my sump.. LOAD WARNING!!

[Bsixxx]

Finaly got around to posting pictures of my DIY sump
sump is made out of a 55 gallon glass tank, and acrylic sheets. The differn't media boxes are 14L plastic boxes from target, with hole drilled in them.

Over view.

top/prefilter padding

middle

bottom layer

top layer is a mix of different types of filter pads, middle layer is a mix of crushed lava rock and that ceramic rings stuff, and last layer is mostly cleaning sponges and left over filter pads..


enjoy

 

[USMCtanker]

very nice, im gonna be makeing one that size soon. thanks for the ideas

 

[Bsixxx]

very nice, im gonna be makeing one that size soon. thanks for the ideas

your welcome, as you can see I suck at making DIY things, you can see the empty space behind the filter media where i was planning on putting filter socks and heaters, but it leaked and I got frustrated so just did this..

 

[USMCtanker]

your welcome, as you can see I suck at making DIY things, you can see the empty space behind the filter media where i was planning on putting filter socks and heaters, but it leaked and I got frustrated so just did this..

ya i make the same mistakes doing diy things lol, as long as it works lol

 

[Bsixxx]

ya i make the same mistakes doing diy things lol, as long as it works lol

yeah, took me about 2 weeks to get it going perfect

LOL

but I am proud of myself

 

[Alan Russell]

I'm still not 100% sure how a sump works. So you have a pump pumping water from the tank into the sump and an additional pump of equal gph pumping in back? Am I close or not even in the ball park?

 

[Alan Russell]

Also, does it do anything other than simply filter the water? Could you add a heater and eliminate the heater from the tank?

 

[Danger_Chicken]

I'm still not 100% sure how a sump works. So you have a pump pumping water from the tank into the sump and an additional pump of equal gph pumping in back? Am I close or not even in the ball park?

Pretty close, if the tank is drilled it gravity feeds water to the sump. If it has hang-on overflows I think it still works off of shiphoning and not a pump but I'm not sure. A pump is required to get the water back to the tank. The size of the overflow tubing will determine the gph being drained, this is further reduced by elbows in the plumbing. 1" will produce 600-700gph from the overflow. Pumping back to the tank is affected the same way with the addition of "head" lowering the gph, which is the height the pump has to pump the water up to the tank.

Also, does it do anything other than simply filter the water? Could you add a heater and eliminate the heater from the tank?

you can add an inline heater or possibly add the heater to the sump

 

[Alan Russell]

Can you help me understand why you have 3 levels that the water flows through and what is in them.

 

[Bsixxx]

Can you help me understand why you have 3 levels that the water flows through and what is in them.

sure

First level is prefilter and different types of filter pads from bio,chemical,mechanical to get the big stuff, second level is for mechanical and is filled with cruched lava rock and ceramic rings, third level is sponges for bio to build up bacteria...
I am not really a great person to explin this, but that is what i am told they do..
all I know is that my tank is crystal clear all the time and all water parems are perfect...