How do peeps run there sumps?

[Jay1]

Guys need to see what other people set ups on there sumps?
I was just going to feed a Eheim intake pipe with tubing and a tap into the sump first section.
Hoping I can just use gravity to feed the sump, then a small Ehiem pump at the final section to pump back into the tank via an outake feed.
Questions Is it just trail and error with the tap filling the sump and matching the levels for the amount for the pump to drain?
From what I can see its just a cascade filter system?
I want more bio than mechanical so thinking some Siporax, sponges and K media?
Guessing the sump will hold about 60 litres for a 300 litre tank?

 

[Edvet]

Don't forget to make a small hole in the intake/overflow so tha tank wont drain completely in case of a power outage. The amount of water wich will drain in that case is the amount of "spare room" you'll need in the sump.
If possible try to make an "overflow" wich will start running again in case of an poweroutage and restart.

 

[Edward Courtney]

Hi,
I've recently shut down a mixed reef and I'll be converting the system to high tech planted in August. A new discipline which turns everything I've become accustomed to on it's head! I have an internal overflow box which determines the water level in the display tank. The top height of the overflow is about 10mm below the top of the display tank. If there is a power cut the water level will only drop to the depth of my return pipe by siphoning back into the sump. The sump is deep enough to accommodate this extra volume, but you could negate this by putting a check valve in your return pipe, although this wouldn't work on a siphoning outflow. The overflow box is clamped to the inside back of the display with a bulkhead connector which passes through a hole that I drilled in the back glass and another in the overflow box, in the drain pipe I have a ball valve. My overflow box is half the length of the display, 50cm, by 20cm height and 5cm depth, it gives great surface skimmng. Personally I wouldn't consider using a siphoning outflow, too difficult to balance with your return pump flow, especially as flow will vary due to the build up of slime, dirt etc. on your impeller shaft between cleaning and possibly slime/algae build up in your return pipe. You could potentially flood via the display or the sump while you are out or asleep!
My main concerns are de-gasing and overly aggressive filtration but I think I have solutions to these. I think that I can reduce the turbulence created by the outflow by filling the overflow box with bioballs with a filter sponge lid, to catch detritus, and by making an airtight acrylic lid for the sump with airtight seals around all the pipes in and out. That should reduce the de-gasing to an acceptable level, I hope.
If the filtration is devouring all my nitrogen in its various forms, which seems highly likely as I'm going to have the wet/dry bioball pre-filter and a shed load of sintered glass media in the sump, from what I've read it looks like I can supplement EI dosing with Aqua Rebel Spezial N.
The K1 moving bed media requires oxygenation with an airpump and airstone to work well, it is primarily an aerobic filtration process, this is of course out of the question in a high tech planted tank as it will drive off all your CO2. Not sure if it would work very well in a low tech either, it's used mostly on Koi ponds, I have seen a few examples on aquariums on Youtube but they tend to be fish only, big fish like Arowana etc.
The sump I'll be using is about 50L and my display is 200L.
I would like to post some shots of the system but at present it is dry and I have dismantled all the plumbing so that I could give it a thorough clean in a vinegar bath, I still have to fabricate the sump lid and fit all the new pipework for the dosing pump and CO2 injection, when I get it set up in August I might be brave enough to do so then.
If you do want to sump your system I would recommend drilling a hole in the back of your display and setting the plumbing up as I have described, it's much easier than it sounds and very satisfying to do. If you want to see some very instructional pictures/threads in the meantime check out some marine forums, Zeovit is good.
The obstacles to this method are cost and the need to at least partially drain your display. Drilling the glass while it is vertical would also be a bit messy as you need to water cool the diamond holesaw.
The kit you would need:
Cordless drill, hmm, pricey
Diamond holesaw of the correct diameter for bulkhead connector diameter, cheap on ebay
Bulkhead connector, available in various sizes at Fishfurfeather.com
Plumbers putty to form reservoir for water cooling while drilling, ebay perhaps or local builders merchant
PVC pipework and fittings available in various sizes at Fishfurfeather.com, although you could minimise this by using a hosetail to convert to flexible PVC tube after the bulkhead fitting.
Five pieces of cut to order acrylic to fabricate the overflow box, loads of online suppliers, much cheaper than buying one ready made
Acrylic/PVC adhesive, cheap on ebay
Masking tape to hold your box together while adhesive cures
A few cold beers to keep you cool 😎

 

[Jay1]

Don't forget to make a small hole in the intake/overflow so tha tank wont drain completely in case of a power outage. The amount of water wich will drain in that case is the amount of "spare room" you'll need in the sump.
If possible try to make an "overflow" wich will start running again in case of an poweroutage and restart.

Thanks ED forgot about power cuts!
TBF I thought running a five inch depth intake pipe would be okay, as if the the water line dropped below the end intake it would just loose gravity pull and stop?
The tank is 2ft tall so plenty of depth drop to estimate what would fill up a 60litre sump. Restarting is another issue?
I could get fancy and stick a soleinoid valve (Closed in off position) but IMO thats a bit overkill for my needs, would fix the restart problem?

Hi,
I've recently shut down a mixed reef and I'll be converting the system to high tech planted in August. A new discipline which turns everything I've become accustomed to on it's head! I have an internal overflow box which determines the water level in the display tank. The top height of the overflow is about 10mm below the top of the display tank. If there is a power cut the water level will only drop to the depth of my return pipe by siphoning back into the sump. The sump is deep enough to accommodate this extra volume, but you could negate this by putting a check valve in your return pipe, although this wouldn't work on a siphoning outflow. The overflow box is clamped to the inside back of the display with a bulkhead connector which passes through a hole that I drilled in the back glass and another in the overflow box, in the drain pipe I have a ball valve. My overflow box is half the length of the display, 50cm, by 20cm height and 5cm depth, it gives great surface skimmng. Personally I wouldn't consider using a siphoning outflow, too difficult to balance with your return pump flow, especially as flow will vary due to the build up of slime, dirt etc. on your impeller shaft between cleaning and possibly slime/algae build up in your return pipe. You could potentially flood via the display or the sump while you are out or asleep!
My main concerns are de-gasing and overly aggressive filtration but I think I have solutions to these. I think that I can reduce the turbulence created by the outflow by filling the overflow box with bioballs with a filter sponge lid, to catch detritus, and by making an airtight acrylic lid for the sump with airtight seals around all the pipes in and out. That should reduce the de-gasing to an acceptable level, I hope.
If the filtration is devouring all my nitrogen in its various forms, which seems highly likely as I'm going to have the wet/dry bioball pre-filter and a shed load of sintered glass media in the sump, from what I've read it looks like I can supplement EI dosing with Aqua Rebel Spezial N.
The K1 moving bed media requires oxygenation with an airpump and airstone to work well, it is primarily an aerobic filtration process, this is of course out of the question in a high tech planted tank as it will drive off all your CO2. Not sure if it would work very well in a low tech either, it's used mostly on Koi ponds, I have seen a few examples on aquariums on Youtube but they tend to be fish only, big fish like Arowana etc.
The sump I'll be using is about 50L and my display is 200L.
I would like to post some shots of the system but at present it is dry and I have dismantled all the plumbing so that I could give it a thorough clean in a vinegar bath, I still have to fabricate the sump lid and fit all the new pipework for the dosing pump and CO2 injection, when I get it set up in August I might be brave enough to do so then.
If you do want to sump your system I would recommend drilling a hole in the back of your display and setting the plumbing up as I have described, it's much easier than it sounds and very satisfying to do. If you want to see some very instructional pictures/threads in the meantime check out some marine forums, Zeovit is good.
The obstacles to this method are cost and the need to at least partially drain your display. Drilling the glass while it is vertical would also be a bit messy as you need to water cool the diamond holesaw.
The kit you would need:
Cordless drill, hmm, pricey
Diamond holesaw of the correct diameter for bulkhead connector diameter, cheap on ebay
Bulkhead connector, available in various sizes at Fishfurfeather.com
Plumbers putty to form reservoir for water cooling while drilling, ebay perhaps or local builders merchant
PVC pipework and fittings available in various sizes at Fishfurfeather.com, although you could minimise this by using a hosetail to convert to flexible PVC tube after the bulkhead fitting.
Five pieces of cut to order acrylic to fabricate the overflow box, loads of online suppliers, much cheaper than buying one ready made
Acrylic/PVC adhesive, cheap on ebay
Masking tape to hold your box together while adhesive cures
A few cold beers to keep you cool 😎

Its gonna take time to take all that in fella! But I get the gist of what you have acheived.
I was going for simplistic as all I want is extra bacterial growth for nitrate and have a little garden in the sump.
The mechanical valve seems the way forward without any sub tanks to restart, cut power, cuts water flow?
I did see someone run a airtight lided system with a water sprinkler system to encourage Nitrate eating bacteria kind of a reactor but on a larger scale he was running a second room bellow to house the sump LOL!

Only thing I'm not too sure is turnover rate of return pump have a few pumps all Eheims so will need to double check if they are slow enough for my requirements.