Help with wet dry sump build...

[terd ferguson]

This is going to be for a 220 gallon tank (72" wide x 24" deep x 30" tall). It has a center overflow with three 1" bulkhead holes (2 for drains and 1 for return). I'd like to turn over the water as much as is practical to keep it clean and keep the fish happy.

Forgive me for not having an exact stocking list, but this is still in the early planning stages. Let's just say I'd like to have some monster cichlids (12" or bigger). And as many as is practical for a tank this size.

I can get a free sheet of 1/4" acrylic for the build. By my calculations, that should be more than enough for a box 48" long x 18" wide x 24" tall (roughly 85 gallons). Using the "standard rule" of the wet dry sump box being 1/3 of the tank size, that sounds right to me. This size should fit quite nicely in the stand I've designed.

Building the actual box is no big deal and an easy enough chore. I'm already half way there, right? Well, not quite. I don't know how big to make the different chambers inside the wet dry sump box. Also, how much room to leave for the water to go from one chamber to another. Etc., etc..

I like this design and it seems pretty basic and easy...
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83107

So, using the above box as a reference for my slightly bigger box, give me some measurements of the different chambers, the measurements of the spaces the water goes through from one chamber to another, how far the drip tray is from the top, how far the egg crate is from the bottom, etc..

Am I on the right track here? Is my box big enough for my needs? I'll get into more details (pumps, flow rate, etc.) later. My brain can only handle so much at one time. I'd just like to get the box built first.

Thanks very much in advance for any and all help and/or suggestions. And thanks for this great forum.

 

[terd ferguson]

Anybody?

 

[Danh]

That should be good. Depending on how high your overflow is set, you could run a lot of water through it. I have two 1.5" overflows fairly low at the top of the tank, so I can run a good 2500gph through them in my 180g. The more space in the tank for the water to rise above the overflows, the more pressure there is on them and the more water they flow.

My 180g sump is a 75g. I sat a trascan it in full of scrubbers, so most of them stay dry. I did have some baffles in it, but I didn't silicone them in very well and they came off. It's been working pretty well otherwise for a while. It's seriously a 75g tank with a 26g trashcan in it. The water goes into the traschan, out holes in the bottom of the trascan into the 75g tank with some submerged media in it and a pump on the other side returns in. Very simple, very easy to make. I had a 3600gph pump on it, but had to return some of the water back into the sump, because the 1.5" overflows couldn't handle it all. Now I have a 2400gph and the overflows can handle it all.