I know.........another sump question

[Formiga]

Looks good! Question, why have the pump side so large? My point being, you could have gone with a 30 gallon for a 180 gallon.


I try to enforce this when people are in the desige stage of their sump be the truth here is that your bio capacity in your sump will handle over a 400 gallon tank. Looks like 24Lx12Wx13H? = 61 liters of potential bio capacity. 20-30 liters would have been more than enough. I say that just as a FYI for future reference.


Ditto. Especially with such a huge bio capacity.

I've been wondering about this subject, I've been searching and have yet to find anything about chamber sizing in sumps. 20-30 litres for 180 gallon tank? 20-30 litres of scrubbies? Is there some rule of thumb for us non rocketsumpologists?

 

[Formiga]

Then I put some(too much) thought into http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88677.

So by assuming some things, a scrubbie being 3" round and 1" tall, call it 0.15 litres of space, so 133 - 200 scrubbies. Naw let's be more conservative, we'll use quality scrubbies, 3.5x1.5" say 0.3 litres. So 66 to 100 scrubbies, or 1 scrubbie per 3 gallons or 1 per 2 gallons? So for my 56G I'd need 8.4 litres or, 2.2 gallons of scrubbies? Then why don't I use a 10G tank for a sump, and use my 30 for something more constructive? Then I thought, nah. It's fun to overdo things, and I'm sure there's technical reasons why too much biomedia is bad, but - meh. Most of us haunt this forum because over doing it is a way of life!

 

[rickyricardo]

Looks good! Question, why have the pump side so large? My point being, you could have gone with a 30 gallon for a 180 gallon.


I try to enforce this when people are in the desige stage of their sump be the truth here is that your bio capacity in your sump will handle over a 400 gallon tank. Looks like 24Lx12Wx13H? = 61 liters of potential bio capacity. 20-30 liters would have been more than enough. I say that just as a FYI for future reference.


Ditto. Especially with such a huge bio capacity.

Because a 55 gal tank is what I had. I got if for $10. And like i said in my original post, the only thing I would have done differently is made the bio area bigger. How can you have to much filtration? And no offense meant by this but where were you when I was posting "help, I am trying to build a sump"? I got a lot of do a search replies. So thats what I did, and this is what I came up with.

 

[Formiga]

...I got a lot of do a search replies.

I've noticed alot of that, while looking for info on this subject, yet I still haven't found info on baffle height, and chamber sizing.
Too much flow might be bad, but I agree over filtered means well filtered in my mind.

 

[WeeNe858]

Too much flow might be bad, but I agree over filtered means well filtered in my mind.

to much flow over the bio media IS bad. you will not get efficient contact time with the bacteria. and true that over filtered can be well filtered but there's always a balance with how you filter.

 

[Dr Joe]

ACK!

Quit mixing metric and SAE!!!

The info is in past threads somewhere, 'cause I think I put it there (been a while).

I'll find it and post in a few days (I hope sooner).

Note:

Bacteria will only grow to accommodate the amount of nutrients available, so a larger than adequate (by definition "barely sufficient or suitable") volume allows for expansion growth. Too small and the bacteria grow over each other and you have die-offs that can cause filter crashes.

Dr Joe

.

 

[Formiga]

ACK!

Quit mixing metric and SAE!!!

Sorry that's the generation that I'm from, as a Canadian I grew up using both, most of us do to varying degrees.

...Looks like 24Lx12Wx13H? = 61 liters of potential bio...

He started it!

 

[Jgray152]

So by assuming some things, a scrubbie being 3" round and 1" tall, call it 0.15 litres of space, so 133 - 200 scrubbies. Naw let's be more conservative, we'll use quality scrubbies, 3.5x1.5" say 0.3 litres. So 66 to 100 scrubbies, or 1 scrubbie per 3 gallons or 1 per 2 gallons? So for my 56G I'd need 8.4 litres or, 2.2 gallons of scrubbies? Then why don't I use a 10G tank for a sump, and use my 30 for something more constructive? Then I thought, nah. It's fun to overdo things, and I'm sure there's technical reasons why too much biomedia is bad, but - meh. Most of us haunt this forum because over doing it is a way of life!

Its the siphon volume from the aquarium you have to worry about when picking out the size of a sump. After you have picked a safe size, the start doing some math to make sure it hold the right amount of media for your setup.

Quit mixing metric and SAE!!!

Its rare you ever see a filter on the market with a bio capacity listed in "gallons". Liters is a common unit used for volume in the filtration world so thats why I use it. We are not "mixing" the units together, just describing volume in a more common way.

How can you have to much filtration?

To much filtration is a loose term. There are specific areas in filtration that you can have to much of. Mechanical filtration seems like one area where you can never have enough. Bio filtration is where the limits are at. Using 100 liters of bio media when 20 liters of bio media is sufficient will not provide any additional filtration. Especial when 100 liters can filter over 700 gallons of water.

And no offense meant by this but where were you when I was posting "help, I am trying to build a sump"? I got a lot of do a search replies. So thats what I did, and this is what I came up with.

No offense taken. I did not see your thread.