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A sump?

Joined
Jan 6, 2003
Messages
476
Lately, iv been looking at numerous equipment lists on the internet fro keeping a pet octopus...and god......there all different from one another.
Some are 2,000 dollars all together, and others are cheaper. And most of them require much, much, much more stuff than the equipment list shown on this site. Is that normal, or...is it just excess stuff you dont really need unless your serious??
Iv seen "sumps" a lot on equipment lists for octopus but not on the equipment list here. What's a SUMP? and what's the purpose of it? What will happen if I dont use a sump?
And what will happen if I ONLY use the equipment I see on this site?
Tank
Aquarium Hood
r/o water
aquarium salt
hydrometer
live sand
filter
Protien Skimmer
Test kits
heaters
chillers
air pump
lighting
thermometer

if I use ONLY THESE SUPPLIES including coral and rocks...will an octopus survive or do I POSITIVELY 100% need a SUMP?

ThanX you guys. This is the best octopus forum for keeping an octopus in captivity.

note: My grandpa and my family used to think it was illegal to keep octopuses in captivity...lol...I guess there wrong.
 
Armstrong, how are you doing?

Well, that list pretty much covers it all. yes you could fork out several grand and have an all singing all dancing aquarium with all the bells and whistles or why not make it easy on yourself?
The list covers the essentials and if you shop around you should be able to find a good deal...

Being serious isnt the issue, its just how much you can afford... A bare bones sytem at about 50gals could cost as little as a couple hundred. The more specialist equipment you get the easier the husbandry. Obviously there are some things you just cant do without.

Sumps are not a neccessity but they can make your life so much easier... this is a great place to put all the equipment liek filters and heaters where an octopus cant get to them. It also can make a 50 gal tank into a 70 gal tank if your sump holds 20 gals... that makes it easier to keep an octopus too.

If you dont use a sump you will have all the equipment in beside your octo, the water volume will be smaller... you can also set up a refugium in your sump...

does that help?
 
hi armstrong - i was similar to you when i started looking on the internet. There was lots of talk about sumps and every article assumes you know what it is.

A sump is another, usually smaller, tank which is in the cabinet underneath your main tank. The water runs down out of the main tank through a drilled hole, through a pipe into this 'sump' tank where it runs through a filter media (your choice) then the water passes through a pump back into the main tank.

The reason for having a sump is to make the water volume large to make water quality managable, to provide good filtration, to hide equipment such as skimmers and uv sterilisers, and for water movement.

Hope that helped.

COLLIN>>> is a refugium or whatever a nusery tank or something? :?:
 
Hi Oscar

A refugium (sorry, should have explained) is like attaching a 'safe place' aquarium, a refuge for all the small beasties that can help a tank without them getting disturbed...

EG your sump could have section set up like a mini tank with sand, live rock and caulerpa. This refuge means that there are n fish or other predators that can eat the beneficial beasts like copepods, amphipods and yiy could rgularly harvest the caulerpa which is a way to remove nitrates and phosphates.


here is a pic of a refugium set up...http://www.paulandtres.com/albums/aqnov2003/refugium_side_view.sized.jpg the large tank is using the smaller refugium as a type of filter...

A google search on refugium should offer a lot more detail
 
ThanX so much guys. And Colin, im doing good I suppose. Im still obsessed with Octopuses, lol...

I just recently watched this show on animal planet called "WORLD GONE WILD"....and it featured almost 20 minutes about a Giant pacific Octopus.
But the coolest part was when this female marine biologist woman goes hunting for an octopus with this expert marine guy....

They both walk on a feild of moss....the land is DRY!!! and the guys saying "yea...we may find the octopus somewere around here if you can see any remains of a trail of shellfish shells discarded".....I was like "WHAT????" How can they be living in a DRY FEILD OF MOSS AND ROCKS???? lol...of course its near the ocean, but still...dry as anything.
Then suddenly, the guy starts following a trail of shellfish that are dead, and then finally start poking a hole in this little tiny, tiny cave. The cave under moss rocks had only like...a puddle of water...thats it! lol. And then finally...after poking the stick in the hole for a while, a LONG 3 foot red tentacles starts coming out of the SMALL hole very slimy and slowly. Then another tentacle comes out. Then another...and then finally afterwords, the red mantle slowly squeezed out of the hole and you then see the Octopus dragging itself slimy reddish all over the mossy, rocky land. The woman goes to the octopus, and picks it up. She was like "omg...its sooooooo heavy, I have octopus slime all over my hands". lol...
I wish I could have been the one touching it. It was BIG one....very big. The arms were like 3 feet long or more. And very, very incredible looking octopus. She places the octopus in this little bucket. Then they go to Alaska sealife center, to weigh it and stuff...and then finally go back to its home and release the octopus back into its den before the tide washes in.
The octopus jets away.

I loved that part, it was soo cool.

But thanks for the help guys on the sump! So an octopus CAN easily survive with all the materials I listed???
 
Whether you need a heater or a chiller will depend on where you live, how you heat and cool your house, and what species of octopus you keep.

Also, my sump is sold as a wet-dry filter, but it is actually a small tank with room for a protein skimmer, main pump and a bit more.

Nancy
 

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