Fresh water Sump Ideas

[paulW]

this seems way overkill.
The sponge should be the first thing the water hits (mechanical filtration). The sponge needs to be easily accessable, as you are probably going to have to wash it out about 1/week.. I rinse mine out every water change.. they will clog.
I have my sponges over a piece of plexi with a lot of hole drilled in, so the water drips over the bio-balls. You want to plan so that if the sponges get too clogged, the water can still fall through (as opposed to getting blocked up and overflowing.. In my set up, the return line goes between four sponges, so any overflow falls through there.

In your picture, with the sponge under the bio media. the sponge is not accessable, plus you have unfiltered water dumping on your bio balls, making it messier.

I love UV sterilization, that's a good idea to put in.
Not sure I would do the plants in there. Why not use a smaller tank.. just a sump with sponge and bioballs.. Use this larger tank for a nice planted tank.. IMO, if you do water changes adequately, no need for a plant filter. I have never done the plant filter, but I see potential for plant debris to clog up the pump that is pumping the water back in the sump.

Keep it as simple as possible, have a spare pump on hand so you can quickly replace it if it wears out.
Also, don't buy a cheap UV.. My first UV was around $80 or so.. only lasted a year before it stopped working.
I got an aqua UV, made in the USA, built like a tank, and it has been very reliable. It is more expensive, but a lot cheaper than replacing the UV sterilizer every year..

 

[David R]

The planned filtration added is just due to me having a crap load of different types.. A pet store went out of business, I got all of it for 95% off… What else would you suggest?
I have Carbon bags, Foam pads, ammonia removers, Kaldnes-K1, Ceramic Rings…

I'd use them all except for the ammonia remover and carbon, the ammonia remover shouldn't be needed in ANY cycled aquarium, and I'd only use the carbon for something specific like removing excessive tannin or meds, otherwise it gets too expensive and it simply isn't necessary. I would suggest trying to incorporate filter socks as your main form of mechanical filtration between the big tank and the sump, then the sponge can just polish the water and/or provide additional surface area for bio. And I agree with the guy above who said make sure you can get it out easily to clean!


I wanted to do something for both.. I was thinking about adding small stock like mollies or something. Just for looks.
I think if thats the case and its lightly stocked you probably won't need much in the way of bio between the planted tank and the return pump, but you will want some for of mechanical (sponge, floss, whatever) to stop plant debris and small fish going over and thru the pump. You might just get away with a pond pump that comes with a sponge over the intake.

The main tank is 6 ½ ft x 2 ft x 4 ft. I will have a ton of cichlids in it. So maybe 25-50

I want to use an existing tank that I have so I can try out a planted tank. The Main return pump is a 3200gph submersible.. I was planning on using a powerhead for the Aqua 15 watt UV sterilizer.

Sounds like you've got the UV sorted. TBH if it were me I'd simply set up the sump for the big tank then set up another aquarium somewhere else to experiment with the planted thing. For me one of the big advantages with sumps is the amount of oxygen they put into the water, and if you're trying to design it with plants in mind you don't really want that (but your cichlids will). This seems like a very good plan if your wife says you aren't allowed another tank though!


Last thing; how much 'skim' is there going to be from the main tank when the pump switches off? Doesn't look like there is much room in the sump for that, which means you'll end up with wet carpet if there is a power cut.

?? have to figure this out…

Yep, it is something you need to roughly work out to make sure you have enough space in the sump to hold the water when the pump switches off. Make sure any spray bars/returns are drilled so they don't siphon back more water than necessary, how much water will drain back will depend on how your overflow is set up and the footprint of your tank. I've found with the corner overflows I've used the water level is usually 1-2cm above the top of the overflow depending on how strong the pump is and if I've got some sort of strainer on there. Looking at the tank next to me it has an internal footprint or 138x63cm and the water level is about 12mm above the overflow, which gives just over 12L of "skim" add in a couple of litres extra for the water in the overflow (I'm running a durso so it does siphon out a bit) and in this case I would want at least 15L MINIMUM in the sump (in reality I have more like 30L spare, better safe than sorry). If your tank is 6.5'x4' footprint then you're going to need a fair bit of space in that last compartment!