Sump layout

[RandomFactoid]

Hi!

Coming back to tank/plantkeeping after awhile. I bought a used Aqua One 120L tank with a sump (always wanted to have a sump ). It's originally designed to be a marine setup, but I'll use it for aquascaping.
I've drilled one more hole at the bottom of the overflow to silence the gurgling/splashing of the Durso setup - will turn it into a Herbie.
My question is regarding the sump.
It's probably around 50-60L volume, however it feels like it's missing one divider (marked red) to direct the water from the first (left) compartment to the bottom of the middle one rather than top. I'm planning to have sponges/some bio material on the left, mainly bio in the middle and return pump/heater/whatever else on the right.
Or just leave it as it is ?

Thanks!

 

[hypnogogia]

however it feels like it's missing one divider (marked red) to direct the water from the first (left) compartment to the bottom of the middle one rather than top.

Agreed.

 

[RandomFactoid]

Agreed.

Thanks. Do you think I also need one on the right of the middle compartment ?

 

[hypnogogia]

Thanks. Do you think I also need one on the right of the middle compartment ?

I’m not sure as I’m no expert, but I think the flow of water through a sump for freshwater is likely a bit different because of no presence of a protein skimmer.

 

[mort]

Sumps come down to personal choice. From your plan it should work with the new divider and you only really need to fiddle with it if you aren't putting much flow through it. Many wholesalers have an extra partition for bio balls before the other bio media but apart from that they are similar to what you have. Sponges in the first section doing the mechanical work and then the clean water going over the bio media. The only reason I say it's flow related is you want enough flow in the second section to reach all the bio media but I don't think you will have a problem.

 

[Rich Jackson]

I would personally use the left section as a top up as you will loose water from sump not tank. Then use other 2 sections for filters, CO2 injection and return pump .

 

[raharlow]

Here's a pic of the sump I am doing. For a bigger tank but maybe it will give you some ideas. I'm just using poret foam as a divider and will probably not use any plexiglass dividers. Not really any need. In this pic, dump from tank is on left and return is on right. Hope this helps.

 

[RandomFactoid]

Thanks for all the answers. Picked up 2 pieces of precut glass (1mm too big..annoying..might try to sand it down). Will add one or perhaps 2 dividers..otherwise knowing that the water's not flowing optimally will bother me for the rest of this tank's lifetime

 

[RandomFactoid]

End result here:

Wife approved a fish tank! 120L+70L sump+lots of DIY=my planted tank :)

Looking good! Like a good summed tank. I would have to put some gloss white vinyl over the weir to cover it as seeing the pipework would annoy me.

www.ukaps.org

Best use for food colouring so far

 

[RandomFactoid]

Hi again,

I've tried setting everything up outside today and ran into a couple issues:

1. Ball valve is a pain to fine-tune (but google said so already), so I'm considering getting a gate valve.
2. Once I get full syphon on the main drain and manage to more-or-less fine tune the flow so that the water level is just under the emergency drain, there seems to be a good amount of air still trapped inside the main drain. I've tried waiting, but I'm just getting loads of small bubbles/noise and it doesn't clear (in some 5 minutes). The solution I found was to briefly open the valve fully and close it straight away to half or so - that allows more flow through the drain, pushing all the air out. But then I'm back to square one with fine-tuning. How do I deal with this ? In most videos I've seen, the main drain only bubbles for very little time, then air gets expelled and it goes quiet. Can't seem to achieve that without blasting the valve open.
Ideas ?

Thanks