Sump Help

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
kewpiefishypewpie said:
Okay yeah I'm going to order another pump and another powerhead along with some metal clamps and hopefully that'll get me at least closer to having this thing set up.

Thanks very much both of you guys Fish Tank Travis Fish Tank Travis and J jaws7777

I'm pretty sure I need to shim the tank as well, when I filled it up today it wasn't perfectly level on one side.
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Yeah get it nice and level. Ask tons of questions. Look at some easy inexpensive diy sock holder ideas. Think about getting a heater controller like ranco or inkbird. Go with two heaters.

Think about what can go wrong ahead of time and find a remedy for it. Figure out where u wanna be gph wise.

Make sure you know the drain size

Woefulrelic Woefulrelic JK47 JK47 ragin_cajun ragin_cajun DN328 DN328 could help out too.
 
jaws7777 said:
Yeah get it nice and level. Ask tons of questions. Look at some easy inexpensive diy sock holder ideas. Think about getting a heater controller like ranco or inkbird. Go with two heaters.

Think about what can go wrong ahead of time and find a remedy for it. Figure out where u wanna be gph wise.

Make sure you know the drain size

Woefulrelic Woefulrelic JK47 JK47 ragin_cajun ragin_cajun DN328 DN328 could help out too.
Click to expand...

Great call on the heaters and the controller. I run two AquaTop 300W heaters that are controlled by an InkBird heater controller. The setup has been running fantastically for me so far.
 
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Hello,

Some hopefully helpful info (sorry for length)

- dual overflows that are 1” bulkhead diameter with a 1.5” durso drain. The bulkhead is very thin wall.

**Be careful not to over tighten these with hose clamps.**

- dual returns that are 3/4” bulkhead diameter. These are pressurized lines and require a hose clamp. Again, do not over tighten.

These two small returns are the lines you pump output needs to feed into. Go to the hardware store and ask for a 3/4” hose barb fitting. You are looking for a tee, all three sides are hose barb. Connect the two smaller lines to this tee. Then run one more line to the pump output. If you have to, take the fitting or the pump with you to the hardware store and ask how to connect for minimal cost. 90% employees can get you through that.

The vinyl lines are fine to leave as is (once you take the overflow off the pump) after adding clamps. It’s a common setup. No need for pvc and expensive plumbing for a tank this size.

It’s fine that the water doesn’t immediately flow into the tower. Many DC style pumps have a ramp up period which is a nice feature. 99% if sumps take a minute to get going through. Very normal.
 
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Just remember. For a lot of us, running a sump was a lot of trial and error (hopefully none catastrophic). You’ll grow to understand how your sump works and get comfortable with it over the next few weeks. I love a sump setup. I have absolutely zero equipment inside the tank and it just looks cleaner. You can do waterchanges with out startling your fish as well. I have the 6000 series of that pump. I love the ramp up feature and also the feed mode. Press he feed button, the pump shuts off for 10 minutes so that you can feed your fish without overflowing food into your sump and it starts back up on its own. Good luck and ask plenty of questions!!!!!!!
 
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Dixon81 said:
Looks like we have the same tank. This is how i set mine up. Mine also came with those barbed bulkhead fittings which i am wishing i switched out to typical slip ones.

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That’s a really clean set up. Looks good. To all of the sump folk, how often are you having to physically clean gunk out of your sump? I’m running a 200 micron mesh sock and it seems that stuff (food particles? Detritus? Non planted) is still getting past and building up on the floor of the sump. I vac it out probably once per month but I’d like to minimize it if I can
 
I run 2 - 200 micron filter socks and i lay a piece of 25 micron filter pad onto of my trickle area of my filter. I started this setup in February and just cleaned the sump for the first time. It wasn't awful either.
 
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Jhay3513 said:
That’s a really clean set up. Looks good. To all of the sump folk, how often are you having to physically clean gunk out of your sump? I’m running a 200 micron mesh sock and it seems that stuff (food particles? Detritus? Non planted) is still getting past and building up on the floor of the sump. I vac it out probably once per month but I’d like to minimize it if I can
Click to expand...

If you have the room you can tee off the drains and add another filter sock. I switched from 200 micron to 100. It helps but i still get some build up in the sump. You could also throw a power head in there ro keep the water churning and not aloow anything to build up
 
I'm late to this party and never got email notification LOL. After snow tubing with family set up a tank with kids...

OP, You got a lot of good advise here, including don't rush this ;-). Calling a few things that may not have been explicitly called out. Aside from correcting drain vs return hose line, make sure there was sufficient water in your overflow boxes - that may have also been why your sump was emptying. This indicates return rate is exceeding the drain obviously but double check once you correct plumbing.

Siphon break hole aside, make sure your sump will be able to take on the back flow from the main tank WHEN your return pumps are off.

I use braided hose inside my overflow box to connect to my return with a barb. It's a very tight connection but I also use zip ties for added measure. Stainless clamps are good too of course.

I use a Herbie drain witha third edrain, and what I mentioned above applies to your durso as well.
 
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