Any suggestions for my sump?

[Anderman]

I put some down spouts on my bulkheads on the water coming into the sump to make it quite and so I can attach some filter socks to them. I have the bottom layered with aquaclear 110 foams with filter pad on top and another biological type wire on top of that and some carbon and ammonia remover. The problem is the water comes in and doesn't have to pass through anything before it flows to the drip plate. So I am not catching the particles like I should so I put the down spouts on so I can attach filter socks to them. I know these plug up easy so does anyone have any other ideas that would catch the particles but wouldn't have to be cleaned all the time? I have no ledges on this side of this compartment so I can't put the foams higher for the water to flow through. So Should I stick with my original idea?

 

[Pharaoh]

You could get some pieces of acrylic and silicone them to the side of the sump. The ledges will give you something to place the drip plate on.

 

[rallysman]

put a vertical piece of acrylic between the overflows and the drip plate. Leave a gap in the bottom, and stuff sponges between the wall of the bio area and the new acrylic plate. That way, water will go in just like it is, go under the new plate, up through the sponges, and onto the drip tray.

 

[Anderman]

I think I painted the wrong picture. Here is what it looked before I filled it. I have a square compartment where the water comes in and it has a vertical piece of glass that bloacks the water until a certain height then it flows into the drip plate. In the picture where its empty you can see on the far side where the water comes into the compartment and fills up and overflows into the drip plate.

 

[Pharaoh]

Well, then you have two options. You could either put mechanical filter media on the drip plate. This will help filter the water as it is falling through the drip plate. Your other option is to stuff the area where the water comes in with filter media such as quilt batting. This will filter the water as soon as it comes out of the overflow lines. You could also do both.

 

[chesterthehero]

switch to the mesh style filtersocks and just empty them out now and then
put a block of foam/scrubbies on the drip plate
put a bunch of foam/scrubbies in the first area of your sump



i do all 3.. works great

 

[Dracor]

Easy solution! Silicone a piece of eggcrate to just above the block wall that spills water into the drip plate, but place some filter padding on the eggcrate and walla, you have a prefilter setup on your sump!