Life rocks in sump

[hfabs]

Hihi

Is it necessary and beneficial to place some life rocks in the sump? If it is, which compartments in the sump should those rocks be placed: at the compartment where the skimmer is or at the compartment where the return pump that pumps the water back to the tank is (i.e. outlet)?

Thank you in advance for all suggestions and advice.

[riveria]

haha.. i was just googling about these topics today. no decisive thoughts yet:

points i gathered:

1. LR must be fully submerged

2. LR should be away from first compartment where water trickle, too much oxygen for anerobic bacteria

other masters can advise more.

[cdckjn]

I would have the sump divided into three areas.

1st the return area, where the water comes in from the main tank. Some people has mechanical filter here like sponges or filters to remove most of the dirt.

2nd normally can be split into two sub-areas, A) the skimmer area where the skimmed water goes into the 3rd area.

there can be a refugium or deep sand area where you can put the live rocks here. This area can be an area where you encourage growth of macroalage for nutrient removal etc.

3rd area is the pump back to main tank.

[hfabs]

Riveria@ Thanks, perhaps I shd also google for info.

cdckjn@ My sump has 4 compartments in the same sequence as you have mentioned. The problem is if i put the rocks in the refugium, the water level will not be high enough to cover the LR unless I get real small pieces of LR, made difficult by 6 inches sand bed in the refugium. Thanks

[straydum]

if you only have space for a very small amount of rocks in your sump then my take is don't have them in the first place. why not use the space to hold things like macro algae?

[hfabs]

Straydum@ as you have rightly pointed out, I have loads of macro algae thingy in my refugium. My intension is to have LR in addition to macro algae. Thanks