Good point about the fluidized bed filter duanes. A bit advanced for op at this stage in the game but definitely a good thing to add.
1st time sump opinions needed
- Thread starter jaws7777
- Start date
How how do we determin the water level in the sump ? Im guessing run the system with a low water level in the sump then simulate a loss of power, after the water drains use that level to decide how much more water to add to the sump....
As far as baffles no baffles is there a wrong way out of what e discussed sp far or just personal preferences
As far as baffles no baffles is there a wrong way out of what e discussed sp far or just personal preferences
A 1" loss in volume in the main tank is a high guess. so take your tank for in stench, so if your tank is 24 high and 125 then you do. Mide you width does have a role to play but this is a rule of thumb for most
125÷24= 5.21 gallon on the generous side for overflow in the sump
125÷24= 5.21 gallon on the generous side for overflow in the sump
so my tank 75gal would potentially overflow 2.28 gal back into the pump thx man
hob overflow boxes how many gph would I need also the pump too. is it as simple as matching both gph ? Don't I have to take into account the diameter of the pipe and head loss ?
cpr or eshopps ?
hob overflow boxes how many gph would I need also the pump too. is it as simple as matching both gph ? Don't I have to take into account the diameter of the pipe and head loss ?
cpr or eshopps ?
As far as overflow boxes go, I would always opt for overkill. That way if you ever decide you want more turnover ( perhaps at some point, a bigger pump) you have that option to upgrade, without buying both pump, and a new overflow box.
As far as brand I don't think it matters. I had both Eshopps and CPR, both worked well.
The only problem I had with CPR, is it needed help maintaining siphon with either a small suction pump, or what I ended up doing, attaching a venturi line to a powerhead in the tank, which constantly sucked air out of the overflow chamber, and the powerhead adding extra current within the tank.
My CPR was old, and the company may have new options by now.
Below is the CPR with an airline running from a powerhead venturi, pulling air from the CPR overflow.
I always liked overflow boxes with more than 1 overflow port to the sump, that way if one gets plugged you have some redundancy, and can use a larger pump.
My pumps usually were rated at minimum 1200gph, and more often than not, much larger.
And .....It is as simple as getting an overflow box rated to the amount or water your pump pumps. After its going, you can change sump depth by either adding more water to the system, or not. I always like my sumps more full than less, and ran them as full as possible without allowing for them to overflow if power went out.
Below is a sump with my typical depth preference
now the same sump during a waterchange.
You can see I walled off the pump a bit with porous filter block, to keep plants out of the intake (as you can see, it was a planted sump), but the walls were not permanent, and were easily lifted out.
During water changes the water level in the main tank would not change, just the level in the sump, I'd run it down to where the pump was almost sucking air (maybe 2" from the floor) and then instead of adding water to the main tank, new water was added to the sump. I did this because in winter my tap water would be super saturated with gases, and this allowed them to off gas before entering the main tank (preventing gas bubble embolism). And as you know I prefer doing about 30% water changes every day, so running the sump almost dry enabled me to do that volume of changes.
As far as brand I don't think it matters. I had both Eshopps and CPR, both worked well.
The only problem I had with CPR, is it needed help maintaining siphon with either a small suction pump, or what I ended up doing, attaching a venturi line to a powerhead in the tank, which constantly sucked air out of the overflow chamber, and the powerhead adding extra current within the tank.
My CPR was old, and the company may have new options by now.
Below is the CPR with an airline running from a powerhead venturi, pulling air from the CPR overflow.
I always liked overflow boxes with more than 1 overflow port to the sump, that way if one gets plugged you have some redundancy, and can use a larger pump.
My pumps usually were rated at minimum 1200gph, and more often than not, much larger.
And .....It is as simple as getting an overflow box rated to the amount or water your pump pumps. After its going, you can change sump depth by either adding more water to the system, or not. I always like my sumps more full than less, and ran them as full as possible without allowing for them to overflow if power went out.
Below is a sump with my typical depth preference
now the same sump during a waterchange.
You can see I walled off the pump a bit with porous filter block, to keep plants out of the intake (as you can see, it was a planted sump), but the walls were not permanent, and were easily lifted out.
During water changes the water level in the main tank would not change, just the level in the sump, I'd run it down to where the pump was almost sucking air (maybe 2" from the floor) and then instead of adding water to the main tank, new water was added to the sump. I did this because in winter my tap water would be super saturated with gases, and this allowed them to off gas before entering the main tank (preventing gas bubble embolism). And as you know I prefer doing about 30% water changes every day, so running the sump almost dry enabled me to do that volume of changes.
Jaws, given the inputs that others have provided, I think you have a general idea to get started with the sump itself. My in-laws have reef tanks and make their own acrylic sumps. Good or bad, I think that influenced my FW set-up, and I am a fan of chambers (I don't think there's a single approach). I find it easy for maintenance and no real issues.
My sump was bought and made based on what I wanted at the time (although I would have loved to have my in-laws help make one). IMO, go with the filter sock, chamber or not, include bio filter (I use old school bio balls LOL), have baffle/tray for sponge/filter floss. I have mine before the last chamber for return pump. Keep in mind that your actual sump will eventually be bigger right? So you could add an additional chamber for more bio/refugium/dedicated for equipment. It also helps to hold more water.
Below is a snapshot of my sump. PVC on the right are the drains. The horizontal PVC running overhead is the return as my return go back up the overflow (on the end of the tank). My 3rd drain/dry-stand runs directly to the pump chamber to make a splash (to get attention that I have a drain clogged). Once you confirm/decide on your overflow, we can run through how best/clean to run your plumbing. IMO, I would go with Herbie or Bean Animal, you can do it! We can discuss that in more detail later, including gate/ball valves, return pumps, options to avoid sump overflow using check-valve, siphon breaks and/or being able to accommodate all back flow if your return nozzles are close to the tank water surface.
My sump was bought and made based on what I wanted at the time (although I would have loved to have my in-laws help make one). IMO, go with the filter sock, chamber or not, include bio filter (I use old school bio balls LOL), have baffle/tray for sponge/filter floss. I have mine before the last chamber for return pump. Keep in mind that your actual sump will eventually be bigger right? So you could add an additional chamber for more bio/refugium/dedicated for equipment. It also helps to hold more water.
Below is a snapshot of my sump. PVC on the right are the drains. The horizontal PVC running overhead is the return as my return go back up the overflow (on the end of the tank). My 3rd drain/dry-stand runs directly to the pump chamber to make a splash (to get attention that I have a drain clogged). Once you confirm/decide on your overflow, we can run through how best/clean to run your plumbing. IMO, I would go with Herbie or Bean Animal, you can do it! We can discuss that in more detail later, including gate/ball valves, return pumps, options to avoid sump overflow using check-valve, siphon breaks and/or being able to accommodate all back flow if your return nozzles are close to the tank water surface.
My sump is designed like Woefulrelic's (minus the purigen and foam). When first setting it up I had concerns of the media being bypassed as well. After seeing the "waterfall" effect over the baffle between the mechanical and bio chambers I was convinced enough it wasn't an issue.
As far as max water level in the sump, after I had the system set up, I filled the sump all the way to the top when the pump was off. When I turned the pump back on, I marked where the water level was in the sump. Now if for any reason my water level goes above that mark with the pump on, I'm at risk for a flood.
As far as herbie or beananimal setups for first time sump users.... this is my first sump and I did a herbie style. I found it pretty straight forward once researching it a bit. The biggest thing for me was just making a decision on what style set up I wanted and then sticking with it and not second guessing my decision. With the research you're doing now and those already helping you, you'll be fine.
I agree with what others said about cheap media. I drank the Kool-aid and bought tons of sintered glass media some time ago. While I'm sure it has amazing amounts of surface area for bacteria to grow, at the end of the day it still just does the same thing cheaper options do.
As far as max water level in the sump, after I had the system set up, I filled the sump all the way to the top when the pump was off. When I turned the pump back on, I marked where the water level was in the sump. Now if for any reason my water level goes above that mark with the pump on, I'm at risk for a flood.
As far as herbie or beananimal setups for first time sump users.... this is my first sump and I did a herbie style. I found it pretty straight forward once researching it a bit. The biggest thing for me was just making a decision on what style set up I wanted and then sticking with it and not second guessing my decision. With the research you're doing now and those already helping you, you'll be fine.
I agree with what others said about cheap media. I drank the Kool-aid and bought tons of sintered glass media some time ago. While I'm sure it has amazing amounts of surface area for bacteria to grow, at the end of the day it still just does the same thing cheaper options do.