sump for 55?

duster1971

Candiru
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2009
700
0
46
Iowa
I am planning on running a sump on my 55 gal fowlr. I have a few questons.

1. What size tank to use I have 2 20 gal ranks one is a long and the other tall and I may have a 29 gal opening up just depends on the needs of the tank.

2. Shuld I use a pump or an overflow to get water to the sump.

3. Anybody got pics or diagrams or links.

thanks.
 

Gervahlt

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jul 13, 2010
401
1
16
Asheville, NC
Well, first a caveat: I haven't personally built a sump before. That being said, I've been doing a lot of research on them.

Ideally, you'd have your tank drilled for an overflow. Barring that (and there are many reasons this may not work for your tank), you can build a siphon overflow using pvc. The are three separate sticky's here on this site. You do NOT want to pump the water out of the tank to your sump, you want that to be gravity fed and let the pump in the sump dictate how much water is going to flow between the two. That answers questions 2 and 3 that you asked. For question #1, I'm thinking the 20L would probably be the easiest to work with since it has more room in it for you. The 29 would be better of course. :D
 

duster1971

Candiru
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2009
700
0
46
Iowa
Thanks guys. I was planning on running a pump with a auto off on switch with a float does this seem like a good idea. I was just thinking that if the overflow ever got pluged then the pump won't pump all the water out and over flow the tank.
 

Gervahlt

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jul 13, 2010
401
1
16
Asheville, NC
Well, I'm all for the float just because most pumps will quickly fry themselves if they're just sucking air. However, if the overflow gets clogged, you should size it so that it still won't overflow your tank.

The idea is to have enough room in the tank to handle the amount that would be in the pump compartment of the sump. The inverse is also true: if your pump dies, your sump needs to be able to handle all the water your tank will send it until the overflow stops.
 

sprayin70

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 4, 2006
404
1
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ga
I have actually had a snail get trapped in an overflow once. It dumped 10 gallons of water on the floor before my wife unplugged it. haha. Just make sure theres a screen on the overflow and you will be ok.
 

duster1971

Candiru
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2009
700
0
46
Iowa
Screen check I was going to place the overflo top tube so it is one to two inches below the waterline 20long shuld hold that no problem. I was also thinking of that lol. I was also going to place a shut off valve in the feed tube so that when the water in the sump goes above the fill point it will stop the water from over flowing the sump double safty. Sound like a good idea?
 

sprayin70

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 4, 2006
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Sounds like a plan. Good luck
 
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