Quick Sanity Check Please (Sump)

[Gervahlt]

Hi,

I haven't built a sump yet as none of my tanks have been big enough to need it and I didn't want to shell out $ for a return pump without a reason. I just picked up a 100-gallon tank that will either get its own stand with the sump that I'm designing below, or it will become a sump for the tank I have planned in 2012. If the second of those ends up happening, I still have to design a new stand for a current tank and this sump will be used there instead.

Obviously, due to the ambiguity of the bio-load needed for this sump I want to make sure it can handle a fairly large load. I also want to incorporate the mechanical filtration into this design instead of just bio as I'd like to eliminate as much from the display tank as possible. The heater will be placed within the sump and a sponge filter will be used in-tank to act as a backup in case of power loss. The following image is not to scale, but represents a 40 gallon breeder tank that I have. The pump is a Danner Mag 12 and the sump will be located directly below the tank, so maybe 8' of head (roughly 700-750 gph).

The mechanical media will be located on light-diffuser and will simply be stacked on top of each other with the most porous being on top. The bio media area will be separated by drip plates and will consist of a limited amount matrix on the top layer, bio-balls on the second layer, and pot scrubbies on the third (probably sitting on japanese mats that will be in the submerged portion). The bio-wheel is kinda thrown in as a concept as I haven't seen them incorporated into sumps before and I've had good success with them in HOB's.



Anyone see anything that I fubared or need to drastically change before figuring out the stand's interior dimensions that I'll need? The stand will be built first, then the sump, but I want it to fit under the stand well with plenty of space around it and that means knowing everything about it beforehand.

 

[Oughtsix]

Matrix should be submerged and the bio balls and scrubbies should be in the air.

Toss a couple of air stones under the bio media stack to improve the air/water exchange rate.

You should be able to remove your mechanical filtration without shutting off the flow of water into the sump (makes for much easier cleaning).

How do you plan on keeping the incoming water from bypassing the mechanical media around the sides as it fills up with gunk?

 

[Inglorious]

If you switch from sponges to filter socks then you will free up extra space for more bio, but socks can require more maintenance and aren't disposable like sponges are.

 

[Gervahlt]

Great points from both of you. Thanks!

I'm open to suggestions on how to make the mechanical media removable without turning off the sump - it was one thing I was trying to figure out earlier and failed to do so since it will be sitting inside a stand. The only two ways I've come up with would be to move the bio more to the left and create a slide out compartment that would contain the media, or to move the stand out more from the wall and have a kind of double-sump in that the overflow would drop into a container behind the stand and slightly above the main sump. That container could have verticle sandwich trays that slid into slots. Each tray holding a different media before the water cascaded down into the main bio-sump. Both seem overly complicated to me. I guess a third option would be to use a bucket filter on the way down, but again that requires moving the stand further out from the wall than I'd like.

As far as water bypassing the mechanical filtration as it begins to clog, I can see it happening, but don't see much of an option other than to make sure my sponges are pre-cut tightly and that I provide regular maintenance. I can see using a filter sock, but I'd prefer not to.

Great idea on the air stone, and thanks for the advice on the matrix. I'll move it to the bottom portion and make sure it's submerged. So bio-balls, then scrubbies, then matrix.

 

[Oughtsix]

I currently have a commercial sump with a filter pad. It does a nice job but I do get a lot of bypass of the filter pad when it clogs with gunk.

I have a 29g tank I am using to build a new sump. I am going to try filter socks in this new sump. I am thinking of using 2 filter socks (I ordered several different socks from McMaster Carr for testing) 5 inches in diameter. My thought is to mount both socks in a common piece of acrylic which will allow the first sock to overflow to the second when the first is full. I am also trying to dream up an easy way to move the incoming water tube so I can point the incoming water stream at one sock or the other easily... so I don't have to cut the flow to remove and clean one of the socks (or exchange a sock with a pre-cleaned spare sock) .

Kind of like this but with a movable incoming water tube:

In my current sump bio balls are the only bio media (With air stones under the bio ball chamber to provide a continual supply of fresh air). This has worked so well that I will only be using bio balls in my new sump. (I have 5 gallons of bio balls that I ordered off of ebay sitting at home waiting for the new sump to be finished.) The thing I like most about bio balls is there ability to break a pretty heavy stream of water down to drops which maximizes the air/water surface area for better O2 exchange. I thought of going the scrubbies route in my new sump but with some careful searching I was able to find an inexpensive supply of quality bio balls on ebay.

I have looked at various rubbermade drawers as a way to quickly access the mechanical media without having to cut the incoming water supply. I didn't find anything I was thrilled with but this was more due to aesthetics than functionality. This would, of course, mean using filter pads and filter floss instead of filter socks.

 

[jcardona1]

How do you plan on keeping the incoming water from bypassing the mechanical media around the sides as it fills up with gunk?

This was my first thought as well. You're begging for a flood by running a setup like this, unless there are ways for the water to continue on down to the sump when (not if) the media clogs and we just can't tell from the diagram.

 

[Gervahlt]

I would still like to figure out how to make the mechanical media easier to access, but I think the bypass would be easy. All I have to do is end that first baffle lower. That way, if the media got too clogged to allow water flow, it will simply overflow that baffle, but remain inside the sump before continuing on to the drip plate over the bio-balls. I never would have thought of it before I had a mess on my hands though, so thank you for pointing out the problem there.

Unless someone comes up with a way to remove the mechanical media without turning off the pump, I think this will do for my purposes. I'm not sure the bio-wheel is worth the effort to put together so it may, or may not, stay. I'll be adding a line with a ball valve from the return pump back to the sump so I can either control flow back to the tank or isolate the sump. I'll also, of course, have a siphon break on the return line for whenever I lose power. Anything else I'm missing here?