Sump help, what to do next

[SterlingP]

hi, read a lot on here and finally decided to join.


So I have a sump need some help on what to do with it.

I threw some pictures up of the sump and tank.

Fish 2 platinum clowns and a engineer goby
Not to sure if I will add more yet can't decided on anything.

Have some gsp, and magical mushrooms (they came from some live rock) wasn't going to add coral yet. But the chunk of rock with gsp was only $10. It was cheaper than live rock alone. Have 4 t5 above the tank

Tank has been running maybe 6 months. Stole all my water from a friend. Let it run with two clowns for the last five and a half months and just added the goby to stir up the gravel and some snails and hermit crabs to clean up.

I'll upload a better picture after work when the lights are on

[ratherbeflyen]

That's a pretty open ended question. There are a lot of theories and gadgets that you can put into a sump/tank and have a successful system. Without knowing what problem(s) you are having or what you are trying to accomplish in the future, no one can really give you good advice.

[SterlingP]

Only issue I'm having is that it's been ten plus years since I had a saltwater tank and I can't remember. From what's I've seen everything has seems to changed or upgraded.

[SterlingP]

As to what I want, sorry should of made this one post, a simple small reef tank with a few soft corals and a few fish to watch when I am bored. Not to sure what to even to do in the he sump to accomplish a nice complete system

[ratherbeflyen]

Looking at your picture, it looks like your sump has a filter sock, a hang on back skimmer, a small refugium section that you have rubble in, and of course a return section.

As previously mentioned, you could probably add any gadget you want and it would probably work. I'm personally trying to move away from using consumable media's and use a more natural filtration, algae. My current tank is a 40 gallon mixed reef with 4 fish. I'm running nothing more than a waterfall algae scrubber, a small refugium, and carbon in a media bag. I also have an auto top off system that I dose kalkwasser with. I'm coming up on 2 years with that setup and I'm building a 210 gallon tank with intentions of doing the same natural filtration.

If I had your system, I would keep the filter sock and skimmer. I would then remove the rubble in the center section and add a refugium and maybe an algae scrubber depending on the bio load. Rubble rock is still pretty common for a lot of people, but there is not much evidence that rocks can effectively remove nitrate and phosphate. I'm also a big fan of an auto top off. Even something as simple as a float valve with 2 a quart reservoir is better than having to manually add water ever day.

You say your returning to the hobby, so if you need further explanation on anything, I'll be happy to elaborate.