sump details

The latest technology in saltwater aquarium keeping tells us, the best filtration for marine lives in an enclosed system is not achieved mainly through mechanical screening or chemical neutralization, but through ecological balancing of bio organism in diversity that resembles the great nature. By providing basic elements of natural habitats of thriving marine communities, with an adapting structure of living environment, you establish a life mechanism to work by itself. We put this new technology to test in our research facilities starting in the beginning of 2005. The reported results were so convincing that we determined to launch Aqua Vim's Eco-smart Sump Filter series and make them available to Aqua Vim's Ocean View, Star View, and Moon View aquarium owners, so that Aqua Vim customers can enjoy the goodness this system brings.

Traditional wet-dry filters are widely considered the best solution to ammonia and nitrite, the two substances toxic to fish and corals. The problem is, wet-dry filters mainly work, not by erasing, but by converting ammonia and nitrite, into nitrate, through a natural process known as the nitrogen cycle. Nitrate is less toxic to fish but harmful to corals.

Aqua Vim’s Eco-smart sump is the best filtration system on the market that successfully combines both wet-dry and ecological filtering technologies, that gives the users freedom of adjusting their firing targets - either ammonia/nitrite, or nitrate, or both, according to their needs, by simply raising, lowering, or removing the bio balls in the media chamber. - Knowing bio balls works harder when exposed to air, you elevate their level of placement in the media room when you have more ammonia/nitrite in water (often found in immature aquariums), and submerge them partially or completely into water as you find less ammonia/nitrite and more nitrate.

Aqua Vim’s Eco-smart Sump system works the best for aquariums with corals when used with refugium mud and micro algae plants. Caulerpa, available in many aquarium stores, is a micro algae plant known to consume nitrate. You can also use mangrove, shaving brush, halimeda. These plants turn nitrate into gas, which evaporates into the air. A lighting fixture, preferably being kept on all time, is needed by caulerpa plants.

Aqua Vim's 3rd version Eco-Smart Sump includes improved features, specially in the refugium room. The refugium room takes water in a very slow flow pattern through a small hole, before nutrients in water are taken away by any skimmer you may have. - You can insert a air tubing through the hole and hatch your bring shrimp in the room; you can keep small animals there separate from large predators of your main tank, and you can place live plants, live rocks, and multiply micro organism there in this isolated little world but automatically supply your main tank animals with these live food as they grow.

Unlike traditional wet-dry filter, a protein skimmer is not required with Aqua Vim Eco-Smart Sump system if you apply the above methods and developed an ecological balance in your aquarium system. In fact, a protein skimmer that is too powerful would "eat up" too much nutrients, curbing the reproduction and growth of microorganism that are beneficial to fish and corals. Unfortunately, most people overfeed their pets, producing too much organic wastes than the system can handle through natural means, thus comes the need of skimmer. The purpose of protein skimmer, however, should not be to remove all, but excessive nutrients, in aquarium water.

UV sterilizer is not required either. If you want to use it to curb algae, you don't want it to overkill. A UV light too powerful can kill some good microorganism, even corals. The natural way to curb algae is by putting algae eaters like snails, hermit crabs, and blenny fish, sea stars, urchins, etc., into your aquarium.

Installation of Aqua Vim Eco-smart Sump:

Install pipe sets in the overflow box first, before install sump.

First, identify which chamber of the sump tank will receive the drain pipe (bigger pipe) from main tank. - This is the room usually with a black thick sponge that has a hole in the middle.

Water flows from the drain chamber first to wet-dry chamber, then to refugium/skimmer room(s). The last chamber water reaches is the main pump chamber. - This is where the filtered water being pumped back up into the main tank.

Most the PVC pipes provided are longer than actually needed - you may need to cut to fit and this can be done easily with a hacksaw.

Use included white tapes on threaded males. Use PVC glue only if you have to - you want to be sure you can undo your work and change later if they don't fit. If you want to use a 45 degree elbow instead of 90 degree one, if you believe a flexible hose is easier to work with than a hard PVC, or if you prefer to use an adapter to reduce the outlet or inlet size, get from Home Depot - our plumbing sets are standard and fitting parts are easy to find on the market.

We might have given you hard PVC pipes to replace the flexible hose shown in these drawings - both of them work fine.

Installation:

1). Hook up the tubing with protein skimmer and its pumps. Connect any other equipment you may want to use, such as a chiller. Most people don't use a sump cover for easier access. If your sump is our earlier version that comes with acrylic cover, you can use it or leave it.

2). Use included PVC tubing, elbows, adapters, joint coupler, and hose, to do the following:

a). Return pipe connection: Our 3/4" main pump comes with a separate adapter that you can screw on the pump outlet. Our SuperQuiet pump has a 1" outlet that can be used with both 3/4" and 1" adapters included. The adapter fits straight to a 1" PVC pipe that has a blue insert sleeve inside (You may also be able to use a slip/thread coupler to screw directly onto the SuperQuiet pump outlet). This PVC pipe connect to a joint (a 2-part threaded coupler that connects two ends of PVC pipes. The other end of PVC pipe connects an elbow, than another PVC pipe that connects to another elbow that connect to an adapter that screws into the bulkhead at the bottom of the main tank.

b). Drainage pipe connection: From the bigger bulkhead coming out of main tank bottom, first part to used is an PVC adapter that you screw into the bulkhead, then a PVC pipe that can be connected with elbow and another PVC pipe, than another elbow, than another PVC pipe, to reach its drain chamber.

3). After pipe connections, you are ready to setup the sump filter:

4). Open the drip plate, and set the media rack to the level you want, then put in large bio balls or any other media you want. We suggest, you set the rack on high level if all your water and live rocks are new, or if you keep fish only. If you will keep both fish and corals, you can lower the rack to middle level after water with live rocks has been cycled for 3 months. You can lower the rack to the bottom and completely submerge the bio balls in water if you keep mainly corals. Remember: Exposing all the bio ball in the air maximizes the wet-dry filter's ammonia/nitrite-breaking power, and submerging the bio ball in water lets the ecological system take over the work on nitrate reduction.

5). (This is only for sump version 1 that has a screen wall.) Insert screen walls, put small bio balls into the wall. Cover the balls with the included glass cover. You may also use sponge-like filtering pad. This is to stop live plants getting into the pump room.

6). Put in refugium mud, or "Miracle mud", into refugium room, ideally to 3 ~ 4 inch thick.

7). Fill the sump with water, until the refugium room is half full. Then put in plants.

8). Water level: The water level in the sump can be between the level that your pump start pumping tiny air bubbles into the main tank, and the level where there is enough extra room to hold water coming down from the main tank after you stop you pump.

9). Skimmer. When you purchase skimmer from us, rest assured the skimmer we recommend will fit the space in the sump in the stand. If you buy skimmer from other source, please tell us the foot print and height of your skimmer and its pump, so we can be sure your skimmer will fit in our sump and stand.

Aqua Vim Eco-smart Sump combo version 1

Installation of Aqua Vim Eco-smart Sump combo version 2:

Following all instruction above, except, skip step 5.

Eco-smart Sump combo version 2 (skimmer not included)

Eco-Smart Sump Filter version 3 (skimmer and sump light not included)