newbie with a potentially fantastic idea!

[monty11b]

My idea: 20 gal tall aquarium with a 40 ga ?sump?.

I hope to build myself a stand to hold a 20 tall on top with a hidden 40 gal plastic tote underneath. I'm hoping that with the proper set-up and slowly populate the 20 gal.

To make it work I figure about 60 to 70 pounds of live rock in the 40 with plenty of circulation. Then approx. 20 to 25 pounds in the 20. A powerful pump to circulate the water at a high speed.

I hope to keep a small amount of soft coral with a handful of fish, starfish, and a shrimp or 2.

My question to everyone is as follows.
If I were to chose my tanks population very, very wisely; would it be possible to have a large (in appearance) population in the tank? To the point of nearly crowded...

[Kayo2289]

Most people will argue no, but I have seen thriving beautiful tank that seem to be pushing the population envelope. Just make sure you have a skimmer to handle the bio load and this will give you more wiggle room.

[monty11b]

That's something I had in mind, also ill be using a good canister filter that will have the UV sterilizer.

I do not fully understand the operation of the skimmer, can i install that on the 40 gal sump that sits below the 20?

[ginnboy]

A good protein skimmer will remove proteins (fish waste)out of the water before it is broken down into ammoina. But your idea should work as long as you add fish slowly over time. I have a 180gal with a 55gal tank as a sump with only live rock and a skimmer and it works great. I'm fixing to swap my 55gal sump for a 180gal sump to add more live stock. Good luck and happy reefing

[CliftonArbogast]

You might also look at a Algae Turf Scrubber, or ATS on here. Im just getting started with mine so cant comment on if its gods creation to this hobby as some would say but wish i would have planned for it from the start, so much harder to retrofit.

[Kayo2289]

I will say this to if at all possible try to gO a bit larger on the aquarium size both sump and display tank. Seeing as planning an aquarium is most of the time a Long term deal, go bigger now or you might wish that you had later down the road. A 20g tall fills up quick.

[thegrun]

I don't see a problem with the oversized sump; it will allow you to keep a few more fish than normal. You do need to be careful with overstocking however. You could have plenty of live rock for bio-filtration but still have sick fish from the stress of them being overcrowded.

[jwolcott]

A while back i experimented with a 10 gallon plexy tank with a 55 gallon sump, filled with live sand and rock and lit with led. the 10 had no rock or sand and was used more or less as a frag tank, also lit with led. good luck

[jinks]

Doing this will increase the bio old your tank will support but it will not do anything in terms of fish out growing the tank and territorial issues.

[Want2BS8ed]

I have been keeping a 15 gallon DT with a 30 gallon sump for a couple of years now.

High bio-load definitely, but you do need to be concerned about fish size and territory as another poster mentioned.


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[coralsnaked]

Howdy
You are talking about 60 Gal Net water w/ 80-95 lbs of rock. You will be at the 1.5 lbs of rock per gallon of water. This is the minimum I would ever suggest, but is a good number. So you should stock accordingly to the 60 Gal capacity. However you will be trying to put your livestock in the 20 Gal areas. Therefore your limiting factor will be how comfortable your fish are in a small space, and this will over ride your fish per net gallons. Your choice of species will be very important. I would suggest schooling fish like the Goby to give you the appearance of many fish in a small area that are comfortable w/ each other. But be sure to give even these passive fish enough room. At least 3 sq in per fish That ends up measuring 6" X 6" X 6" to allow the room in between fish So if you have net space in a tall tank after rock placement of 12 X 12 X 12 you would be looking at a max of 8 fish. I would break that down to a school of 4 red fire fish, one purple fire fish, one helfrichi, and a couple of neons or whatevers. Also Blenny are a good choice.

Happy Reefing