Looking for some sump advice

[Bean Jonkus]

Hi all, I recently acquired a 360 gallon acrylic tank with 2 overflows. I have never had a sump before and was wondering if I could get some help and maybe sent in the right direction!
I know a bit about them but not much, I have no idea where to start. I am going to be doing A freshwater setup. TIA

 

[Dégatdeau]

From my experience, bigger is better, no need to overcomplicate things with useless baffles, two small pumps are better than one big pump, aim for 5x turnover and circulate waterin the tank with powerheads.

 

[duanes]

Pump size and strength have more to do with the type fish you are keeping, than a generic formula.

If you are keepiong slack water species (most Anabantids, anglefish, severums) they will require less water flow than rheophiles.

I keep rheophillic species (such as Geophagus, Tomocichla, African Tiger fish) that require heavy current, and lots of extra oxygenation to stay healthy, so use stronger pumps.
In the sump of my 180 gal tank, I use a single pump with a minimum 1500 gph, and a couple wave makes on top of that.

I agree baffles are mostly just for show, and cramming a sump with excess media, doesn't accompmlish more, because the bacterialpopulatioin is based on fish load (nutrients produced) thanamount of media.

For my 125 gal sump about 10% is used for bio-media, another 10% for mechanical media, and the rest (80%) is used for live plants.
In this system I always have 0.00 ammonia, 0.00 nitrite, and undetectable nitrate, which are my goals for the sump..

The sump above.
By the way a sump can be placed anywhere, the traditional ways is under the tank, but..
I place the sump beside the tank, where it takes advantage of sunlight for the plants, and also provides easy access for maintanence
I hate having a sump crammed under a tank, where access for maintanence is difficult.
In fact a sump can be placed on a another floor, below, to keep maintainence in a more conducive area.

above.... main tank left (in the shade) ......sump right to take advantage of the sun, and have easy access for maintenance without contoring or bending down.
In truth a sump is just a water filled box to place media and equipment in, same as a HOB or canister, just bigger, more easily accessed, and more efficient.
It can be what ever concept you dream up, there is no one way or the other.
Some people use baffles, some don't (I don't), some people cram the sump with Bio-media, (I see no need) and my water parameters proove that.
Some peopke place equiment such as heaters, pupmps, etc in the sump ou.t of line of sight.

Some people us the sump as a refugium for other critters tha might be eaten in sumps to aid in break down of organics.
I employ a population of shrimp, snails, and small algae eaters in the sump, to aid in the filtration process.

 

[Dégatdeau]

Pump size and strength have more to do with the type fish you are keeping, than a generic formula.

I agree, I just meant that it's not worth buying an enormous pump for a sump as there is not benefit passing 2500gph through it. You can achieve good circulation in the tank for the species you keep with wavemakers or powerheads

 

[jjohnwm]

I think that one of most overlooked aspects of sumps is making sure that your sump can contain all of the water that drains down from the main tank in the event of a power outage. This becomes even more of a concern when a new "sumper" (can I patent that term?) falls for the modern trend of endless partitions and compartments and bypasses. Most of these are useless or even counterproductive; they only reduce the flexibility of the sump to changes and mods and improvements as your needs and experience dictate.

But the biggest problem is that they can result in a final chamber, the pump chamber in which the return pump sits, that is so small that it has very little capacity to handle overflows. The power goes out, the pump stops, 10 or 20 or more gallons flow down from the main tank before it drains to the level of its overflow...but the pump chamber has so little reserve space that much of that water overflows the sump and lands on the floor.

The pump chamber is also the only place where water level rises and falls due to evaporation, addition or removal of large rocks or pieces of decor, etc. If you have a big main tank, perhaps even without a cover, you have evaporation over a large surface area...but the tank itself remains full at all times. It's that tiny pump chamber where the level will fall, sometimes quickly enough to starve the pump in very few days. This should be...and is...obvious. It's also amazingly easy to overlook...at least once.

Long and short of it: plan your sump design carefully...think everything through and test your plan...don't assume that buying a commercial sump means you are getting a good design...and expect to spend some time fiddling and adjusting to get things running just right. Embrace the KISS principle.

Good luck! You look like you have tons of room for a nice big sump; you will love it. It's the best choice by far for most tanks, IMHO.

 

[duanes]

Agree with the above fro John, and also
Sumps with partitions (esecially) on the the pump side, end up with tiny amounts of water in the chamber, that allow the pump to easily go dry and burn up, if there is a blockage in the tanks overflow.
When 1st moving to Panama, I ended up with the tiny sump below, as part of the deal.
As you can see i like to run my sumps as full as I can.

So as soon as possible I ditched the little wimpy sump above, to replace it with 125 gal below, and it occasionally overflows when it rains, but under normal circumstances, the way I have overflow ports on the tank situated, that doesn't happen.


As you can see I use a redundant emergency overflow to catch any blockage, or pump stoppage that could cause spillage.
If water reaches the hole in the continuous PVC overflow, it sends excess (in my case to the garden) in a house to a catch basin.

All things to consider when employing a sump.
Sometimes all it takes is some debris, or even a critter to cause a blockage, and you can end up with a flood.