Help With First Sump

Nigelk8485 · Jan 14, 2015

So, I currently have my 150 freshwater set up with an fx5. I've decided though I want to add more filtration and think I want to go with a sump. I want to try to do it myself, there's a guy near me with 20 gallon aquariums that he's selling 3 for $15 so it gives me a couple of tries at it to perfect it. I've never used a sump, never seen one in person, but I know I do not want to drill my tank so I'd rather use a pump to pull water in/push it out. Any help on designing sumps or links or videos would be appreciated. Most of what I come across online are designed for saltwater tanks so I'm not sure if there are things that would be different for freshwater.

I realize 20 gallons isn't a lot especially compared to 150, but since it's just extra filtration and the 20's are so cheap...do you think they're okay enough of a size to make a difference?

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tomojsg · Jan 14, 2015

if you dont want to drill your tank just use a gravity feed siphon method to drain.
its just like using the siphon u clean with it but it trains into the tank and the pump
returns after being filtered. just make sure you properly mount the tubing so it doesnt
fall off and cover the opening inside the tank so it doesnt suck in any fish.

tomojsg · Jan 14, 2015

sent u a pm with a quick sketch on ms paint lol hope that helps a little.

Nigelk8485 · Jan 14, 2015

Every time I try to open it my app crashes. And okay, I can do the siphon to draw water in. But then I have no clue how to go about doing the rest. Do I have to use glass to create the little walls?

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tomojsg · Jan 14, 2015

i posted a link and embedded thumbnail so you can see both ways.
and nah you dont need the dividers if want to you can use eggcrate
to divide them.

Progar · Jan 14, 2015

The use of baffles (or those panels you're talking about) in a sump is so that you can create a middle chamber with a controlled water level for say, a protein skimmer or a refugium. In a traditional sump setup, there are 2-3 baffles on each side of the sump which forces the water to remain at a constant level in the middle section while showing all evaporation of the tank in the far right section of the sump.

In a freshwater system, there is less of a need to use baffles unless you just want to force your water to move through those narrow spaces. In my case I dont have room to maintenance filter socks so I use foam pads and filter pads that I put in my baffles that forces the water to flow through the pads and foam as it makes its way through my sump and back to the tank.

20g is enough size, you just have to realize that you will not have that much water in the sump during normal use. Typically when using a sump, you are either draining water from your tank using a gravity drain (durso style) or a siphon drain (herbie style is most common). Additionally you can have them drain through drilled holes or you can have them drain through the use of a hang on back overflow box. With whatever method you choose, in the event of a power outage, you will have a certain amount of water drain into your sump before either the water level drops below the drain or the siphon is broken.

The safest option as far as preventing floods is to drill 4 holes and setup two herbie style drains, or one herbie with a wet and dry emergency drain using the fourth hole as a return. When using an overflow box, you run the risk of the box losing its siphon from your tank with the power still on, thus pumping the full contents of what is in your sump into your tank before running dry, likely flooding the display tank and ruining your pump if you're not around to notice it happening.

There are a lot of factors to consider when setting up a sump but this should get you a good start. I recently just set up a sump for my 240g tank and it was a great learning experience moving from a standard aquarium to one with drilled holes and dual overflows.

Nigelk8485 · Jan 14, 2015

Progar said:
The use of baffles (or those panels you're talking about) in a sump is so that you can create a middle chamber with a controlled water level for say, a protein skimmer or a refugium. In a traditional sump setup, there are 2-3 baffles on each side of the sump which forces the water to remain at a constant level in the middle section while showing all evaporation of the tank in the far right section of the sump.

In a freshwater system, there is less of a need to use baffles unless you just want to force your water to move through those narrow spaces. In my case I dont have room to maintenance filter socks so I use foam pads and filter pads that I put in my baffles that forces the water to flow through the pads and foam as it makes its way through my sump and back to the tank.

20g is enough size, you just have to realize that you will not have that much water in the sump during normal use. Typically when using a sump, you are either draining water from your tank using a gravity drain (durso style) or a siphon drain (herbie style is most common). Additionally you can have them drain through drilled holes or you can have them drain through the use of a hang on back overflow box. With whatever method you choose, in the event of a power outage, you will have a certain amount of water drain into your sump before either the water level drops below the drain or the siphon is broken.

The safest option as far as preventing floods is to drill 4 holes and setup two herbie style drains, or one herbie with a wet and dry emergency drain using the fourth hole as a return. When using an overflow box, you run the risk of the box losing its siphon from your tank with the power still on, thus pumping the full contents of what is in your sump into your tank before running dry, likely flooding the display tank and ruining your pump if you're not around to notice it happening.

There are a lot of factors to consider when setting up a sump but this should get you a good start. I recently just set up a sump for my 240g tank and it was a great learning experience moving from a standard aquarium to one with drilled holes and dual overflows.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Eh, college just started back up and I don't feel like having that much of a learning experience with sumps, so I'm going for just a second canister. I'm just trying to decide which one now. I know Eheim classics are supposed to be good, but there are some SunSun ones where the price is just hard to pass up. Then since I'm already running a fluval there's the whole brand loyalty blah blah.

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mudbuttjones · Jan 14, 2015

On my planted 40b I've got a pair of sunsun 302b filters each rated at 264gph, filled with clean media is more like 150-180gph. I have no real complaints. I love them. They've been running a month only but so far so good. The build materials far exceeded my expectations. The spray bars are a little funky, I don't trust them. And I replaced the little barrel nut things that hold the hoses on the barbs with hose clamps, I didn't trust those much either.

I wrote a (rather silly) review of my sunsun. A few members chimed in and also praised these cheap units. As a new father, who is broke, i can recommend the sunsun canisters to anyone in this expensive hobby - like college students lol.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?598775-Done-with-Eheim-sunsun-review

Review starts on page 5 I think

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