Can this work? (sump question)

Ok I am rying to use what I can of the sumps that I got with my latest tank. so the question is will this work. Bare with me I have no graphics.

tank water will drain into the overflow box and into two drilled holes. (I would say about 1")
from there water is going to be ran to a DIY trickle. The trickle will be setup with two pipes from the overflow running water onto filterfloss. then onto a 30gal. filled almost to the top with bioballs and scrubbies. Now here is where It gets complicated. Water from the 30gal will drain into a 40breeder from a 1" pipe from the 30gal. The 30 will house excess water and the return pumps. The pumps are pondmater model 12s (1200Gph). The head loss for one pump will be rather large due to the fact that it has to push water about 15ft or more. and the other pump will only be going about 5ft. So the question is can the 1in. pipe running from the 30gal bio chamber keep up with two 1200Gph pumps in the seperate 40gal return chamber. Or will the pupms pump to fast and the 40 get drained of water before the 1in pipe can fill it back up?



Or should I just invest in drilling another hole into the side of the 30 so that way there is two lines running in and two lines running out. (I have never drilled a tank and I am scared of busting it)

P.S. I hope someone understands my rambelings. lol I can try to get pics if no one understands

Fish Eat Fish;2063024; said:

Sorry but this sound like puting 20 lbs of detritus in a 10 lb bag

Just use one tank and silicone in compartments. it will make life so much easier and than you only need one pump. You can find 55 gallons on CL for $40

Click to expand...

I would LOVE to do this but the stand doors are too small to fit anything bigger then a 55.

Thats why I need one tank to hold bio media and one tank to hold extra water and the return pumps.

I need two pumps b/c the tank is soo long that I need to run one spraybar at the end of the tank and one by the overflow box to keep good circulation. The tank is over 11' long and only has one overflow box.


Ok the pics are of what I have now. I want to get a 55 which I haven't done yet. But if I can get this figured out then I should be allright. The only real reason I would like a 55 is if the power went out a 55 should be able to hold all the extra water.


Ok the pics.
Pic one is the sump that was in the tank before I owned it. it has three drilled hole. The two in the front are 3/4" (I was wrong not 1") and the one on the far side is 1'.

The second pic is just a close up of the valves.

Third is the 30 gal that the store had setup to hold extra water if there was a poer outage. ( I am converting it to a BIG trickle box) It has One hole drilled with a 7/8" or 1" fitting.

Lastly is one of the 1200GPh return pumps. (I have three for some reason?!)

I never got to see how the filtration was setup in the store so I took the guys word on it how it was setup. (kinda funky)



If I run my overflows into a DIY trickle box (not yet made). Which then goes into the 30gal full of bioballs.That tank then drains into a 7/8" or 1" ID fitting into the other tank (40 breeder I think) where excess filtered water is stored for return. And then pumped back out into the tank via two 1200GPH pumps. throu 3/4"ID tubing. At the end of which will have there own DIY spraybars.


So the question is can A 7/8" or 1" drain hole keep up with TWO 3/4" return lines. Which are each returning water via a 1200GPH pump. (I know there is head loss but not sure how much exactly)

Or should I just get a set of glass drill bits and drill a second hole in the 30gal bio ball chamber?






P.S. This all sounds right in my head but not as I type So bear with me.

Dr Joe;2066370; said:

No.

And you have no safeguards.

What size is the main tank? 11ft. x ? x ?

Since you've only got what looks like 45g of total water storage (inlet of 40g is half way down the tank?), you really don't need that much flow. (what are you wanting to stock in it...tetras, mollies or rope fish? )

If you need circulation in the tank, set a pump up as a powerhead or RUGF to push detritus toward the filter inlet.

Have you read the sticky on tank drilling by CHOMPERS? This is one of those things you try if you can afford to buy another one. Odds are good if your mechanically inclined and practice on some extra glass.

These are first thoughts anyway.

Dr Joe

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Click to expand...

tank is about 11'x36"x30" But it is an od shape. (see thread in sig)
If by safeguards you mean what happens when the pwoer goes out. The only thing that there is right now is nothing but the fact that the filtration sets in a big plastic tray that has a hole in the bottom of it and when water gets out of the filters it leaves through the hole in the tray out onto the floor. I know that is a problem but at the same time the floor is unfinished concrete.

I can't use a pump at a RUGF b/c there is going to be no sub. in this tank. so it would just look bad. and i am not sure how to go about setting it up as a powerhead and making that look good either. making a couple DIY spraybars is my best bet I think for better astetic vaule.

I have read the drilling tank thread. I Have an extra 10gal laying around I could drill up and not worry about it. but at the same time I wish there was someone around here that could do it for me.


So if this won't work (assuming due to lask of water volume) would just getting a 55 for the return tank be a better choice? it would hold more water but I would still have to drill one hole. (with I could find a cheep acylic) then the returns could just run out the top of the tank


P.S. you better believe it's going to be a giant tetra tank
No It's going to house at least one ray. That's about as far as stocking goes now. I was thinking maybe 2 pBass, and some others but not sure yet.