Help understanding sump setup with a continuous drip system...

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Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 7, 2008
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I want these two things. A sump, and a continuous drip system. The sump will be below the main tank, on floor level.

The main tank will have a weir installed, draining to the sump, with return pump - as is normal.

Where does the drip system fit in in terms of draining the excess water from the tank/sump?

Do I drill the sump at the side and let it drain out that way when it reaches a certain level? Or do I install an overflow box? Since the Sump is floor level, will everything be ok in terms of gravity? I would need to run the outflow for a fair bit to an outside drain.

Any help appreciated, thanks!
 
Yep, just like you said--that's what I did. I drilled a hole in the side of my sump about 3 inches from the bottom. I put bulkhead, screwed a PVC elbow into the bulkhead, pointed it up at the ceiling. I cut a piece of PVC pipe to length and stuck it in the bulkhead, so now I have a little standpipe inside the sump. Water level in the sump rises as the drip runs. When water level gets high enough to overflow the top of the standpipe, excess water drains down the standpipe, through the elbow and bulkhead, to another piece of PVC that goes outside through the wall in my fishroom.
 
Great. Sounds perfect. That's what I'll do for sure. I assume your pipe that goes through the wall etc remains below the level of the drilled hole? It's just that I'm a bit concerned with the distance that the water will need to travel when it exits my sump to the outside drain. Does it need to be like angled down for gravity purposes?
 
Just an observation, a drip system does not eliminate the need for water changes.
In a 500 gallon system, if you drip 100 gallons per week, that is at best (not counting for the small % of water that simply overflows) a 20% water change, and the buffering capacity of a drip can easily be neutralized almost immediately by metabolism byproducts such as fish urine, etc.
But a large vacuum of detritus twice per week, and replacement of the vacuumed water in tandem with a drip would be reasonable.
 
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I drilled the pipe for the intake and put the drip hose there. Like Duane's said, if your goal is to eliminate water changes, you need to at least quadruple the tank capacity in water dripped. That is a lot of water in a large system. I shut mine off when I realized the amount of water it took to keep my water where I wanted it.
 
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rodger said:
I drilled the pipe for the intake and put the drip hose there. Like Duane's said, if your goal is to eliminate water changes, you need to at least quadruple the tank capacity in water dripped. That is a lot of water in a large system. I shut mine off when I realized the amount of water it took to keep my water where I wanted it.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about that. I have a 540 gallon tank, I drip 420 gallons a week. When I test nitrates, the test is yellow.
 
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If you (like Ragin Cajun) were to drip 400+ gallons in a 500+ tank per week, that's an 80% water change, which I consider a perfectly adequate amount.
As long as that's kind of goal is adhered to, it should work well. Especially if detritus wasn't a problem, and wasn;t building up.
But I believe when many think of "drip", they may be talking about a drip of (at best) 100 gallons in a 500 gal tank per week, which to me, would seem a bit wimpy.
 
So would a glass bottom, substrate free tank be water changeless? With perhaps a 50% weekly turnover?
I have been thinking setting my new tanks up this way. A hard rock bottom actually.
 
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