3 Low Cost, Low Tech Ways to Improve the Utility of your Aquarium Sump

An aquarium sump setup is a small tank or other vessel installed below your display aquarium used to house unsightly equipment and aid in the circulation and oxygenation of your aquarium water. Here are 3 low cost, low tech ways to improve the utility of your aquarium sump:

1) Add some macroalgae and an LED light to your aquarium sump

You can help naturally purify the saltwater in your tank by adding a clump of macroalgae and an inexpensive LED light. The macroalgae should grow rapidly and will strip impurities out of the water in the process. If you put your lights on a timer that works on the opposite schedule as your aquarium, you get the added benefit of balancing the normal pH swing aquariums face in the evening—the CO2 from photosynthesis will help prevent the pH from dropping at night.

Here is what you will need:

• Macroalgae, like chaetomorpha 
• Inexpensive LED light
• Timer

2) Add a sponge filter

Add a sponge filter—what am I, crazy? Who uses sponge filters in the saltwater aquarium hobby? I do. You know where? I use sponge filters in my quarantine tank. Yup. By keeping an extra sponge in my aquarium sump, that means I have a healthy, hearty biological filter that is ready for action. Then, the next time I impulse-buy something at the local fish store, I can set up that quarantine tank in a breeze. No stressful cycling required. If you want, you can even hook the sponge filter up to an air pump for additional oxygenation and filtration capacity in your tank.

Here is what you need:

• Sponge filter
• Optional: air pump – you don’t have this for the bacteria to colonize the sponge

3) Add some biopellets

Don’t have the time, energy or money to add a new reactor to your aquarium system? That doesn’t mean your tank can’t benefit from the addition of helpful media, like biopellets. You can give your aquarium a boost simply by sprinkling some reactor media, like biopellets into the sump.

Sure, biopellets in a properly functioning biopellet reactor will operate more efficiently and effectively than biopellets just sprinkled into your sump—because the reactor increases the contact surface area and time, therefore contributing more bang for the buck, but you can get some reasonable boost, simply by adding them to your sump.

Can you help add to this post?

Do you have any low cost, low tech ways to improve the utility of your aquarium sump? Please leave a comment below and let us know.