Re: Sump Question

[Bill Wichers <billw at waveform_net>]

>different type of setup and also bigger so I have to do some shopping first
>and that requires money, since it dosen't grow on any plant in my tank this
>may take some time.  Here's my quandry, I am running c02 (presurized) into

Much better to go it slow and make sure you have it right! Lots of
expertise here on the list to help you too.

>the
>co2 would be lost on the way back up to the tank from the sump, also is

You won't loose any real amount of CO2 on the way "back up" from the sump.
You'll loose some coming out from the surface of the water in the sump, as
you would in your show tank, but the hose on the way up will not be a
significant contributor to overall CO2 losses.

>there any equations on how big of a sump I will need.  I hope to have a
>large fish load and a even larger plant load so I would like filtration >that
>will be addiquite for both without haveing to sacrifice any lives(plant of
>fish).

I'm not aware of any equations here. The reefers have some rules of thumb,
but I don't think they really apply to freshwater setups in the same way.
Most seem to size the sump so as to accomodate all of their equipment with
a little spare room to work in. For me, I'm looking to use the sump to
propopgate some floating-type plants and maybe as a grow-out tank for fish.
In my setup, the sump doubles as extra tank space and is almost as large as
the main tank.

As long as your sump has room for all your submerged equipment you should
be OK. With a heavily planted tank a filter isn't really necassary IMHO,
and you'd be better off using extra sump space to grow more plants. You
could pick a plant like hornwort that is good at sucking up excess
nutrients if that is what you are concerned about.

     -Bill

*****************************
Waveform Technology
UNIX Systems Administrator