# planted sump/refugium...whatever you want to call it



## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

I was discussing my sump plans with a friend of mine who has a lot of planted tanks...
my initial design was this....








(substrate would be fluorite, and circles beneath the ceramic rings are air bars)

He suggested something more along this line...








He thought the plants and fluorite would make use of the debris....

What are your thoughts? I am using the planted area to soak up some nitrates and to give plants a place to grow before placing them into the main tank.


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## CrypticLifeStyle (Dec 14, 2009)

How deep are you making the substrate?


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

the section would be about 28x12" and I was going to use 2 20lb bags of fluorite, so 3"?


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## b3w4r3 (Dec 14, 2012)

I think the plants before the bio is good, but I would run some mechanical media before the plants. The idea that the plants would benefit from the debris is fine in theory, but they need the waste to be broken down by decay before that happens. At that point it's just adding to the bio load so it's better to trap it in filter pads so it can be removed. Plants will consume ammonia which will help keep the nitrate levels lower. They will use nitrate too, but they prefer ammonia. You could make the last chamber a wet/dry trickle area instead of the ceramic rings for added efficiency.


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## ParrotKeeper (Feb 27, 2011)

I like your friends approach better. You can think about some low/medium light plants, also some snails and shrimps to take care of any food debris from the main tank.

Kiran


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## CrypticLifeStyle (Dec 14, 2009)

Your friends idea definitely however i would add a mechanical filtration option before plants. That will cut away on your debris issue, allow the plants first dibs on nitrates, and other trace elements, then give the biological media the rest to have on its way out. Instead of the baffles on the side, have you though about maybe putting it all in the back? I've seen a lot of saltwater guys make baffles chambers in the back of 10 gallon tanks to hide all the filtering, and pumps, then you have the whole front view areas for the plants.


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