150g Aquarium Sump Advice

[FLESHY]

Hey guys - after a long time searching Ive decided to post a thread.

There are some photos and brief talk in threads, but no one seems to really describe their methods.

I have really clean h2o in my tanks now, fish "floating in air" but now I am upgrading my predators to some monster tanks.

Canisters it seems like wont cut it on these larger, heavily stocked tanks, so what should I do for filtration?

Tank number one is 150g - so we will start there.

I have a mag18 return - just wondering what I should build in my sump for the best clarity.

 

[strollo22]

Best way to go is bio balls for bio and filter floss or polishing pads on top. You could put a coarse filter pad on top of the floss to catch the bigger particles. Rinse it once a week and replace the filter floss once a week or every other and you'll have crystal clear water


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[FLESHY]

I really want to design something a little more advanced than average.

Currently Im looking at different sizes of foam. I want to cut them to fit inside a 5g bucket. My overflow will run into this, and it will go onto a drip plate, and then through all these sponges before the sump.

Heres the issue with the sump.

I see everyone just throwing a bunch of scrubbies in and putting a return pump in and calling it a day. It seems to me that this allows a lot of dead areas that probably trap waste and dont do much good filtration wise. You really want there to be directional flow THROUGH the scrubbies, and Im having a hard time coming up with a good idea as to how to do that.

I think I am going to utilize a 110g stock tank as a sump.

My thought is to build baffles (out of what?) snaking up and down through the entire thing. At the bottom of each layer of baffles (filled with pot scrubbies) would be an eggcrate frame holding the biomedia off the bottom. This would ensure that flow was going through the scrubbies. I would also put a large industrial air stone down in each layer of these scrubbie/eggcrate areas.

What does everyone think of that?

Easier/better solutions?

 

[Dan F]

I think if you plan to use baffles the stock tank might not be your best choice. It is much more difficult to cut baffles to fit a stock tank's shape than a rectangular tank. Also, most stock tanks are made of polypropylene, which doesn't bond well to most adhesives. If you do go with the stock tank you could set it up where your biomedia is in a series of buckets. The water would go through your bucket of foam and then dump into a bucket (or two or three) of scrubbies.

 

[FLESHY]

As in stacking the buckets, or having them inside the stock tank in tiers?

I just think theres no point in having all these scrubbies if you are really only using a portion of them - seems like it could be a lot more efficient.

 

[Dan F]

As in stacking the buckets, or having them inside the stock tank in tiers?

I just think theres no point in having all these scrubbies if you are really only using a portion of them - seems like it could be a lot more efficient.

I have a 300G Rubbermaid sump and I have it setup where the Mechanical buckets are taller than the bio so water flows into mech (I used to use pillow stuffing but have since switched to filter socks)band then out a PCV overflow attached to the top of the bucket. It then flows through a bucket of bio and finally into the sump.

 

[FLESHY]

Do you have pictures of this?

I think that might clarify.

Im now envisioning a series of buckets, (gravity fed) that eventually drain into a poly sump.

Im also thinking of maybe doing a couple aquaponic lettuce rafts even though I do daily spot h2o changes.

 

[FLESHY]

I really like this upflow idea...

I think that maybe two or three of these in sucession might work well? So long as they start below the water level in the tank I should be able to gravity feed these into a sump.

My only issue now is, will that be enough biological filtration for a heavily stocked 150g?

 

[Dan F]

Do you have pictures of this?

I think that might clarify.

Im now envisioning a series of buckets, (gravity fed) that eventually drain into a poly sump.

Im also thinking of maybe doing a couple aquaponic lettuce rafts even though I do daily spot h2o changes.

I am heading off to work, but I can look later. I know I started a thread called something like "Post your Bucket Filters" or something like that. I also did a write up on my sump system a few months back in Setup and Filtration, if you want to search in the meantime.

The idea of a system of buckets prior to the sump is a good one. The only advantage to having the buckets inside the sump is that then you don't have to worry about overflows or drips.

 

[FLESHY]

Im thinking of positioning a framework over one end of the stock/poly tank, and having the buckets stack on that.

Let me know what you think when you get back - if I have a chance today I will try to find your thread.