new to salt...some questions please

[theangrycrab]

I have much experience in freshwater, but I am new to salt. I have been practicing with a nanocube and everything has been great and learning quickly. i am setting up
70 oceanic reef ready
20 long DIY sump

some questions...How do i know how big the first compartment should be in the sump, and does anyone put skimmer in the first compartment? I have researched until my eyes are bleeding and just need some advise from experts from MAAST.

the weird question...
Also, I have live rock and just need live sand. I do have a huge container of live sand that has now dried out. Now the more unusual situation...it wasn't covered and a cat peed in it because i was cleaning his litter box. Is this live sand useless, or can it it be cleaned?

Thank you and looking forward to MAAST.

[MissT]

First off, Welcome to MAAST!

I would probably ditch the pee sand. It's not worth always wondering if, when something goes wrong, that was it.

The drain chamber of the sump can be as narrow as you like, but I would put a baffle between the drain area and the skimmer area, then do a bubble trap going to the return section.

[theangrycrab]

ok, where the mag drive is as narrow as i want, should i put the first compartment with a filter of some sort to catch the large things? then have a baffle, 2nd compartment is the skimmer, then baffle to drain?

thank you so much for your help...i will ditch the pee sand.

[theangrycrab]

ok, i think i got it...should i put baffle between drain area and skimmer area?

and where should i put live rock?

thank you thank you

[MKCindy]

http://www.melevsreef.com/links.html

This is a wonderful site for sump ideas. I used it to redesign mine a little and add extra baffling.
I put live rock rubble in the first chamber. Skimmer in second or third if you have room. Baffling can be used for filtering, and a bubble trap.

[MissT]

yeah, baffle between drains and skimmer, and triple them up between the skimmer and return