How the hell does one build a Sump/Refugium?

[scifi_3d_zoo]

You mean the water coming from your tank goes into a carbon chamber?

I found a couple of other odd tank sizes I'm gonna try and see if they fit. I need more space. I only have 47" total in there.. .don't know what I would be able to get in there. But I could have a 24" W and a 20" tank and drill holes in both and connect them. I guess I could put the return area in the middle then. Just a thought but more complex. I guess a seal wouldn't break if you used flexible hose between them and hard pvc bulkheads. I was thinking pvc everywhere or something .. and if it got moved too much it could break your seal. I'm very cautious about leaks and floods.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

To squeeze the biggest sump I can in my stand I've thought about using 2 separate tanks since I can only fit something 30" wide or so through my doors. Then just bulkhead them together to make one big sump.

So that's an option but it raises another question. Why do you need ATO anyway? What if you just make one return area and ATO into one single tank instead of both? Is there some advantage? For a long time I've been pouring 5 gal into my return area to fill it up and only recently did somebody say that it might not be good for pH do sump that much all at once into a 90gal tank. Is that true?? I was told using RO/DI water with no salt is fine.. and DON'T worry about the pH on it either. But I was never told anything about putting it in say 0.5 gal/day. Then I thought about it. Maybe it's not good. That's basically a 5% water change being thrown in all at once with... 7.0 pH water.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

Yet.. ANOTHER issue. I was thinking.. and that's where the problems usually start... ... I have to do regular maintenance on the flow injector on the skimmer. Little pvc piece to unscrew and make sure it's free of objects. Maybe even something else I have to ck. sometimes too that I have NOT thought about yet.

But for now I'll just talk about this piece. It's barb'd on one end with a plastic tube on it. I was thinking... the only way to do this is to remove the barb tube.. and any plastic clamps I use. I don't want to break it or crack the skimmer housing. I'm worried about doing this just messing with the tube on this. Barb'd hose is on pretty tight. I hate to push on this thing that much.

ANYWAY... that's the problem. ANd I have to do it regularly. I've gotten quite use to simple quick-connect adapaters on my RO/DI. I spent a lot of time just finding pvc adapters and whatnot to hook my pump to my skimmer. I never thought about taking it off and on all the time. YIKES.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

Not getting a lot of feedback. Maybe there's nothing really to say. I gotta figure it out. A few people suggested using 3 separate plastic containers. I thought about bulkheading 2 tanks together too. I think I'm just gonna go with what I got.. WHY WHY don't they make these stands better? The doors should open as WIDE as possible.

I made a small measuring error.. the skimmer will only fit one way...but I found a tank that is the same width but taller so it'll hold more (37 Gal). BUT STILL.. the space is so tight. Boy... I looked all over and there is nothing else that will fit. My only other choice would be to spend a LOT of money and get a custom acrylic tank that would be as long as possible. It might not be worth it though since I could probably only go from a 30" to maybe 32-34". That won't make a whole lotta diff. Damn stand.

This tank is 30x12.5x22.75. As you can see the skimmer/pump + baffles will take up 1/2 the tank. :roll:

 

[mr_X]

i have found that i occasionally need to access my skimmer. i don't know what advice to give you except to consider more "space friendly" options: 2 separate containers....a larger single container...a remote sump....

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

I think I could squeeze it out of there if I had to. It would be a major PIA though. I hate getting into my stand about as much as getting underneath a sink to fix plumbing. Kills my back.

I got glass baffles at a place I thought was gonna be expensive for $13. Wow. Polished too. I'm silicon'n my first baffle in and now wondering HOW will I get the next one in with 1" in between the two?? I have to use my finger to smash it in there? Boy... this is gonna be tough.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

I was thinking of maybe looking for a small plastic hose/tube to attach to my tube of silicone like an extension. Maybe that'll work b/c my hand won't fit between 2 glass plates 1" apart. Yet .. another trip to the store.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

Well... I got a brillant stupid idea myself. BUt I figured I'd share it just in case it might help someone else... even though nobody seems to be paying attention to this lousy thread.

I asked myself... WHY do I need to silicone both sides? What's wrong with one side. As long as it holds and doesn't leak. That's it.

 

[ChrisRD]

I was thinking of maybe looking for a small plastic hose/tube to attach to my tube of silicone like an extension.

That's exactly what I do when I need to silicone in tight places.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

I ended up having to do it with my fingers. It leaked anyway.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

I finally installed the new sump... and my problems have quadrupled. :roll:

A total 180 from my old sump. Fuge (tho small) has cheato and dsb now. Quality AquaC skimmer. Plenty of height for any overflow. The skimmer looks peaceful now too. However...

Problems: SKIMMER. Breaking in I got the air valve and gate open 100%. And rather quickly I started dialing down the gate valve. Yippe. The latest pic I'd have to take shows the water coming out pretty fast from the gate. At one point it even SHOT over all the baffles. I'll have to read the instructions again. I does say 48-72 hrs.. it's only been 12. It said it can be noisy at first too... BUT I'm really getting depressed b/c of all the problems. BIOBALLS... I just threw those in there b/c I wasn't sure if I was gonna shock the tank not using them all of a sudden.

This pic was just to show the left side. 10gal holding tank not hooked up yet. You can see the skimmer gate and baffles more closely too. It says to have a 4" space between the gate and anything else. This is about 2.5". Made a math error somewhere. Not sure what that's gonna do to me in the long run though. Unspeakable option... breaking it all down and rebaffling from scratch.

This is what I saw before I went to bed at 1 AM. I thought it was just some sand from the fuge that would settle since I just poured a bag in. I let it settle of course before I turned anything on. It does look better this morning... but still looks like crap. About 1/2 of that. I think what is happening is there are very very fine MICROBUBBLES getting through. That's what my return is throwing out.

SO... I seem to have a LOT of problems here and I'm too tired to be frustrated... it's just depressing me. I guess I'm sore too from trying to work under that stand all night. I think I should have got the 18-20" tall tank and not the 22". IT would have held overflow I think. I'm just cutting my arm all up trying to reach in there. Everything else.. I don't know. I thought 3 baffles would be good enough. I put a big filter pad in between the 2 baffles on the right but it didn't help much.

Here's this morning. A lot less but still UNACCEPTABLE bubbles getting through. If you can see in the pic I have a big white filter pad in the middle baffles. I also put a small black one on the end of the return pump too. I can see some bubbles look like they're going down the silicone on the return baffle. Almost as if they're being created there. So even if I had a 2nd baffle there that would still happen and they would still get through.

[/img]

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

ONE MORE. I thought a close-up might help show what is going on. You can see my big white filter. It doesn't look like there's a lot of bubbles going through.. must be "micro"bubbles. Boy... it's really frickin NOISEY too.

 

[mr_X]

i've been watching. it's depressing me too!
first, where is the noise coming from? the skimmer pump? try throwing something spongey like a mouse pad or something under it. alot of times it's just the pump rattling against the glass that makes the noise.

secondly, you need to keep the return area full as possible. you are going to need an auto top off.

does the return pump have a prefilter that comes with it? magdrives come with a prefilter to stop things from getting sucked in. you might try one of those on the return pump atleast. :?

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

I have to be more specific about noise. I guess... just skimmer in general. THe water coming out of the gate, whistling noise from air valve, etc. Little disappointing. I guess.. I need to wait at least 72 hrs. for a break-in period. THe MICRO bubbles it's making might go away too. So far a SOCK on the output cleared 99% of my tank up.

I forgot about that. Low return area and water spilling into there making bubbles. I do have a trash can in the pic for ATO.

I tried the prefilter on rtn. pump but micros just go through.