5 gallon sump

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soggysandwich

soggysandwich

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 28, 2006
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Chicago, IL
well right now on my 75 im running a xp3. i was thinking if i were to make a sump out of a 5 gallon bucket and make it only bio filtration this would allow me to stock my tank a little more heavily. so my plan is to make a DIY pvc overflow go straight to the bucket with a prefilter (some kind of foam) on a drip plate and then fill the bucket with 3-4 gallons of bioballs. and have a pump going at about 300ghp (http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...80722/cl0/pentairaquaticslifegardquietone1200) then i could convert my xp3 to only mech filter or leave a little bio in there. like the one tray of ceramic rings i have now. what do you guys think? would this work?
 
not sure a 5 gallon bucket would be big enough, when power is of the water will continue to drain until below the overflow. You will want to make sure your sump is large enough to contain this water. You can get a cheap rubbermaid container at walmart which should be big enough.
 
Bderick67;1105842; said:
not sure a 5 gallon bucket would be big enough, when power is of the water will continue to drain until below the overflow. You will want to make sure your sump is large enough to contain this water. You can get a cheap rubbermaid container at walmart which should be big enough.
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good point, thanks maybe ill get a 10 or 20 gallon container
 
A standard 75g (48x18x18) actually holds 62.4 gallons of water (measuring the inside dimensions). This give each inch of tank depth 3.47 gallons. The amount of surge volume a five gallon bucket can handle depends on the type of media and the size of the pump. Ceramic rings will take up too much volume and not give enough surface area in return. Pot scrubbers will probably take up the least volume and give the maximum area in return.
Bio-Balls will probably be the second best choice.

For turnovers you will want to choose between three and ten turnovers per hour. This will mean 225 to 750 gallons per hour (not going by the actual tank volume).

By using a small pump and pot scrubbers, I am sure you can use a five gallon bucket for your filter. Btw, buckets also come in seven, ten and eleven gallons. I have several that are close to twenty gallons. Find out what volume you actually need and then keep an eye out for the right size container.

Keep us updated, and good luck.
 
CHOMPERS;1107405; said:
A standard 75g (48x18x18) actually holds 62.4 gallons of water (measuring the inside dimensions). This give each inch of tank depth 3.47 gallons. The amount of surge volume a five gallon bucket can handle depends on the type of media and the size of the pump. Ceramic rings will take up too much volume and not give enough surface area in return. Pot scrubbers will probably take up the least volume and give the maximum area in return.
Bio-Balls will probably be the second best choice.

For turnovers you will want to choose between three and ten turnovers per hour. This will mean 225 to 750 gallons per hour (not going by the actual tank volume).

By using a small pump and pot scrubbers, I am sure you can use a five gallon bucket for your filter. Btw, buckets also come in seven, ten and eleven gallons. I have several that are close to twenty gallons. Find out what volume you actually need and then keep an eye out for the right size container.

Keep us updated, and good luck.
Click to expand...

thanks i think im going to go bio balls cause ive looked every where for pot scrubbers and i have found none, only thing i found was stainless steal ones. as for the turn over the pump i linked to has a 296gph with a 6 foot max height, so that should be good. and ive only see 5 gallon buckets ill keep my eyes open for larger ones.
 
I have a question about the pvc overflow, will 1" pipe be big enough to support the 300gph flow?
 
I have a 150 ga. long and using a 20 gal. clear acrylic tank for a sump.
I use a limit restrictor to protect bottom sump from flooding in case power failure. The 1" U tube is operated by vacuum (like ur using the Python to dump the water out) in this case the water is sucked to the sump tank. Than I have a 500 GPH pump to pump the processed/ polished water back to the tank. It's working pretty good.
 
soggysandwich;1107526; said:
thanks i think im going to go bio balls cause ive looked every where for pot scrubbers and i have found none, only thing i found was stainless steal ones. as for the turn over the pump i linked to has a 296gph with a 6 foot max height, so that should be good. and ive only see 5 gallon buckets ill keep my eyes open for larger ones.
Click to expand...

If you have any kind of dollar store near by they should have the pot scrubbers. I just bought 20 bags of 12 from a Dollar general store. Cost with tax, $15.90. Just my opinion but compare that to bio balls and its worth the extra gas to find the pot scrubbers.
 
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