New sump water return question.
- Thread starter Norwood
- Start date
Most commercial sumps do not have a refugium in them. That is why the bio ball chamber is the first chamber. I like your idea of having a refugium it just needs to be before the bio ball chamber for the bio ball chamber to be effective. You could remove the first chamber and have the water dumping directly into the refugium or just add a bio ball chamber after the refugium. I would add the bio ball chamber after the refugium myself. What is currently your third chamber, the one the pump is in, is handy to have for easily servicing your pump. I would add the bio ball chamber and make the pump chamber the 4th chamber.
It is nice to have easy to get to and easy to change filter media as the first thing the incoming water hits. This makes it quick and easy to change the media and remove the debris from your tank before it breaks down to nitrates. A sponge that you can pull, wash off, then return to the sump is a nice way to go. So are filter socks.
One of the GREAT advantages to a sump is being able to service/clean it without having to shut it off first.
It is nice to have easy to get to and easy to change filter media as the first thing the incoming water hits. This makes it quick and easy to change the media and remove the debris from your tank before it breaks down to nitrates. A sponge that you can pull, wash off, then return to the sump is a nice way to go. So are filter socks.
One of the GREAT advantages to a sump is being able to service/clean it without having to shut it off first.
If your pretty handy and the drains will allow enough flow to outflow your pumps, I don't see why not, but it's got to function properly at the end of the day.
As far as the design goes, as ougtsix pointed out bioballs are not meant to be submerged, so as long as the water drips over them keeping them wet, but exposed to more air than water, the design could work just fine, however............
I run both style setups. Wet/dry, such as yours and submerged media in a bare tank. The bare tank setup without baffles or dividers is, easier to clean, quieter and can be changed depending on my mood at any given point in time. It also it not nearly as subject to evaporations or fluctuations in water level and can be used as a qt tank for larger fish in the main display. Having both setup and running for quite some time, I can honestly say I will never run a standard wet/dry again.
One of the biggest arguments most say is in favor of a wet/dry setup is the supposed increase in o2 exchange. While I'm not going to sit here and tell you a good wet/dry doesn't have very good o2 exchange, seeing as all my tanks skim water from the top, or surface, the 02 exchange in a submerged media setup is just as good. The water's surface is where all o2 exchange occurs and seeing as both designs draw water into the filter, or sump, from the surface, it's a moot point.
My 300 turns over 7x an hour which means all water in the tank passes through the overflow teeth every 8 and a half minutes or so. more than enough 02 exchange IMO.
Wet/drys are fine and I still run a setup with one, but the advantages of a submerged media setup are something to consider.
How are the bio balls supposed to be ABOVE the water level, but water drip DOWN into them? If you could draw up a quick idea of what you are talking about and post it here for us, it would be greatly appreciated. Just trying to understand how to change the design.
Can you tell me what the letters in your illustration meAn, at least what is c and a.
I would assume A in the inlet from the overflow into the sump (typically through a filter sock) and C looks like a drip tray with a filter pad on it.
