Setting up my first wet/dry and sump

[justin guest]

I think I can picture what you're saying but if you had a picture of a similar setup I would love that.

Sorry no pics. The sandwich would standing on its end with the different layers parallel to the front side of the sump. The tank water would flow into the chamber behind the sandwich, then through it, then over the overflow onto the driptray

The thing my mind is currently stuck on is the fact that it seems like there will end up being standing water in several places with this setup - the tank itself (as water goes in and out of the filter only from the top, though powerheads can address this);

Correct, powerheads would help

the overflow if I use a standpipe;

There will be enough flow in the chamber although occasional stirring up of settled mulm may be necessary

and that first chamber, where water also enters and leaves from the top. Or will there be enough water coming down through the intake (which will only use one of those two pipes since it's a single overflow) that it'll force water down to the bottom of that chamber so all the foam is used?

Even light clogging of the filter floss in the upper part of the sandwich will cause water to flow through the lower parts of the sandwich.

Also, would I want to use some foam at the bottom under the bioballs as well, as someone else suggested?

Good idea but keep the foam off the bottom of the sump with a few spacers to avoid dead areas and make sure air from the airstone still gets to the bioballs

Yeah, I've got plenty of foam so there's no reason to try to keep that old stuff. That's a good idea about the air stone and easy to set up. I'm also going to have the heater down there, unless people have tried that and noticed that they end up with hot and cold spots in the tank that way.

Heater idea should be fine. I´d recommend keeping the heater off the bottom of the sump though. You could use pieces of tiles as insulation.

Quote:
Really important - it looks like the two return pipes from the pump are installed in the tank below water level. these both need to be redone so that they allow water to return from the sump at the tank surface, otherwise half the tank will drain into the sump when the power goes out. Maybe this is obvious but you wouldn´t be the first to make this mistake.
I'm not sure what you mean here. How would the pipes ever NOT be below the water in a sump? Or were you just referring to that last small photo? Those are just tubes attached to that UGF, which I didn't even bring home with the tank. There are two holes drilled in the overflow next to the intake, each of which has PVC that goes up, out, and back down into the tank in the larger of the holes drilled up top.

I meant the dual returns

Made me think of another question though - does pushing water through the UV slow the flow down? Should I put the UV in before the split to the dual returns? The reason I ask is because with an air pump or a car exhaust if one side is easier, it'll all just take the path of least resistance and go that way. I don't know what kind of effect the UVS might have on that with water, having never used one.

The UV may reduce flow but I´d recommend putting the UV on only one of the dual returns as it´s important for the tank biology that some of the sump filtered water gets returned to the tank without being sterilized. Apart from that the lower flow rate will improve the effectiveness of the UV. If uneven flow rates between the dual returns is a problem for you then you can always install taps on the lines later to even up the returns respectively. This will also reduce flow in general though. I´d personally go with uneven flow rates.
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