Dark Sump Animals - What do you have in yours?

dfwjr1973 · Monday at 12:11 PM

I am currently running a "dark sump" full of live rock and a Santa Monica Surf4x for Turf scrubbing. No mechanical filtration at all. So, tank water comes in and everything settles in the sump and I pump from the surface back to the tank...

If you are running a dark sump somewhat like this, do you have any animals living in it like snails, bristle worms, etc. (other than sponges)? I.e. something that thrives on the detritus and no light to help break down the stuff that comes in?

Thanks.

Lavey29 · Monday at 12:20 PM

Snails, pods, worms sponges in mine. Just the common critters that migrate to the sump zone. I run a fuge though.

exnisstech · Monday at 12:22 PM

On my newest build I'm running a similar set up but use socks before the cryptic area. Mine has a lot of bristle worms and pods along with sponges. I haven't thought to add anything I just let it populate naturally. Mine has only been running 10 months but it's full of old live rock that already had a lot of life.

Lavey29 · Monday at 12:28 PM

exnisstech said:
On my newest build I'm running a similar set up but use socks before the cryptic area. Mine has a lot of bristle worms and pods along with sponges. I haven't thought to add anything I just let it populate naturally. Mine has only been running 10 months but it's full of old live rock that already had a lot of life.

I dig this set up. What is the black box? Is there another chamber to the right with pump and heater?

Aquadude1 · Monday at 12:29 PM

Lavey29 said:
I dig this set up. What is the black box? Is there another chamber to the right with pump and heater?

I believe that's one of the santa monica algae scrubbers

Fish Fan · Monday at 12:30 PM

exnisstech said:
On my newest build I'm running a similar set up but use socks before the cryptic area. Mine has a lot of bristle worms and pods along with sponges. I haven't thought to add anything I just let it populate naturally. Mine has only been running 10 months but it's full of old live rock that already had a lot of life.

Was this rock dry rock initially, or did you use live rock that already had the sponges and other critters? Thanks in advance!

KrisReef · Monday at 12:45 PM

I just found a sponge that was growing in an uncirculated unheated styrofoam box. It has been abandoned there for a long time and I moved it to the sump.

exnisstech · Monday at 1:04 PM

Lavey29 said:
I dig this set up. What is the black box? Is there another chamber to the right with pump and heater?

As mentioned it is a surf 4. I love it. It was the only scrubber I could find that didn't have a bunch of light spill which I couldn't have because I planned to run a cryptic fuge. No more nori purchases. When I clean it I store the algae in a container and toss it in for the tangs several times a day. They suck it down like spaghetti

Its the stock sump that came with my WB 330. 7 and has 4 chambers not counting the back where the water flows into. I rearranged it a bit lately. I have a heater in the back chamber and the chamber where the ATS is. I added a klir di7 roller that I got on a super sale. I also moved some rock out to add a skimmer. The skimmer overflowed one day and all of my corals came to life and my rock flowers started spawning so I pulled the skimmer back out lol. This is the current state

Fish Fan said:
Was this rock dry rock initially, or did you use live rock that already had the sponges and other critters? Thanks in advance!

It was all rock from this tank that I broke down and moved everything out of. It had been running 8 years. Some was dry rock when started and became live but much of it was real ocean rock I bought when I started the hobby 9 years ago.

The display was started barebottom with all dry rock. My hopes were that having the live rock in the sump would help get me past the nuisance algae that usually comes with a dry rock start up but it's only been 10 months. I've been happy with the results so far. I'm more focused on the fish than coral in this tank so the rocks look bare but not covered in nuisance algae so I'm happy with the results.

That tank is my second time starting with a sump full of live rock with barebottom and dry rock in the DT. This tank is almost 2 years old and was started the same and I never had any nuisance algae to speak of.
I love me some live rock!

Fish Fan · Monday at 1:09 PM

exnisstech said:
As mentioned it is a surf 4. I love it. It was the only scrubber I could find that didn't have a bunch of light spill which I couldn't have because I planned to run a cryptic fuge. No more nori purchases. When I clean it I store the algae in a container and toss it in for the tangs several times a day. They suck it down like spaghetti

Its the stock sump that came with my WB 330. 7 and has 4 chambers not counting the back where the water flows into. I rearranged it a bit lately. I have a heater in the back chamber and the chamber where the ATS is. I added a klir di7 roller that I got on a super sale. I also moved some rock out to add a skimmer. The skimmer overflowed one day and all of my corals came to life and my rock flowers started spawning so I pulled the skimmer back out lol. This is the current state

It was all rock from this tank that I broke down and moved everything out of. It had been running 8 years. Some was dry rock when started and became live but much of it was real ocean rock I bought when I started the hobby 9 years ago.

The display was started barebottom with all dry rock. My hopes were that having the live rock in the sump would help get me past the nuisance algae that usually comes with a dry rock start up but it's only been 10 months. I've been happy with the results so far. I'm more focused on the fish than coral in this tank so the rocks look bare but not covered in nuisance algae so I'm happy with the results.

That tank is my second time starting with a sump full of live rock with barebottom and dry rock in the DT. This tank is almost 2 years old and was started the same and I never had any nuisance algae to speak of.
I love me some live rock!

Awesome results, thank you for your help!

As far as the ATS, I know you and VR love yours, but there's no chance that the "spaghetti" algae gets established in the display tank from feeding it to the Tangs?

And sounds like you now have a fleece roller and you said you use some socks before the cryptic section, so clearly you do use at least some mechanical; good to know.

Thanks again for your help!

BryanM · Monday at 1:10 PM

I don't knowingly run critters in my sump.

I also have a santa monica surf4, and therefore no light down there to speak of.

BryanM · Monday at 1:16 PM

Fish Fan said:
Awesome results, thank you for your help!

As far as the ATS, I know you and VR love yours, but there's no chance that the "spaghetti" algae gets established in the display tank from feeding it to the Tangs?

And sounds like you now have a fleece roller and you said you use some socks before the cryptic section, so clearly you do use at least some mechanical; good to know.

Thanks again for your help!

My very limited knowledge on the ATS basically is that it out competes the rest of the tank for growing algae.

I took a gamble and went this route due large to @VintageReefer's @ @exnisstech successes, and reading other peoples success stories as well.

I like keeping things simple if possible. I have a skimmer in the garage in case its needed for something, but I do not intend on using it.

fishyjoes · Monday at 1:24 PM

My sump has whatever critters have migrated there by themselves (bristle worms, some small snails).
I also move hermit crabs there when they get too big for the display (big enough that they start preying on the smaller hermit crabs)

exnisstech · Monday at 1:24 PM

Fish Fan said:
Awesome results, thank you for your help!

As far as the ATS, I know you and VR love yours, but there's no chance that the "spaghetti" algae gets established in the display tank from feeding it to the Tangs?

And sounds like you now have a fleece roller and you said you use some socks before the cryptic section, so clearly you do use at least some mechanical; good to know.

Thanks again for your help!

My tangs won't let the algae get established lol. VR explained that the algae won't grow in the DT because the conditions are not right for it. There is some pretty intense lighting inside the ATS which I'm pretty sure is why it won't grow in the DT. It makes sense to me and I've never seen any in the DT. I also feed it in the acro tank above and have not seen any signs of it growing in the DT.

Aquadude1 · Monday at 1:32 PM

I also have a santa Monica ats and really enjoy it. I've been doing skimmerless tanks for several years with cryptic areas. The ats has really helped knock out a few patches of persistent cyano.

Fish Fan · Monday at 1:48 PM

exnisstech said:
My tangs won't let the algae get established lol. VR explained that the algae won't grow in the DT because the conditions are not right for it. There is some pretty intense lighting inside the ATS which I'm pretty sure is why it won't grow in the DT. It makes sense to me and I've never seen any in the DT. I also feed it in the acro tank above and have not seen any signs of it growing in the DT.

Thank you again for your help!