank.

 

I see, I thought that all the muck and food and fish waste would get trapped in the foam and start to break down and cause nitrates to spike. So water comes in to the sump (I'm using a double Herbie drain) and then just goes straight through the 8" of foam? No baffle or anything first? Then straight into the bio chamber? Then return chamber? Should there be baffles in between these chambers I'm having a hard time picturing it.

 

Ok so thanks to your advice, I spent the morning doing research watching videos and talking to the owner of Swiss tropicals, I've decided to run a foam only sump that will cover both my mechanical and biological filtration needs, and like you said it will cut my maintenance way way down. I'll be using the Poret brand of foam. I will have 1x10ppI 2x20s and 1x30 all 3in thick with fluidized media in the middle, no baffles or chambers just friction fit foam. I may add an air pump in the fluidized chamber for aeration and possibly a pvc grate right before the return chamber. The heater can go in the return chamber as well, very simple and straightforward.