Just starting construction on sump

[gatorracer]

OK be gentle here this is my first attempt at building a sump so I will let you know whats going on and I would love to get some advice from anyone that can help.

First the sump will be a 29 gallon tall. I will seperate it into three chambers. First is the inlet side about 8 inches wide with 2 eggcrate trays for charcoal bags or what ever. Baffled to about 2"inches from bottom to catch as many bubbles as possible. The middle will be a type of refegium with about 4" of live sand and some live rock rubble I have. The last chamber same as first for the submersible pump to pump back to the top.

Overflow box....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Acrylic-Overflow-Bo ... dZViewItem

Return pump....

Absolutely no Idea here any links or advice would be nice. Box is rated at 600gph.

Any other things I might be missing would be appreciated. I would love to see some pics if you have a good way to post them and show me what you like or dont like about yours.

I got some black plastic in the bottom of my stand and glued it in about 4 inches up so if for some reason my math is bad( :lol: ) then the water will fill in the plastic and not on the carpeted floor.

I guess my last question is when you return the water to the tank do you use that return as a power head? I thought about just drilling a few holes where I wanted them in a piece of PVC to direct flow. Just wondering what other people are doing.

Thanks in advance.

Gatorracer

 

[Anonymous]

Return pump....

PondMaster AKA MagDrive pumps are perfect for this scenario.

I've done a LOT of experimenting with DSBs and I think the surface area you've left for your DSB is too small to maintain an adequate diversity of critters. I'd suggest going with a Shallow bed of about 1/2". This will give you most of the benefits of a DSB except for denitrification. Just my opinion though.

The backup plastic in the sump is an excellent idea. Make sure all electronics are above the flood zone though.

Using drilled PVC for the return is fine, just don't restrict the flow too much. Getting a slightly oversized pump (800gph) will give you more options for the return. Just make sure you have a valve so you can throttle back the pump if need be. It also allows the pump to be removed easier for maintenance.

I'm an advocate of having redundant overflows in case one loses siphon but it's a big expense. Weight it against the cost of cleaning your carpet I guess.

 

[gatorracer]

Thanks for the advice guy.....

The DSB idea is new to me. I guess I could probably go that route it would save me about 40 bucks in sand. I have a HOB refegium now with a 4" sand bed and I see lots of critters all the way down to the bottom after six months in use. I though I would try to recreate that area below but what you say makes some sense.

I planned on putting a ball valve after the pump but your suggestion on using it to throttle back seems a little sketchy. I work in the motor grader business and behind all the pumps you cant restrict flow because you end up cavitating the pump and shorting the life considerably by putting back-pressure into the pump. All though with no experience in this matter I will take what you said into consideration.

Obviously up here in South Dakota we have mostly farm implement stores for our PVC and supplies. Yesterday after work I went to start buying what I needed. I saw some plastic nozzles used for ag sprayers rated a 4 different levels. I thought it might be an idea to use these nozzles in a few spots on the return line. They would act much like a power head would.

I was hoping to get some more opinions on this and I dont want to sound unappreciative GUY, but any one else out there got any suggestions? Or maybe Guy was right on and everyone agrees with him? :wink:

 

[Rob Top]

Put a vavle in, it wont hurt the pump at all. These pumps are designed to handle some back pressur, just never put a valve before the pump. Ball valves are the easiest to come by and the cheapest, but gate vavles are the best for fine tuning flow. You more than likely don't need fine tuning in this application, just something to adjust flow with. It is also a good idea to put a union in there. Makes pump removale very easy. Are you planning on using spacers between your baffles? a pcs of acrylic gluded to bothe sides of the tank, before and after the baffle not only makes the construction easier, but the baffles stronger against the pressure of the water flow.

 

[Anonymous]

I was hoping to get some more opinions on this and I dont want to sound unappreciative GUY, but any one else out there got any suggestions? Or maybe Guy was right on and everyone agrees with him? :wink:

I agree with you completely, more opinions are always better. Especially in this hobby.

 

[Tink25]

Not a big fan of CPR or the knockoff pre-filters. Too many issues with them, and who wants to listen to a pump humming while keeping them going?

If Lifereef is out of the picture due to cost, I'd go with a u-tube pre-filter like this one below: I've used it for a year now - no problems, and silent. Not a Durso - but the siphon box cover helps combat salt creep which was a big problem for me early on.

http://store.hurricanefilters.com/quprov1.html

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah. on my 20 I have my return pump going through a sqwd and into two places at the back of my tank. That's the only flow I have.

I have a small area sectioned off for a fuge in my sump. That way the whole flow of the tank isn't going through the fuge. In my sump it's actually fed from a mj 400 sitting in the sump. I can't remember the last time I cleaned it.

B