Eshopps Sump setup

[marcaurellius]

So, I bought a 260 from a friend who got it on Craigslist but never set it up. It came with this discontinued sump that I can’t find much info on. I’ve had it sitting outside a couple weeks, with glass covering the two middle sections and this is kind of how the water settled.

Long story short, I understand the water comes in the small chamber on the left, flows through the two 9” bag filters that are ridiculously expensive and hard to find, then over to the center, but what is the right side chamber for? Only thing I can think of would be auto top off reservoir? Nobody would have a link to a manual, would they?

I’m also making an assumption that the return pump would go in the chamber that is nearly empty?
Thanks for any help or info in advance.

 

[marcaurellius]

Never mind. Figured out it’s a royale premier and the last chamber is for ato/probes/heaters etc… although I don’t quite get putting a heater or probes in there since it doesn’t mix with the other chambers. I’ll probably use it for the top off.

 

[duanes]

You can put heaters, and other stuff where ever you want.
The most important consideration with heaters, is keeping them submerged, so they don't burn out.



I would put heaters horizontally wherever they'd fit, in both shots above.
Same with the pump (although I try to put pumps after all filtration) the most important factor is not letting them suck air (the chamber needs to keep the pump intake submerged).
So I run sumps fairly full, and find shallow sumps, with varying depths in the chambers, an accident waiting to happen as far as burning out equipment goes.
In truth, I find "chambers" in sumps of limited, or no real value at all, and a pain in the arse to negotiate around when doing maintenance.
After years of using and experimenting with different sump configurations, below is my 125 gal sump below today.

The only chamber of sorts, is on the left, where the pump (and a little bio-media) is separated from the planted section, by a wall of Porrett foam.
For me, keeping the "aerobic" beneficial bacteria in bio-media well oxygenated is much more important for its functionality than its mass, so I have water cascading on both ends of the 6 ft refugium.