I am in the process of building a 315G tank. While waiting on the weather to warm up so I can get some Pond Coat I decided it would be a good time to work on the sump. I have had a sump before on a 220G reef tank. That sump would hold about 75G. My question, is there a recommended size for sumps for them to be effective? Do they need to be a certian percentage of the tanks overall volume? And what determines the capacity of the sumps? Is it the water going through the sump when it is in place or the amount of water the sump can hold? Filter Socks.. Yes or No?
Lets talk sumps!
- Thread starter BadOleRoss
- Start date
BadOleRoss;3839947; said:
please! anyone correct me if i a wrong. i am in the process of setting up a wet dry sump for my tank so i have been reading a lot around the forums about them.
-the recommended size i have been seeing is around 15-40% of your tank. 40% seems generous, but when you take into account power failures and the possibility of back siphoning from the return line and/or the overflow draining your tank to wherever the water line is for the overflow, this 40% capacity will be able to handle that backflow or continuing overflow.
- you can prevent the back siphon from the return line with a check valve
- depending on the type of overflow you use, you may have a lot or little freedom with adjusting the overflow water height so that if the pump stops working, the sump will be able to handle the water still coming into the sump by the overflow
- id say use a minimum of 75, but safer bet would be 100-125g tank for the overflow
- the size of the sump is the overall capacity. if you use a a 75g aquarium for your sump, your sump is 75g. the bio capacity is what will be far less than 75 gallons.
- although i have not used filter socks, i have read good things. they provide great mechanical filtration before entering the bio area, keeping maintenance of the sump down.
its suggested that your sump is 25-30% of your display. one of the main reasons is to account for backfill. when the pump is turned off, the sump will backfill a little bit until the water level is below the intake of your overflow. while it may only be dropping the display level an inch or so, you have to take into account that its going into a smaller tank. (1" of water in a 315g tank, is quite a bit more in a 75g).
also, the larger the sump, the larger your water column. a bigger sump will increase the overall volume of your system, and therein help stabilize your water parameters.
also, the larger the sump, the larger your water column. a bigger sump will increase the overall volume of your system, and therein help stabilize your water parameters.
My original design, which was based on the materials I had on hand came out to be about 64G which I thought was a little low. I resized the sump and the new one comes out to be about 94G which seemed a little better as far as size goes. My bulkheads will be placed at water level in the tank so the overflow will be feeding the sump. If and when the power fails, the sump should not get any more then 20G. Like the tank, my sump will be plywood, sealed with pond coat. Scrubbies seem to be the rage these days when it comes to filter media. I am also considering a wall of stacked foam of 30, 20 and 10 ppi and possibly filter socks. The sump will be 72" long so it leaves meplenty of room for different things.
you sure its only 20g that will backfill?
as long as the normal operating water level in your sump is not too high, and the sump can hold another 20g(?) on backfill, you will be fine.
as long as the normal operating water level in your sump is not too high, and the sump can hold another 20g(?) on backfill, you will be fine.
20 gallons seems slightly low, but if the overflow intake is not placed very far below the water level, it may be... but still seems low.
94gal is very reasonable, youll be a lot happier with that than a 75 i feel.
i am going to set up my sump with a combination of bioballs and scrubbies, although have not read much about doing that
94gal is very reasonable, youll be a lot happier with that than a 75 i feel.
i am going to set up my sump with a combination of bioballs and scrubbies, although have not read much about doing that
I have a design in google sketch that I would post but I cant figure out how to save it as anything other then a sketch program. 20G may be a low estimate but the sump should handle 40-50G of backfill when running.
Impressive..... I am also doing a ply sump on my 250g ply build. If it were me I would just use sterlite drawers with the media and just build a basic box. That is what I am doing. Coating that will be a PITA.
Bear
Bear
Using the perma-dri pond coat will be a very simple process. And, it should look pretty good sitting under the tank.