Sump media?

[VickyH]

I am just setting up a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft cichlid tank with sump and want to know what order to put the media in. I have pond brushes, gravel, filter wool and alphogrog. The first part of the sump has to grid shelves in it, the top one has the pond brushes on but can't put gravel on 2nd as it will fall straight through - someone suggested putting it in a bag for ease of cleaning but can't find anything suitable.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

a sponge? maybe floss? bio media? carbon? you have a few options.

 

[Star_Rider]

first shelf place filter material like floss or mat

under that you can place any other media you wish.


mine is set up with floss/mat then bio media

 

[VickyH]

I have set it up now with pondbrushes, then gravel, then filter wool then alphagrog. Does this sound ok?

 

[judobadger]

another good cheap media that has worked really well for me is pot scrubbers from the dollar store. I have them in my diy sump with filter floss and it works great.

 

[Rbishop]

Use a fine embroidery mat for holding the gravel in place.

 

[VickyH]

Having trouble with sump flow now! I have apipe in one corner of tank that water overflows into to go down into sump and is then pumped back up through pipe in opposite corner and comes out just above water level. As the water is overflowing into pipe though it is creating a vortex and making a loud gurgling noise constantly! Any ideas how to stop this?

 

[jm1212]

try lowering the water level in the tank so the water isnt flowing back into the pipe

 

[judobadger]

you can modify the intake on the drain pipe. Do a websearch for durso overflow. It uses a tee and an elbow. Heres the site http://www.dursostandpipes.com/

 

[Plecosterone]

Although I do not use a sump I would put the filter floss on the top. It is the one media that you will probably be changing and will make it easier than digging down through the bio-filtration to change.