Funny, i wait 6 months to get the tank and now that its in my house, ive got to wait again!! The hallway that the tank will reside in shares a 15 amp circuit with my family room and with the tv, stereo, wii, etc. I figured it was too close for comfort. We are putting a dedicated 15 amp circuit for the tank but its gonna be a few days before he can do the work, so.....
I figured Id get the sump put together. Every sump or wet-dry Ive had in the past has worked well, but there were always shortcomings with the design usually involving the maintenance part of the equation. Bioballs, with drip trays and pads still allow alot of waste into the bio chamber that was always pita to clean. Baffle here, baffle there......wtf? Bioflitration isnt really this complicated is it? In a word, no. No baffles, dividers, or whatever. Just an open space to work in. Many members here helped influence this decision, mosty notably Jose's(jcardona1) systems. Thanks for the help and invaluable insight!
Second thought when i was designing the system was the pump ... inline or submersible. At first i was chasing a number. 1 pump 10x turnover etc. The more time i spent on reefcentral the more i came to learn that turnover is great, but it didnt have to ALL go through the sump all the time, which is why most reefers run several additional "closed loops" in their systems. So i settled on right about 7x turnover from 2 Quiet One 6000's and the rest will be covered by a pair of 1400 gph powerheads. This also meant that i would not have to drill my sump, so no leaks. The chance of a pair of pumps failing at the same time is highly unlikely, so if a pump fails, the system will still function. The box attached to the pump is Tetra pond box rated for around 250 gallons. Laundry bags containing 16L of pond matrix will sit on top of the boxes making sure there is no bypass. All water must go through the boxes, therefore going through the media. The output side of each pump has a 1 1/2" pvc swing check with the appropriate reducing adapter hammered(no glue) into place. If i ever decide to change or upgrade my pumps, i just grab some channel locks and change out this .89 adapter. Simple
The other part of the equation was the maintenence side. Filter socks would be the easiest and if I moved them to the front, they would be even better. Originally i was going to try to run seperate herbies and try to tune 2, seperately, but after poking around for about 2 months on reefcentral i came to the conclusion that it would be too difficult. So, i was going to have to join both the drains together and upsize the plumbing anyways. Where i put the socks would have very little effect on the flow of the system, so i decided directly behind the access doors from the front. Ill barely even have to bend down to change these things. And they are the only place in the system for detrius to accumulate (besides the tank bottom). Depending on the length of the herbie standpipes, sump level should only fluctuate about 4-5" from on to off. Add a heater and some TOYS (more on that later) and its done.......
The only other thing I had to figure out was sock holders. I bought some cool ones from BRS but I decided to use a 75 standard for the sump and the lip on a standard 75 is too wide for these holders. On top of that, they were simply too high for my liking, so i was going to have to figure something else out. Cheap Top Fin algae magnet cleaners lol. Those are the small black handles on the outside of the sump. Couple of suction cups on the legs and thats it. Sturdy and movable and sitting at a much lower level in the sump