crazypants
Community Member
Hi all! I’m getting back into the hobby! Even though the 13.5 is an AIO, I wanted to add a sump for additional water volume and filtration. I had a couple of 10 gallons hanging around so I set one up with an Amazon sump baffle kit. I looked into all kinds of over-glass U-shaped siphon designs and decided I’m gonna learn how to drill glass. Well, turns out it’s not that difficult, so I’ve drilled two holes in the tank and two holes in the lids of my phyto/pod jars
Anyway I’ve always wanted a bare bottom display so I went that route, with the plan to make a diverse refugium. I’ve repurposed the AIO area a bit, with the first chamber holding the main heater, and the third chamber running the stock pump as additional flow, through a new hole that I drilled in the separator plate. The middle chamber has the original filter media and tbh I don’t know if I’ll change that later, or just leave that alone.
Heading toward the sump, I made a 1/2in durso standpipe that terminates into flex tube. This drains into a filter sock on a bracket in the sump first chamber. I also added a bunch of filter media logs in that chamber for bacteria n stuff. Second chamber is the refugium. I added live sand, a bunch of shells and rocks I collected from the beach last year, a small piece of driftwood and caulerpa prolifera. Third chamber is just the pump, but I have ideas for later. The pump is a syncra 1.5. The return line comes into the tank via the other hole in the glass, and is piped out into the display area through the original pump outlet hole in the divider plate.
The phyto/pod jars are lit by the fuge light and can drain into the sump when I send the secondary tube into the water and force all airflow into one jar. It works great!
All the stuff is controlled by Kasa and alexa. I can tell Alexa to turn off/on this or that on demand. It’s super useful when your hands are wet or you’re holding something and realize you need the pumps off, like, immediately!
The tank is still pretty young in its development, so I’ve got the typical diatoms and such of various colors showing up. The sump is the main focus, with red dust in a few spots on the sand. I have some yellow here and there on the rocks in the display, and some brown on the sand, but it’s not very obvious or overwhelming.
The corals were sold to me at a discount since the owner was hooking me up for first build, and that was sweet! I got a Xenia, a simpodium, a blue dot mushroom, and some mystery critter that could be GSP, but not sure because it’s so tiny.
Thanks! More to come later!
Anyway I’ve always wanted a bare bottom display so I went that route, with the plan to make a diverse refugium. I’ve repurposed the AIO area a bit, with the first chamber holding the main heater, and the third chamber running the stock pump as additional flow, through a new hole that I drilled in the separator plate. The middle chamber has the original filter media and tbh I don’t know if I’ll change that later, or just leave that alone.
Heading toward the sump, I made a 1/2in durso standpipe that terminates into flex tube. This drains into a filter sock on a bracket in the sump first chamber. I also added a bunch of filter media logs in that chamber for bacteria n stuff. Second chamber is the refugium. I added live sand, a bunch of shells and rocks I collected from the beach last year, a small piece of driftwood and caulerpa prolifera. Third chamber is just the pump, but I have ideas for later. The pump is a syncra 1.5. The return line comes into the tank via the other hole in the glass, and is piped out into the display area through the original pump outlet hole in the divider plate.
The phyto/pod jars are lit by the fuge light and can drain into the sump when I send the secondary tube into the water and force all airflow into one jar. It works great!
All the stuff is controlled by Kasa and alexa. I can tell Alexa to turn off/on this or that on demand. It’s super useful when your hands are wet or you’re holding something and realize you need the pumps off, like, immediately!
The tank is still pretty young in its development, so I’ve got the typical diatoms and such of various colors showing up. The sump is the main focus, with red dust in a few spots on the sand. I have some yellow here and there on the rocks in the display, and some brown on the sand, but it’s not very obvious or overwhelming.
The corals were sold to me at a discount since the owner was hooking me up for first build, and that was sweet! I got a Xenia, a simpodium, a blue dot mushroom, and some mystery critter that could be GSP, but not sure because it’s so tiny.
Thanks! More to come later!
