OK here is the situation. I am running a large oceanic sump tank which supports a 210 gallon fresh water tank with natural fish. I set up the sump as instructed by my "local experts" in a very basic way and it functioned mediocre. Basicaly the whole left side of the sump was wide open where water gravity fed into it. Then water was forced through a couple bags of charcoal and a sponge element to the other side of the divider. Finally it would be pumped back up to the tank. It seemed overly simplistic and inadequate to me from the start. After managing to get the tank cycled in spite of the lack of good bedding for the desirable bacteria I did enoughb research to see what seemed to be missing. Most bio wheel filters or other sump tanks I found had some kind of bioball chamber to strain larger debris and give the bacteria the area they need. I had none of this.
Now here was the complication! The sump is so big it had to be positioned before the tank was on the stand, therefore its very hard to reach stuff and work in the sump area unless your a rubber person (and I am a linebacker type). I talked with some of the better personnel at my local fish store and they were both stumped why I was sold this filter setup as it was not the easiest or best way to get the job done. They were great about giving me supplies and materials from the back room to try and fix the problem however.
Here is what I did.........essentially I constructed a plastic grid material into a "cage" to hold and contain the 3 big boxes of bioballs I purchased. I could not build a chamber that was water tight and forced the water from the overflow stacks through before exiting the bottom (the typical layout I found online and in prefab filters) so I ran the downhoses into the bottom and back of my improvised box. Now the water does flow out of the "cage" in every direction but regarless of the flow it must pass through the bioball chamber to enter the main part of the tank. Not ideal but I'm hoping I licked this inadequate disaster for now. The rest of the system is running OK. Here is a diagram of what I built. Anything I contructed is in the red. Most of the work I had to do is in the circled area. Am I missing anything essential. Please no critics, just advice!
Now here was the complication! The sump is so big it had to be positioned before the tank was on the stand, therefore its very hard to reach stuff and work in the sump area unless your a rubber person (and I am a linebacker type). I talked with some of the better personnel at my local fish store and they were both stumped why I was sold this filter setup as it was not the easiest or best way to get the job done. They were great about giving me supplies and materials from the back room to try and fix the problem however.
Here is what I did.........essentially I constructed a plastic grid material into a "cage" to hold and contain the 3 big boxes of bioballs I purchased. I could not build a chamber that was water tight and forced the water from the overflow stacks through before exiting the bottom (the typical layout I found online and in prefab filters) so I ran the downhoses into the bottom and back of my improvised box. Now the water does flow out of the "cage" in every direction but regarless of the flow it must pass through the bioball chamber to enter the main part of the tank. Not ideal but I'm hoping I licked this inadequate disaster for now. The rest of the system is running OK. Here is a diagram of what I built. Anything I contructed is in the red. Most of the work I had to do is in the circled area. Am I missing anything essential. Please no critics, just advice!
