Japes' Crappy Sump Photolog
- Thread starter japes
- Start date
japes;1763306; said:
calm down now im not pickin a fight im just amazed that for somewhere around 270AUd less i was able to build prettymuch the same thing.
chesterthehero;1765037; said:
So make a thread and also include a very well done write up....This is about Japes' sump, not a competition to who can build it the cheapest....Asking how much things cost is tacky as all hell anyway.
for cryin out loud im not knockin the kid and i didnt ask how much it costs he listed prices all on his own
chesterthehero;1765037; said:
I didn't take the ultimate cheap route on this as well you have to remember, and that price includes absolutely everything, including all the little tid-bits that probably didn't get a feature in this the photos like hose fittings. Getting a custom built glass sump is hardly the same as a Rubbermaid container.
PVC was the main cost, which is obviously more expensive over here than it is in America, but "Pretty much the same thing" is the difference, it's like comparing European cars to American cars, they both get you from a to b, but I know which one I'd have. I'm not saying my sump is some ultimate work of craftmanship, but as the saying goes, 'everythings worth what you're willing to pay for it', and the sump was obviously worth $450 to me.
bigspizz;1765196; said:
Haha Spizz, cheers mate, should change your avatar to the age police
Just an update, sump is still running well but silencing it is still proving to be a little bit of a hassle, these ball valves are tough bastards 
I'm new, and I quickly got lost in all the jargon, pictures of tubing, and floating mechanisms. In short, can you explain to me what this set up is for? And what "sump" means?
Private message, if possible, please!
Private message, if possible, please!
albirdy;1767429; said:
Well I'm still new to sumps as well.
Basically, a sump is another volume of water that houses filtration media. Mine operates in a wet/dry manner, which means that water drips over some of the media but isn't completely submerged, this creates a high oxygen environment that anaerobic bacteria thrives in. Bonuses of a sump are they're cheap (if you live in America
) and can have pumps that are much higher power than most canisters will run, they're also very customizable to suit the needs of your tank (pockets or partitions for different chemical filtration, etc.).So, this is basically how my sump works. The overflow, the big PVC pipe thing in my tank, creates a powerful siphon; the weird design of it is essentially so that if the siphon is broken, which will happen when the water level in my tank drops below the intake holes located in the top of the 2" pipe, typically caused by a blackout or pump failure, when everythings back in order (power back/pump restarts, pumps water from sump, water level rises back above the holes), the siphon will restart because of air pockets in the design.
This overflow leads down to a spraybar in the sump (You don't need a spraybar, but it's helpful), which spreads water over mechanical media which stops all of the fish feces and anything else that gets sucked up (and needs cleaning fairly regularly). This mechanical media sits on top of a drip tray, which is basically a piece of perspex with a bunch of holes drilled through it, which then spreads the water out even more to cover as many of the bioballs and other biological filtration in the chamber below, only half of which (in my case) is submerged completely, the rest is wet/dry as previously mentioned.
The water then flows through eggcrate (or in my case, a much more open perspex drip tray), over the top of a baffle in the sump (which helps control the water level for the pump) to be pumped back into the tank from the spraybar.
Here's an early drawing I did when planning the sump so you can see what it looks like from side on.
Why run a sump? Many reasons. They're effective filtration for large systems as numerous tanks can be run off a single sump. For a single tank setup, it allows you to flow much more water than canisters, as well as being much more effective biological filtration as the water agitation helps release nitrates, although this can cause evaporation problems. As you can see it also allows you to hide your heater.
Why did I build a sump for my display tank? A few reasons. Increased flow was the main one, coupled with the ability of have easily managed, changed, and cleaned mechanical filtration to stop floating specks that plagued my tank because of the river sand I use as substrate. Mine runs at 2200lph/550(?)Gph, which is equivalent of a high end expensive canister, but a fair bit cheaper and more manageable.
If you've got any more questions that I didn't cover, or if I've confused you more, feel free to ask.
