Help with sump set-up

[Grinch]

Hey Grinch is that poret foam or another product from Swiss?

I use thick 4" 30ppi and 45ppi poret in diy 55gal drum filters. But never thunk of using in this application

Yup... poret = reticulated foam. In this application it would be like adding a matten-filter to your sump. I bought a used sump on craigslist that was setup with a wide space between the baffles, so I stuffed a piece of poret into the slot.

 

[Dieselhybrid]

Oh Grinch me likey. Matala is very rigid, so will stay in place while wedged. Do you think poret would need support to stay wedged with higher flow rates? If it is being used as the baffle itself?

Would be easy to silicone a couple glass strips or pieces just for structural support to help anchor them.

 

[Grinch]

Oh Grinch me likey. Matala is very rigid, so will stay in place while wedged. Do you think poret would need support to stay wedged with higher flow rates? If it is being used as the baffle itself?

Would be easy to silicone a couple glass strips or pieces just for structural support to help anchor them.

I'm not sure if you'll need to brace it or not. I suppose the answer to that question is a function of the flow rate, how much debris ends up in the foam, the thickness of the foam, and the compression between the tank walls. Probably best to brace it.

In our setup the poret is slightly compressed in two directions (between the baffles and between the glass walls of the tank). It's not going anywhere. There is a fairly low surface area for water to enter, so if flow rate increases I would expect an increasing % of water to bypass over the top into the next chamber.

For us though, we're getting a very high pass through. All of the water goes through about 10" of foam (vertically). Here is a better picture of our setup... it's a work in progress and far from finished.

 

[duanes]

I put mesh bags on the bottom of the sump, where its convenient to grab them when they get full of gunk, as long as they are in line of flow it doesn't matter. and I do not get bubbles doing it this way.

I also put bio media in towers, that if constructed right, will fractionate out DOCs

the one above is sitting in a 75 gallon sump.
I also plant some sumps to help reduce nitrate
below is a planted sump

same sump during a water change

the 75 gal sump again

I put containers of substrate, old bio wheels at random, so If I want to start a new tank, these things are available eliminating the need to cycle the new tank.
and a filter sock on a line to the sump

the above sump had 5 tanks running to its 5 socks.
I also put intermediate sumps in windows for marginal plants

I never like to restrict my options, and have even used a 1500 gallon pond for a sump on outdoor tanks.

below video of a bio tower fractioning out waste, on a pond
koi pond fractionation

 

[jaws7777]

Im a fan of poret foam as well. Great porduct, i also used it as a "baffle" or divider for a period of time. I was using 30ppi at 2 inch thick and didtn need bracing just over size the cut

 

[GoldFinger]

This is all awesome information thanks everyone. I'm still working on getting a 75-120 gallon tank to use as my sump as I like the idea of possibly using it as a refugium if need be. I will liking do three chambers. First chamber having the drains with filter socks. Second chamber bags of lava rock or something that can be bagged as I like the idea of easy removal and staying low to the bottom as I would like to put my heaters in the middle section which would be the larger of the three. Third chamber for the primary and back up pumps and emergency drain. My BIG question now is how much media do I need for a 300 gallon tank?

 

[Bigfishnut]

Haha, your going to end up like me, my favorite part of the hobby is building and tinkering with stuff. Sometimes I forget that I have awesome fish to watch! As far as the amount of media, I'd probably shoot for somewhere around a 5 gallon bucket full of lava rock. Lava rock does work well. A couple of my sumps are full of it. I'll admit that I don't use just lava rock in those sumps, I also have a healthy amount of ceramic mixed in too. Doubt it makes much difference.

 

[GoldFinger]

Haha, your going to end up like me, my favorite part of the hobby is building and tinkering with stuff. Sometimes I forget that I have awesome fish to watch! As far as the amount of media, I'd probably shoot for somewhere around a 5 gallon bucket full of lava rock. Lava rock does work well. A couple of my sumps are full of it. I'll admit that I don't use just lava rock in those sumps, I also have a healthy amount of ceramic mixed in too. Doubt it makes much difference.

After further research I may just put a bunch of round pot scrubbers in the middle chamber with ceramic media (possibly put that in the first chamber to leave room for heaters) and use a matala pad as the last baffle to further clear the water. Thoughts? Hey this is fun

 

[GoldFinger]

One other thing while I'm still awake haha. Do you have to clean or replace your media and if you do, doesn't that remove all the good bacteria you have been trying to accumulate. Wouldn't the only thing need cleaning be the socks as they would grab all the waste (poo, food etc) anyway?

 

[Bigfishnut]

I really don't clean my media. I never replace it. Every once in a great while, usually when I'm making some kind of change to a sump, I'll rinse the media a little in tank water. I really don't do that very often. Eventually I plan to switch all my sumps to fluidized media. I'll never have to touch it again once I do that. I don't do the pot scrubby thing...just a touch too ghetto for my taste! Lol...lava rock is about as low budget as I'll go! I'm sure they work fine tho