Berlin Sump Question

[BuckeyeDad2002]

Hello!

I am new to the hobby and I am in the planning/equipment gathering phase. I have a 120g glass tank and the plan is to make it FOWLR, eventually upgrading to a full reef tank in time.

I have a question about Berlin Sumps. I have read that sumps are the way to go, so I am trying to determine which will be adequate for me. I know I can go the DIY route but that really doesn't interest me at this time.

I found this Berlin Sump and was wanting to get some feedback on it. Is it sufficient? Overkill? Are there benefits to have an in-sump canister filter or is that not necessary? Am I looking in the wrong direction? I would have love to have gone with a larger sump but unfortunately my stand design won't allow me to squeeze in anything larger than 25 inches.

I will definately be using a protein skimmer in my setup.
Thanks so much for the asssistance!

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi Buckeye and :welcome:

I always build my own sumps by drilling a spare aquarium and siliconing some acrylic baffles into it, but if you're not interested in DIY, that sump looks like it should work fine. By the dimensions and the pic it looks like you'd have enough room for a good in-sump skimmer like a Euro-Reef, ASM, etc. I don't think you'll want to go much smaller than that one if you favor an in-sump skimmer. Another option - you could try getting a price from some of the online acrylic places like MyReef, Geo, Barr Aquatics, etc. Most of them make sumps to order.

As for having the in-sump canister, I think it might be nice to run carbon and stuff like that periodically, but I probably wouldn't want to run it full time for fear of it accumulating too much gunk that might foul water quality.

JMO...

 

[BuckeyeDad2002]

Thanks for the straight answer Chris. I appreciate it. I would rather get something that I know is going to work than try a DIY and fowl it up. As I gain experience and knowledge I am sure that I will go this route in the future, but I don't mind investing a little extra money at first.

I will check around at the sites you provided. One other thing I forgot to ask - people talk about having a refugium in their sumps; would a sump of this nature be able to provide that, or is it too small? I'm not sure I am ready for it inititally but it would be nice to get some equipment that I can grow into when I am ready. I definately plan on hiding my equipment in it.

Thanks again.

 

[ChrisRD]

If you go with a good in-sump skimmer I think you'll be out of room with that sump as far as a fuge goes. Not necessarily a problem though - there are plenty of great tanks out there with no fuge, so IMO, it's optional.

Using an old acrylic or glass tank (or any watertight, non-corrosive container really) for a sump and sticking a few baffles in it is really easy and considerably cheaper, but there's certainly nothing wrong with getting a nice sump like that if it's in your budget.

Check out this page - might be helpful:
http://www.melevsreef.com/

HTH