My DYI Sump - Need Advice

[Rhodes19]

Actually acrylic and plexi glass are too different plastic products... acrylic is generally denser composite plastic with less flex and a harder surface to resist more scrathing.... plus its a bit more expensive, but not too much... considering what everyone has said I think i'll probably just go get the glass cut for the baffles... is 1/8" too thin? I see others look like they used 1/4" thk. glass for the baffles... is there a certain reason?

Thanks.

 

[MountainFish]

How am I supposed to run tests with the system using FW? I'm trying to think of how I would simulate the tank condition? any suggestions?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Do you have an overflow box? If so, you can use a spare bucket or 10 gallon tank or anything that holds water really. Set the tank or bucket up on a table or something, then fill it with water. Put the sump on the floor, fill it with water, set up the overflow and return pumps, and power up.

If you don't have an overflow box... haha, well, good luck

 

[MountainFish]

I have a 120 gal tank that is empty but it'd be a lot lot lot of work to find a place to put it where I could fill it, support it, and get the same vertical heights to replicate my 55gal setup... anyone have suggestions of an easier way of testing the system?

 

[MountainFish]

oh sweet, yea i never though of using a bucket... although i'm not sure how the overflow box will sit on a bucket so I might have to get a rubbermaid tub or something... I've got a 300g/h overflow and my pump is rated at 550g/h but it'll have to pump up like 3'-9" so the flow will be right around 300, maybe a little more but i'm going to use a ball valve to control the output of the return pump

THANKS FOR THE GREAT SUGGESTIONS COD!!!!

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

No problem

If I'm too broke to upgrade my tank, the next best thing is helping others.


A quick suggestion about the return rate and overflow rate.. the only thing you have to be sure of is that the overflow can out perform the return pump. The overflow only drains when there's water being added to the tank, and as long as it can drain faster than the pump can return it, there will be equilibrium. It sounds like you already have your equipment for the build, and a ball valve can control flow, so it's really just a for future reference type thing.

 

[MountainFish]

So i'm getting ready to plumb the PVC piping and I was hoping someone could offer some insight on PVC pipe glue...

I'm wondering if there is a special non-toxic kind of pipe adhesive that I can get... all the ones I can find at the local plumbing stores are for industrial uses and i'm pretty skeptical about using them on the plumbing...

any suggestions welcome!

 

[MountainFish]

Also, anybody have an easy way to calculate the flow rates determined by the height of the baffles in the sump.... I'm trying to figure out how to determine the heights for the baffles...

The overflow box is 300 gph and my return will be the same after pump+head pressure from height. I'm trying to figure out the bubble trap baffles... If the first one is 5in below the tank lip... and the middle one is 1in off the bottom, how far below the first one should the dimension of the second be? 12" wide tank...

any insight or links to the right place would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Rhodes19]

Also, anybody have an easy way to calculate the flow rates determined by the height of the baffles in the sump.... I'm trying to figure out how to determine the heights for the baffles...

The overflow box is 300 gph and my return will be the same after pump+head pressure from height. I'm trying to figure out the bubble trap baffles... If the first one is 5in below the tank lip... and the middle one is 1in off the bottom, how far below the first one should the dimension of the second be? 12" wide tank...

any insight or links to the right place would be greatly appreciated!!!

I would think the height of the ballfes would be more of a function of how much overflow you get with the power off than flow rate. Figure out how much overflow you would get with the power off, calculate how many inches that would be i your sump, subtract that from the top of your sump, and that should be the tallest your baffles should be. Most of the bubble traps I've seen on the web have the second baffle the same dimensions of the other 2 baffles except for it is 1" off the bottom, hence 1" taller than the other 2 baffles. HTH

 

[MountainFish]

Hey there!!!

So its been a while, I've gotten really busy this fall and haven't had much time to concentrate on the sump/refugium.

I came up with this idea the other day because the new skimmer I want to get won't really leave much room for a refugium all in one tank... so i'm gonna through this out there and see if anyone has attempted doing the sump in one tank with skimmer/heater and the refugium in a different tank.

Has anyone tried a setup like this before and if so, how'd it work... pro's & cons...

Thanks everybody!!!

 

[Rhodes19]

Oh boy, where to start. I've seen a 2 tank systems before but 1 tank usually overflows into the other. I think with your setup, you are going to have a hard time tuning it so the flow is balanced. Are the returns going up and over the 2 tanks? Are you using an external pump? If you leave it as is, you might want to move the bubble trap in the skimmer tank and place it between the skimmer and the return. If its not tuned I can see some flooding issues. Sorry.

 

[zoolan70]

I wouldn't do anything that requires balacing pump outputs. It just never works out well long term.

If I were you, and wanted to hook the two 'sumps' together, I'd do it by drilling at least 2 large diameter holes in the end of each tank, and connect them with plumbing and bulkheads. Let gravity move the water from one to the other. Once the first tank fills from the overflows, it will run through the lines into the fuge, and finally put your return pump at the far right of the fuge tank, behind a baffle with teeth on top to keep macro-algae out.

Just my 2 cents...

Tim

 

[MountainFish]

So I got my sump set up. Took me a while but its finally done... now the trick is getting everything in balance. I've had it up for about a week and the problems come from the balance between water levels in the DT and the sump tank. I just can't seem to get the valve at a point where the water level doesn't move AT ALL. It either goes down at a very low rate or raises at a low rate. Problem is that when it raises, less water is in the DT and the water level drops, which in turn kicks in the ATO system to compensate, that causes too much water to be in the system and dilutes the salinity of the system as well. I'm having trouble getting everything all balanced out. I'm thinking of adding a second ball valve on my return line for extra fine tuning of the pump flow rate. Anyone have other suggestions. I'm at work right now but I'll post pictures of the setup tonight when I get home.