Large Aquarium Sump Ideas??

[Egon]

I like the sump recommendtations so far, so I have nothing to add there, but I would recommend having your builder drill holes to accommodate 2" Schedule 80 bulkhead fittings: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulkhead-schedule-80-thread-x-thread-2.html

In my experience, the schedule 80 bulkhead fittings are much less likely to leak or crack; they are a lot nicer than the cheap ABS bulkhead fittings.

I agree, whatever size you pick, 1", 1.5" OR 2", have it drilled for schedule 80 bulkheads. Also the more drain capacity the better. Once your drains are in they are very difficult to change. If you need more flow on the pump side of things you just add another pump or replace a pump with a larger one. If you have the drain capacity. Also if you’re going to add a trickle system it's nice to have the extra drain capacity.

As far as overflow lines go, for the valves i recommend gate valves. I used ball valves on mine to make the herby style overflow, but when one line is under a siphon, the ball valve is realy hard to turn. If you just do an overflow and not a siphon is shouldn’t matter much, but if you ever need to adjust flow rate by valving a line, I would definitely do gate valves. Ball valves are hit and miss as far as adjusting goes

I couldn't agree more! Gate valves are made to control flow ball valves are not.

If possible look into a trickle system. I have a drain in all my sumps that goes out to my yard. The drain is in the same section as the return pump and set to a level with a 1" PVC 90 degree elbow pointing up and a small piece of PVC in the elbow cut to whatever height I want the water level at. Then run a 1/4" "ice maker" line from any cold water supply to the top of your tank. I set my flow to about 1 gallon of water an hour and never did another water change. 6 years now without issues.

 

[aldiaz33]

Another thing to consider is the efficiency of the equipment you are using.

Pumps run 24/7, so you want to pick the most efficient pump(s) you can find that put out the GPH you want. Using a less efficient pump might not seem like a big deal, but when you start to do the math, month after month, year after year, it really starts to add up.

I cringe when I see people running Mag Drive Pumps...especially the larger models...they are total energy hogs.

Quick comparison:

Danner Mag Drive 24 does 1,800GPH @ 5' head while drawing 265 watts
Laguna Max Flo 2400 does 1,800GPH @ 5' head while drawing only 84 watts

Say you had the tank setup for 5 years, assuming you pay the national avg of $0.11 per KWHr for electricity, the Mag Drive is going to cost you $1,259.28 over those 5 years and the Laguna is only going to cost you $399.11. Keep in mind, you are getting the same flow, on 69% less energy.

You would save $860.11 over those 5 years by going with the more efficient Laguna pump.

 

[Rayne]

Lots of great advice in this thread so far!

 

[Egon]

Another thing to consider is the efficiency of the equipment you are using.

Pumps run 24/7, so you want to pick the most efficient pump(s) you can find that put out the GPH you want. Using a less efficient pump might not seem like a big deal, but when you start to do the math, month after month, year after year, it really starts to add up.

I cringe when I see people running Mag Drive Pumps...especially the larger models...they are total energy hogs.

Quick comparison:

Danner Mag Drive 24 does 1,800GPH @ 5' head while drawing 265 watts
Laguna Max Flo 2400 does 1,800GPH @ 5' head while drawing only 84 watts

Say you had the tank setup for 5 years, assuming you pay the national avg of $0.11 per KWHr for electricity, the Mag Drive is going to cost you $1,259.28 over those 5 years and the Laguna is only going to cost you $399.11. Keep in mind, you are getting the same flow, on 69% less energy.

You would save $860.11 over those 5 years by going with the more efficient Laguna pump.

wow!

 

[jasoneri]

Tank is acrylic.
I totally agree with the pump efficiency post. I work for a pond supply distributor and we carry about a dozen different brand of pumps so it's nice to have all those options when it comes to finding the best pump. The only thing I disagree with you on is the laguna pumps. I do not plan on using a laguna pump (not a fan) and I will just leave it at that.
It would be great if anybody had pictures, that's the way my mind works. I understand it better if I see it rather than explained in words

 

[Egon]

It would be great if anybody had pictures, that's the way my mind works. I understand it better if I see it rather than explained in words

Some pics:

I like using old 55 gallon tanks. Last sump I set up I took some pictures, basically they are all the same. Incoming water on the left in this example. I like filter socks for mechanical filtration. Water goes through the filter socks then up through baffles to the bio area. I use bio balls, scrap PVC, old plastic pump and pool parts, what ever is not going to fall apart.
Then the water goes through the second set of baffles to the pump return.
Some of my sumps are drilled and some I use submersible pumps for non drilled tanks.
Also there's a shot of my sump drain for the trickle.

 

[aldiaz33]

I sent you a PM about your pump preferences; hope you can reply with your feedback via PM.

In regards to sumps, here's mine; it's not pretty and it's not perfect, but it serves it's purpose. I have three drains flowing into 3 large 100 micron filter socks. Water then flows through 6 sheets of matala, then through my pump compartment that has 20L of Seachem Pond Matrix.

If you are in the pond biz, have you considering going with bead filters? My socks are the largest I could find (8"x34") and they clog in about 7 or 8 days; I'm getting pretty tired of cleaning my filter socks on a weekly basis...the ability to backflush a bead filter seems like a really nice feature, especially when I am in my yard in the winter, blasting fish poop off of felt socks for 20 to 30 minutes. Although, I have heard that backwashing bead filters can kill a lot of bio and result in mini-cycles...this is hearsay, so I'm not 100% sure this true.

 

[tomomothy]

I'd imagine with 20L of matrix you probably wouldnt notice much of an effect if you had a bead filter and cleaned it. I think the key to avoiding the mini cycle they can potentially cause after cleaning is to have plenty of bio filtration. My understanding is bead filters are primarily water polishers anyhow, for the function mentioned above

 

[aldiaz33]

I'd imagine with 20L of matrix you probably wouldnt notice much of an effect if you had a bead filter and cleaned it. I think the key to avoiding the mini cycle they can potentially cause after cleaning is to have plenty of bio filtration. My understanding is bead filters are primarily water polishers anyhow, for the function mentioned above

I was thinking more along the lines of eliminating the sump alltogether and running bead filters exclusively so that you don't have the hassle of washing socks.

 

[jasoneri]

I would love to run just bead filters. I love them, I have them running our Koi system and would recommend them to anyone. But, they take up a lot of space which I don't have.
I have A LOT of fish in our koi systems and once the bead filter is cycled I haven't had an issue with it going through a mini cycle and I backflush/water change about once a week.
Oh, love the pictures. Thank you