55 gallon sump for my 300

[rotccapt]

hi all i got a steel on a 55 gallon long tank that will be my sump for my 300 gallon plywood tank i am building. after much deliberation i have decided to go with pot scrubbies for my bio filtration. i will be using quilt batting for my mechanical filtration. so what do you think of my design?

the tank is made from 1/2 inch glass and i am planning on using 1/4 inch glass for my baffles. is that thick enough? my return pump will be a mag 18.

 

[MikeOway]

You should really consider using filter sock for mechanical filtration. I am cycling my newly setup tank and filter with 2 50 micron socks and I don't think I will ever use a sump or wetdry w/o one ever again.

 

[rotccapt]

i was going to do socks but in order to use them i would loose too much space in the sump and also with the quilt batting i can get it locally and if i want i can add some felt into the tray to get finer filtration

 

[MikeOway]

You can use the socks w/o the big ring. just hang it on the inlet to the sump. I've used w/d before w/ only pads on top of the drip tray for mech filtration and over time there is a layer of crap under the bio balls. Just remember if you do it right the first time, you dont have to mess w/ it again when everything is running w/ fishes. you can use your quilt batting for secondary mech filtration.

What ever route you choose update w/ pics. Goodluck

 

[rotccapt]

so i had a though about incorporating a couple 4x14 inch 50micron socks into my sump. the biggest thing i have heard about them is that they clog up real fast so i though why not add some quilt batting in before the socks to catch the larger particles before they get to the socks what do you think of my idea?

 

[flowingmotion]

In this design your pot scrubbies are going to be mostly submerged. So no wet/dry. If thats what you want you may as well eliminate the drip plate and just have the entire pot scruby section be submerged. If you were going more for a wet/dry setup, you need to lower the baffles in the next few sections to lower the water level.


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[flowingmotion]

so i had a though about incorporating a couple 4x14 inch 50micron socks into my sump. the biggest thing i have heard about them is that they clog up real fast so i though why not add some quilt batting in before the socks to catch the larger particles before they get to the socks what do you think of my idea?

The batting catches the big stuff and the filter socks being much finer catch the rest. Down to 200 microns anyway. So it will clog less quickly but you would have to try it to see how much. Also, if you dont clean the batting fairly often, it will just break down and end up in the filter sock anyway.


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[rodger]

Why such a large area for the pump?

 

[dangerhack]

hi all i got a steel on a 55 gallon long tank that will be my sump for my 300 gallon plywood tank i am building. after much deliberation i have decided to go with pot scrubbies for my bio filtration. i will be using quilt batting for my mechanical filtration. so what do you think of my design?

the tank is made from 1/2 inch glass and i am planning on using 1/4 inch glass for my baffles. is that thick enough? my return pump will be a mag 18.

View attachment 822967

You have a 55 gallon tank with half in glass ???


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[rotccapt]

yes the tank is 1/2 inch glass i have no idea why it is so thick it surprised me a lot when i showed up to buy it.

i would like to keep the pump section big so that i dont have to top off the tank as much. also the drip tray is there to make sure there is an even flow through the bio.

do you think as wet/dry section would be beneficial? stock for the tank is sa/ca cichlids