rock in sump. good/bad?

[commabc]

i have a good amount of rock in my display already, maybe 80lbs or so. my fuge is a seperate 29g then my sump wich is 20L. my fuge is completely full of rock, minus space for a 4-5 inc sand bed. i took as much rock out of the fuge as possible that would fit into my sump, so i would have more room for chaeto growth. so now my fuge is about half filled with rock leaving a really good amount of room for chaeto. my sump now has a skimmer surrounded by rock and a pump for calcium reactor and phosban reactors, 2 baffles with rock rubble in between and then only my return pump on the other side of baffles. is the rock in the sump a bad idea, is it going to trap to much stuff (dirt, sand, etc..) on the bottom. would it be more bennificial to take the rock out in the sump so the water volume is greater by maybe... what a gallon or two??

[cybrsufr]

IMHO I think it is a great addition to the sump/fuge. The rock provides a greater surface area in the system for the bacterial colonies to grow. More bacteria + more stable system. This is the same reason some people used to or still use the BioBalls in the sumps. In my current systems I have about 7-10 pounds of live rock rubble in my fuges and about 2 inches of sand.

<b><font size="3"><font color="sienna">WreckDiver</font> </b>
<i><font size="1"><font color="teal">aka: CyBrSuFr</font> </font> </i> <br>
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[Charlie Davidson]

Most of the liverock in my system is in the slump :thumbsup:

[commabc]

good stuff!

[snodine]

Might there be an issue with the rock compressing the sand and causing problems with sand-sifters and/or other "critters"?

[phurst]

I have rock in my sump, and the only thing that bothers me is I have to move it around/out to give the sump a good clean. The rock seems to trap detritus to a degree.

[twon8]

ive got rock in all my sumps

[westcoastreef]

Its good for the filtration, also if you want to attach any lose coral to anything, you can either break off a small piece of rock, or just pull one from your sump. The more rock the better is how most people would say it.

[Hopeful Reefer]

I have rock in my sump, but only in the refugium part. Even still though, this still adds a fair amount of rock to the system for bacteria to colonize...