Help me desing a supper nitrate eliminating sump..

[mzhantsche]

This is my design for a sump that spends most of its small space reducing nitrates. I really want to bring my nitrates down to zero. I have large fish and feed almost all live food. I already have a fulvul 404 and fx5 on the tank. So i figure a sump is next. The tank is 180gal and unfortunately i can only fit a sump with the demotions of 30"x15"x17". My stand is built weird so i can only take a sump of that size in and out.

So i thought to start with a large sock that pours over to an area of ceramic rings. I am going to use a large PVC pipe to hold up the sock. Im goingto cut out all but 4 strips and the openings of the pipe. Hopfully this will give for maximum bactreia growth. Than empty’s under a divider into a planted and ceramic ring area. Finally, a sponge to block microbubles into the Rio 2100 pump.

I can not put a larger sump in.

I’m going to place the order on the tank in a few days so please if you see big problems or anything. Bring it up. This is my first sump and im trying something i haven’t seen done yet. (sock+bio rings+ plants)

 

[ruddybop]

The only thing I see is that your going to have a tough time getting that sponge out to clean or change. I added a pic to show you what I would do. Maybe someone else has another idea.

 

[mzhantsche]

Yea i was having trouble on the placement of the sponge. The person i am building this with said to leave to bottom open for the section right before the pump. He said if the water flows over into the pump area, that the pump might suck too much water out before the planted area can fill the return area. So he suggested leaving the dividers open on the bottom.

I was thinking of moving the sponge before the planted section. that way it can flow under from the ceramic ring area, put the sponge and divider to flow over into the planted area.

Thanks for the input!!!! I think i will make adjustments to access the sponge easier.

 

[ruddybop]

You always want a baffle just before the pump. It doesn't have to have a sponge at the end but just one piece of glass before the pump. The purpose of the last baffle is that if the overflow failed it would only pump water out of the chamber with the pump only. With the last baffle open on the bottom it will pump water out of all three chambers if your overflow fails. That is why you use ball valves on the pump output and overflow input so you can fine tune the water flow. If water pumps out to fast close the valve to pump a little bit to even it out and so on.

 

[mzhantsche]

thanks ruddy. I was going off advice from someone else. I will consider changing to opening on the bottem. I have a large tank and i leave about 4" of room from the top of the tank to the top of the water level. So it could eaisly take 10gal if the overflow fails. thanks for the input.

 

[scarecrow1f9]

Algae scrubbers are an option - I've had good luck with them, they've made my readings undetectable on past setups. Extremely cheap and easy to build as well.

 

[CharlieTuna]

A drip water change system changing out maybe 20% or so of your water volume daily would help with nitrates.

I recently added a couple of large blocks of Poret foam to my tank, these were intended for mechanical filtration while hoping for some extra bio. Two months after adding the Poret, no other changes to the filtration or stocking, my nitrates have dropped from 80ppm to 20ppm - this is before my weekly 50% water changes. This has stayed consistent for the last few weeks, a nice side affect to the Poret foam.

 

[mitchb]

A drip water change system changing out maybe 20% or so of your water volume daily would help with nitrates.

I recently added a couple of large blocks of Poret foam to my tank, these were intended for mechanical filtration while hoping for some extra bio. Two months after adding the Poret, no other changes to the filtration or stocking, my nitrates have dropped from 80ppm to 20ppm - this is before my weekly 50% water changes. This has stayed consistent for the last few weeks, a nice side affect to the Poret foam.

Just read this over, and wondering if you attribute the lower nitrates to the poret foam? If I understand it the foam is similar to reticulated, or might be a higher quality version, but is still just foam which should not have an affect on nitrates? I have 4 big pieces in my sump and it didn't lower any nitrates at all so wondering if I am missing something in my setup?

 

[KaiserSousay]

Until post #6, I didn`t see anything about your question, how to reduce nitrates.

All the filter socks, bio balls, ceramic rings, sponges, baffles, etc. will have no effect on nitrates.

If doable, as to where your tank is in relation to a water source/drain, a constant loss-drip system would give you the most bang-for-buck.

Algae scrubbers are way cool looking, along with being cheap to build, but are kind of hit and miss when it comes to getting a tank to zero nitrates.

You might consider a combination of scrubber and plants.

Your going to need lighting for the scrubber, so why not have it shine on some plants as well.

I would keep the sock, just to keep stray gunk from plugging up the drip holes on the scrubber and reduce the need of cleaning out the plant section.

Whatever you come up with, lets see it when done.

Good luck.

 

[texaspaul]

i created my sump almost identical. in the plant area though i divided into two with one section holding cheato and other plants. i have a return line with valve coming from the drain line split off to 1/2 inch line. the other section i have a container full of bioballs and filter floss. as far as the last chamber goes, i i ran a divider up high but cut a hole about 4 inches from bottom so water can flow through. my pump sucks a lot of water and i must have the water flowing constant.