Sand sump
- Thread starter andy1985
- Start date
this looks very much like a Deep Sand Bed used to remove nitrate. one difference that i usually see is there is another partition after the foam and before the DSB. you don't want oxygenated water flowing through the sand or you won't get the anerobic bacterial growth needed to take out nitrate. the DSB needs to be 4 inches deep to work.
one other thought to keep in mind, if you are building this sump, don't forget about power outages. you need room in the sump for extra water when the power goes out and the display tank water drains down to the sump. otherwise the sump will overflow. this is easy to do by just lowering the height of the partitions between the DSB, the plants and the return pump. so that the normal operating height of water in the DSB, plant and return sections is half or so the total height.
good luck
one other thought to keep in mind, if you are building this sump, don't forget about power outages. you need room in the sump for extra water when the power goes out and the display tank water drains down to the sump. otherwise the sump will overflow. this is easy to do by just lowering the height of the partitions between the DSB, the plants and the return pump. so that the normal operating height of water in the DSB, plant and return sections is half or so the total height.
good luck
Long as your not running a protein skimmer in the first chamber you should be fine. Sand + skimmer != good.
I like it.
I like it.
I think I would add some PVC pipes extending from your first chamber(red) out under the sand. I would drill several downward pointing holes in the pvc pipe. I would worry that in your configuration above with any sizable water flow all the sand will just mound up on the far side of the chamber.
I don't see any use for your last two partitions? They do not look like they are needed to me unless you have some plan for them that you are not showing in your drawing?
I don't see any use for your last two partitions? They do not look like they are needed to me unless you have some plan for them that you are not showing in your drawing?
Just put the sand in one section - the section where your gonna grow your plants/algae. 4-5 inches deep and you should be good to go.
I dunno if I would put sand where the water comes in, it's gonna blast it everywhere. Fill that section with some mech filtration or something. Most of us put our protein skimmers there etc.
I dunno if I would put sand where the water comes in, it's gonna blast it everywhere. Fill that section with some mech filtration or something. Most of us put our protein skimmers there etc.
I didn't explain myself very well. Leave the sand in the chamber where you had it (where the foam is shown now). Put the PVC pipes with holes under the sand bed. The water will come from the first chamber through the pipes, out the holes then percolate up through the sand instead of just pushing it into a pile.
It would be interesting to see if/how well plants might grow in the sand bed?
If you already have the extra partitions in the sump I wouldn't worry about removing them. If they aren't there I like you new design better as far as the partitions go.
Edit: I read your question better. Although your new design is very similar to how a swimming pool sand filter functions I think the the majority of the water would overflow the top of the sand chamber pretty quickly. A swimming pool sand filter supplies water at the top of the sand bed and collects it through pipes with holes in them at the bottom. The big difference is a swimming pool filter is a pressurized system. Your sump is not pressurized and the water pressure from gravity to force the water through the sand would be very little.