Planted Sump

[Sumpin'fishy]

I want to build a DIY tank, stand, canopy, and wet/dry. In this wet dry I want to heavily plant and use it as a "refugium" since I have large/aggressive cichlids which would destroy any plants. Is it worth it to use a 20 gal sump (planted area, bio-tower located elsewhere) on a 125 gal tank? Is this enough area for plants to be effective? I would have the tower located elsewhere, generally above this, with pvc leading to the sump. I may have the pump in this 20 gal or in another location. Should I build a larger sump while I'm building a plywood/glass tank? Also, is it wise to put a glass front into the sump for viewing?

[MrGoodbytes]

You mean like an algae scrubber? The principle sounds fine to me, although I haven't read much about them.
I think one problem might be the spray from the wet/dry dissipating all the CO2 that the plants could use. Maybe try to reduce that to a minimum.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[plantbrain]

Try a rubber maid 33 gal container. Cheap.
A 20 gal long would be good.
2x20 w or a couple 2x15 under counter 4-6$ lights would be good.
Yiou can buy some profile etc for the substrate and use several 3inch PCV tubes as planters and trickle the incoming water through these and pass on the wet/dry tower completely. The gravel in the PVC tubes will do this for you.

You can also use the 20 gallon with 4-5 inches of substrate and about 1 inch or so of water to be the plant filter.
But it's difficult to maintain this constant level in a sump system without also adding an auto top off device but those are relative simple. But you are now cluttering the set up a fair amount:)

You can separate the 20 gallon using a powerhead and a timer with 15 min intervals and batch cycle the water in/out of the tank. Use a spray bar over the plants and drill a hole about 5 inches up to drain back to the main sump.
Every 15 minutes the plants will be sprayed.
Again, a rubber maid container my be more suitable and cheaper, easier to drill/modify etc.

The PVC tubes are simple. Pick the height you want, cut as many as will fit into the sump, glue test caps(about 30cents ea) to the bottom and drill about 10 x 1/8" holes on the bottom edge 1-2 inches above the bottom. This will always keep the roots moist even if the sump is 100% dry.

Peace lilies work the best for these systems.
See www.sfbaaps.com for some old stuff I wrote under "references"
Regards,
Tom Barr

[Sumpin'fishy]

Tom, I have this article (written differently) in the DIY forum also. It has more info there. I tried to keep it simple here. I have no problem getting a 4' double strip light and going with 80w under the stand for the sump only. I have a 33 gal Rubbermaid already but I figure it would be harder to set that up than build my own with whatever dimensions I want (easier except for the labor:) ). I'm building the tank anyways, so maybe I should just go with a DIY sump too? If I build one I can build an overflow to separate the pump area from the planted area.

What height should I build this sump? I figure 4" of Flourite and ??? extra? How does 18" high (total) sound? I could do a 36"x18"x18" planted area, and separate off a 8"-12" area for the pump, and call it a day! Would that leave enough room in the sump for backflow if power cut out?I'm not big on the lower water level, I want to learn how to go with fully submerged plants...would be good practice for my later planted tank! Is it of any importance to build a front glass onto the sump (like I'm building the tank? The rest would be plywood.

I do plan to place the return spray bar about an inch below the waterline and aim the water stream diagonally down into the tank. I am planning to do pressurized CO2 and will also have 2x AC 500's for mechanical filtration (this is the plan so far). I have been tossing around the idea of a canister, but they are harder to clean weekly, as I like to.

I do like your idea about PVC tubes and rocks, but need to work out some plans in my head of praying into several vertical tubes filled with media (gravel) while keeping it above waterline (mostly) and not losing all my CO2. I now have something to think about!

Anyone have any answers to these questions or other ideas?