help with my sump

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J

JC_Biggs

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 26, 2011
17
0
0
Goldsboro NC
Hi everyone. First post. I need some help, i have a BIG (14") NASTY gold fish in a 30 gallon tank, and i was wanting to set up my 10 gallon tank as a sump under it with moving bed filters so that i could add a couple more fish. the original plan was to use a 300 gph power head i had laying around to pump water back up to the display, and then 2 siphon hoses from the display tank to supply the filter containers directly. Two 1 gallon hi-c bottles with air stones would contain the media. and they would over flow into the 10 gallon tank at which point the sump would pump it back to the display tank.

THE PROBLEM: i was thinking i could use the air port on the power head to suck the air from the highest point of the siphon tube. in the event i lost power it would start back up and run normally. but when i hooked the large hose to the power head, the air tube starting pumping water OUT instead of air IN. So now im stuck on how to keep my siphon going, or restarting if the pump starts back up.

anyone got any advice for this situation? Thanks

Edit, btw, i should mention the budget is pretty tight. so the less i have to buy the better.
 
I would look for a bigger tank on craigslist. That will help a lot, having more water and more room for your fish. A 30 gallon is too small for a 14 inch fish. He can't even turn around comfortably unless it has crazy dimensions, even then more water will help. Get it something closer to a 75 gallon, and you can find these on craigslist for not too much if you get lucky. You can find new filtration there as well. You won't really need to buy anything else.
 
i dont have anywhere to put a larger tank... :( bout the only choice i have is adding a sump and another 10-20 gallons of water via the sump
 
Bigger is better for the sump then. I know youre probably attached to the goldfish. But it would be best for him to get rehomed. But that being said, have you looked into the DIY pvc overflows? They are in the DIY section of the forum.
 
no i havent, but i will now. i assume a over flow will solve my siphon issue? i was gonna build a weir type i saw on another site.
 
yeah i was just gonna stick a tube with a sponge on the end down in the tank and let it suck lol. but ill build a over flow. doesnt look to hard
 
i think im right in thinking that the only thing i need to be sure of is that the over flow can supply more water to the sump than the sump can supply to the display tank. right? thats to make sure the sump tank never over flows the display tank, where as is the display tank gets low it will just stop siphoning
 
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