Sump design

[RevClyburn]

Hey everyone

this is the sump deisgn I'm going to use. I was thinking of using a external pump to reduce the heat created by a pump, would that be best it or doesn't matter? My skimmer, venturi will go in the end, along with the return pump, if I don't go external, or should I put it (fuge) on the end and use the middle for the return and skimmer?

rev

 

[Phyl]

Rev, is there a picture or link for us? I'm hanging on the edge of my seat here!

If you're going to use a mag pump it won't matter much whether you go internal or external. They're water cooled and will heat the water no matter where they are. There might be a negligable amount of heat that doesn't make it into your tank, but the bulk of it will. We run a 65 with a mag 9 (might be a 7, now that I think about it). Heat's a bit of an issue with it, but nothing that a fan over the sump can't cure.

With our old wet dry our venturi skimmer was on one end, the return pump the other. That was to ensure that the bulk of the microbubbles worked their way out of the system before they got back to the return pump. Best bet would be skimmer, then fuge then return, if you have enough room for 3 chambers. Not sure what I'd do if you only had enough room for 2 chambers.

 

[RevClyburn]

Sorry

here's the image:

sorry it's so small, got to enlarge it. Will post a better pic as soon as I figure out how too, lol.

edwin

 

[mfisher2112]

I'm running a mag 9.5 on my return from my 20 gallon sump to my 55 gallon display and I haven't had any significant issues with heat addition to the system. The biggest heat issue I have is with the stoopid unreliable heaters.

 

[RevClyburn]

here's a large pic

any help with this design would be greatly appreciated

 

[Phyl]

Looks like you should be able to have a place for the drains/skimmer, one section for fuge and the third section for the return. Are the baffles already in place? Looks good to me! The one problem that I see is that keeping the fuge contents contained can be a bit of a pain as they tend to take the ride over the overflow. Brian has a pump in his fuge to blow the macro away from the drains which I thought was a good idea. We usually just put teeth in the baffle to hold it back.

 

[mfisher2112]

Looks good to me.

In mine, I have the skimmer in the first chamber where the overflow from the display enters, the fuge is in the second, and the return pump at the end.

 

[RevClyburn]

Cool MFisher

I was going to do that, but wanted to get another opinion. Thanks

Phyl, nothing is set, this is just the design I will copy. I don't have a way of making teeth for the baffle, don't have the equipment. I might be able to get someone at my job to cut them out for me. Plus how well does plexi adhere to glass, or would glass be better for the baffles. If glass, don't know how or where I can get it done at, any idea? How did you do yours, if yours is a diy?

Do you think a 38 gal fuge is big enough for a 90 gallon tank?

edwin

 

[Phyl]

For baffles in a sump, plexi is working fine for us. I wouldn't use plexi to glass on anything that HAD to hold water (like an external overflow box, for example).

John can help you get teeth cut when you're ready.

If a 38 is the biggest box you can get into your stand then I'd say it is plenty big enough. If you can fit a larger sump... get one! No such thing as "too much" sump, IMHO.

 

[mfisher2112]

Hey Rev.

My experience is that the acrylic I tried the first time flexed with the water pressure, but from what I'm told, that is because I used acrylic that was too thin. I've also read countless posts that say silicone won't adhere the acrylic to glass.

For the price, I had glass baffels cut. Cost me $12 at a glass house. So to me, there was no cost difference making acrylic worth trying. Call around in the phone book and find places that cut glass panes for window replacement. You don't need anything spectacular. Shouldn't be expensive at all.

I didn't use teeth in my baffels. I don't really know if there is or is not a benefit to that, I just didn't do it.

For the silicone, Lowes carries a tube of silicone that says "Aquarium Silicone" on it. It's only like $3 or close to that. For the lack of price difference between that and regular GE silicone, I didn't take the chance, and I just bought the aquarium silicone. It was more than enough to do the job.

As for size, I'm running a 20 gallon on my 55 gallon, and will probably run a 30 gallon on my 90 when I get that up and running. The size tank you have should be fine. More water volume, no matter how much, is always a good thing in my opinion. The size really boils down to do you have enough SPACE to put everything you want to in it. Make sure your skimmer fits, your return chamber is large enough, and you have enough room in the fuge for whatever you want to keep in there.

As an example, I run a 20 gallon long, and my sump holds my skimmer, my phosphate reactor, my return pump at the end, about 15 pounds of rock rubble, and will hold my heater once I get this stoopid heater problem corrected.

 

[RevClyburn]

ok

well, I haven't got to the phosphate reactor level yet, lol. But I have 2 skimmers, a counter current and a venturi, don't think I will y=use them both, but I have in the past, just for the heck of it.

I think I will have more than enough space for the equip I have currently and if I add anything, it probably will fit too, just have to keep that in mind. Where did you get your glass cut, and how thick is your glass?

revclyburn

 

[mfisher2112]

I run the phosphate reactor because I was running straight well water, so I had a pretty severe algae problem because of TDS and phosphates in the water. It has helped ENORMOUSLY. Now that I have an RO/DI unit (THANKS AWI GROUP BUY! LOL!) I will probably use it for carbon so I can get the carbon bags out of my fuge area in my sump. ;D

I got my glass cut down here at Millville Glass. I'm not sure exactly how thick it is, I think it's only like 1/8" glass. It's window pane glass, at any rate. And my local glass house (Millville Glass) even polished the edges for me at no charge.

If your local home depot, lowews, or hardware store does window pane replacement cutting, that will work. I live in a "glass town" (Wheatons glass, etc), so Lowes and Home depot down here only do plexi. They opted not to even try to compete with the glass shops in town.

 

[RevClyburn]

Ok

I have to check around for places that cut glass. Where is Millville, I'm in howell? And do you always run carbon?

edwin

 

[RevClyburn]

by the way,

I may not get to do this anytime soon. My babysister, mother-in-law, is in the hospital, knee surgery. And when she gets out, she won't be able to watch my son. So, I'll be dropping him off at school. That will leave me very little time to do anything. And with my wife at home, it's even harder to do things. I might be able sometimes in December, 2020, lol

edwin

 

[arvin]

I was recommended in RC that it is better to keep the fuge separately from sump. Since sump will get dirty sooner or later, a separate fuge is easier to maintain. Of course, only if you have room to add a separate fuge.

Just my 0.02.

 

[TripsieD]

Rev,
I got my glass cut at Lowe's in Brick/Lakewood on Route 70. IIRC, it was about 10 or 11 dollars total for the glass. It was at least cost effective, as the glass place wanted roughly 20 to 30 dollars. I used the GE Door and Window I (I'm pretty sure) silicone and it was like $2.50, but I'm not positive on that.

 

[RevClyburn]

I don't think I can do that, it's going to be work getting the 38 gal in my stand as it is. And, doesn't the addition of snails, crabs, chaeto, etc., take care of that issue?

edwin

 

[mfisher2112]

Millville is WAAAAAY far away from you, brother. lol. 08332 is the zip code. but like said before, if your lowes will cut the glass, it will be cheaper there anyway.

sorry to hear about your mother in law. hope it all works out sooner rather than later for ya. if you weren't so far away, I'd give you a hand. only took me about 40 minutes.

here's a tip. measure out your baffel placement and use a sharpie on the outside of the glass. it gives you a good line to run the silicone on, and helps you make sure your baffels are straight when you place them. when finished, the sharpie rubs right off the glass!

the best advice I ever got was don't overthink it!

good luck!

 

[RevClyburn]

And that very well is my probelm, a tendency to over think, overprocess things. Will calm down and stop doing that. As for M-I-L, she's going to be fine, my mother had the same surgery. It's just my son, he wants to get into everything and will, a man of 4, can can get into. I will check with the lowes, hd here and see.

Anyway, thanks for being such a great help and answering all my crazee questions

edwin

 

[mfisher2112]

no such thing as crazee questions! just crazee people! (of which, I am a charter member! )

just glad I can help others the way I have been helped! an "expert" is only as "expert" as the amount of others experiences he or she can deduce answers from!