Can someone running a Herbie tell me the necessity in having the drain outlets below sump water level? If this is 100% necessary then I basically need to scratch the bioball tower idea and then I can just fit a 20 gallon sump instead of the 15. I would probably end up using Seachem matrix then instead which I hear is very good if not better than the bioballs as far as nitrate levels.
need plumbing/sump suggestions on 92 gallon acrylic for overstocked cichlid setup
- Thread starter TimTheWiner
- Start date
Havi g the drains below water level will help keep the drains air free which you'll need to achieve full siphon...and its a hell of allot quiter
At the end of the day you dont have to run a herbie if you dont want to. It depends what your looking to get out of this tank, where is it located...in a basement or living space do you want it to be silent or is noise not an issue....do you care if you dont have flooding fail safes ?
No right or wrong way to do this only the way the best suits your needs
No right or wrong way to do this only the way the best suits your needs
My wife said she's not super concerned about the noise, but having the system function properly is key. If i eliminated the tower it would be less work to plumb and not have to buy a glass bit for cutting a bulkhead in the glass tank to connect the two. A single larger sump would probably just end up being easier for maintenance etc. Another small point of confusion on sump water level is with the use of baffles. It seems like you would have to pretty precisely figure the running volume and keep it topped off or after a week of evaporation then there might not be enough water to actually overflow from one sump chamber to the next?
Even though I don't really see a single drain being 100% clogged, especially if I had a screen over the overflow teeth, Murphy is no stranger to me so I like the idea of at least 1 fail safe present. More about the safety than the noise.
Ahhh mr murphey and i have tangled in the past and since then hes always part of my plans.
I couldnt help on the baffles or towers as all of my sumps are open lay out. Filter socks,bio media, pumps and gadgets. I had no need for baffles. Air traps arent needed and i wasnt setting up a refugium.
millerkid519
could probably better assist you with those questions.
I have two sumps running atm. The reason why i like herbie is because of the non herbie sump.
Its gravity fed and using a hang on the back overflow. Its really loud and doesnt allow me to control anything other than the pumps settings. The main reason i hate the thing is because it flooded my garage last summer. The over flow has a u tube that draws water in from the tank towards the drains. The u tube lost siphon (probably my kids messing around) which caused the main tank to flood. Its also very loud. Cant wait to upgrade this tank and get it out of my house.
I couldnt help on the baffles or towers as all of my sumps are open lay out. Filter socks,bio media, pumps and gadgets. I had no need for baffles. Air traps arent needed and i wasnt setting up a refugium.
millerkid519
could probably better assist you with those questions.I have two sumps running atm. The reason why i like herbie is because of the non herbie sump.
Its gravity fed and using a hang on the back overflow. Its really loud and doesnt allow me to control anything other than the pumps settings. The main reason i hate the thing is because it flooded my garage last summer. The over flow has a u tube that draws water in from the tank towards the drains. The u tube lost siphon (probably my kids messing around) which caused the main tank to flood. Its also very loud. Cant wait to upgrade this tank and get it out of my house.
I will have the same setup with pads/bio media/heater/pump, it just seems that with baffles you ensure that water is contacting each medium, with open can't it just flow "over the top" of some of the biomedia? Is activated charcoal utilized in sumps at all?
Nope i can take pics later but several members can confirm that baffles arent needed in terms of avoiding bio media bypass
jvc66
duanes
ragin_cajun
"can't it just 'flow over the top' of some of the biomedia".....
you are not considering the effect of diffusion in a solution. diffusion can even cause a measurable pressure difference across a membrane (which is then actually osmosis). What all that means is whatever concentration of ammonia is in one part of the water in your tank is also in every other part of the water in your tank.
So it doesn't matter if water "flows over the top" of the biomedia. If water touches the biomedia, then that water will have the exact same concentration of ammonia for your bacteria to take up as any other water that is bypassing it.
We have pumps and high circulation, and ammonia is being secreted into the water from fish that swim around the display tank. That ammonia then has to be pushed up and over the wiers on the overflows by the tank water, then dropped into the sump--plenty of movement.
Even without all that movement, there would still be diffusion of ammonia throughout the tank water--think about that commercial where they pour red wine into a glass of water. Or blue dye in a glass of water.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion#/media/File:Blausen_0315_Diffusion.png
you are not considering the effect of diffusion in a solution. diffusion can even cause a measurable pressure difference across a membrane (which is then actually osmosis). What all that means is whatever concentration of ammonia is in one part of the water in your tank is also in every other part of the water in your tank.
So it doesn't matter if water "flows over the top" of the biomedia. If water touches the biomedia, then that water will have the exact same concentration of ammonia for your bacteria to take up as any other water that is bypassing it.
We have pumps and high circulation, and ammonia is being secreted into the water from fish that swim around the display tank. That ammonia then has to be pushed up and over the wiers on the overflows by the tank water, then dropped into the sump--plenty of movement.
Even without all that movement, there would still be diffusion of ammonia throughout the tank water--think about that commercial where they pour red wine into a glass of water. Or blue dye in a glass of water.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion#/media/File:Blausen_0315_Diffusion.png
