Please help! Sump ideas for 360 gallon tank

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C

Cakilla

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 2, 2009
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Illinois
Basically what the title says I am needing some sump idea for filtering my 360 gallon tank.

I had some pretty crazy ideas of what I wanted to do but after thinking it over I decided to see what everyone here thought.

was thinking a 3 drawer system sitting in a good sized tote ( 100 gallon ) going to put in a few different chambers for the different kinds of filtration media and in the last chamber have the pump to put the water back up to the tank.

My tank is drilled 2 times on one of the sides of the tank and was told the top one is the overflow and then the one on bottom is for feeding a sump, but the holes it has looks to be 1/2 inch :screwy: should I have them redrilled to a full inch ? or inch and a half ? I want to be able to have a good amount of flow to keep the sump with water( I am going to make over flows for the sump as well)


Basically I need advise, I have not owned a sump before and need some guidance... I just don't want to throw something together and have it not work.... so please feel free to post a responce about any ideas or sugestions.
 
The theory of a sump is the same regardless of the size of the sump or the size of the tank it filters...

Thorough mechanical filtration prior to bio filtration will enhance the efficiency of the bio filtration...

Creating a section for plants will allow you to not only convert ammonia to nitrates but also remove nitrates, phosphates and other organics produced by the fish/food.

Bacterial colonies will only be as big as they need to be, so creating massive amounts of bio meidia does not equate to better bio filtration. Quite often this space could be more efficiently utilized. This is not to suggest you use no bio media, but it is to suggest you be logical about how much space you dedicate to it.

The solution to pollution is dillution... and the more water volume you have in the sump the more dillution power your sump has...
 
"My tank is drilled 2 times on one of the sides of the tank and was told the top one is the overflow and then the one on bottom is for feeding a sump, but the holes it has looks to be 1/2 inch :screwy: should I have them redrilled to a full inch ? or inch and a half ?"

I'd go at least 1 1/2" for both holes. And remember the size of the plumbing for 1 1/2" bulkhead is not 1 1/2"...

I've been down that road...
 
Take a look at my build that is linked down by my signature. I just finished a 315G tank with a DIY sump that will easily do a 360G tank. I currently have 2 overflow boxes with 2-1.5" bulkheads in each box feeding the sump. Make sure you figure out your pump and flow before getting the holes enlarged and then take the holes up 1 size to be on the safe side. Go to the end of my thread and work backwards to find the current sump. The first one was a fail.
 
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