Sump newbie lookig for some direction.

[decoy50]

Assuming a 220G tank, 7X turnover is 1,540GPH.
Assuming a standard sump under tank setup with a 36" stand, you will have around 6' of head, so you will want a pump that can push around 1,540GPH @ 6' head.


The Laguna Max Flo 2400 pushes 1,664GPH @ 6' head on 84 watts.
Another option is one of the newer Variable Speed DC pumps, but they are newer and don't have the long track record of the Laguna.

In terms of plumbing, the easiest would be to buy barbed fittings and use reinforced (braided) clear PVC tubing.
1. Cut the tubing to size
2. Place the ends in near boiling water for a minute to soften them up to make it easier to slip them onto the barb fittings
3. Use hose clamps to secure the hose.

Research Beananimal overflow, or Herbie Overflow if the tank needs to run silent, otherwise standard Durso Standpipes are fine.

That's pretty much as easy as it gets in regards to plumbing the system. If you want you could use standard PVC fittings and pipe, but it requires a little more precise cuts and gluing.

Keep all returns at or very near the surface to avoid a backsiphon and always fill your tank with your pumps off, so that you do not overfill and have a flood the next time your pumps turn off. Or, mark the level in your sump where you can fill to, while still having enough capacity to accommodate water from a backsiphon from your display.

I like your idea of a big 75G sump...bigger is always better when it comes to sumps.

Good luck with your setup.

Thanks for all of this info! Plumbing the sump with tubing sounds pretty straightforward and is something I'm used to - its the same way I've connected all the hoses on my canisters for the most part.

How would I go about attaching ball valves to match my drain with my return pump flow?

 

[decoy50]

I'm also looking at Durso standpipes to reduce noise & help prevent loss of siphon during power outages or turning the pumps off for WCs. Do these get the thumbs up from everybody?

 

[Jc1119]

Durso's work fine. The major advantage of the Herbie and Beananmial is the fail-safe built in, but the Herbie and Bean are still even quieter than a Durso. I run Durso's in my garage and they are plenty quiet enough if drilled correctly. Start with the smallest hole size and work your way up from there. Over drilling the size of the vent hole can cause water level fluctuations in the box, causing partial flushing and this can be noisy.

 

[aldiaz33]

Thanks for all of this info! Plumbing the sump with tubing sounds pretty straightforward and is something I'm used to - its the same way I've connected all the hoses on my canisters for the most part.

How would I go about attaching ball valves to match my drain with my return pump flow?

No problem. Nothing wrong with sticking with what you know. I use a combination of flexible pond tubing, flex PVC and standard PVC on my setup. The nice thing about tubing is that you can bend it and avoid the friction loss from using PVC elbows. This makes for a more efficient system. It can also help reduce pump vibration/noise.

In regards to attaching a ball valve, if you are using Durso Standpipes they are not needed. You do not want to try to match your drain with your return pumps output. In fact, you want your drain to be able to handle quite a bit more than what your pump pushes. This is something that tripped me up when I first started using sumps too. Consider this scenario: your pumps are off and you have filled your display tank and your sump if also full. When you turn on your pump, the only water that will be falling into your sump via your drains is water being pushed up to your display by the pump. Only water being displaced by the pump will be falling into the sump. There is no possibility of a flood in this scenario, outside of a fish or someone lowering a return so that more water will be drained from the display tank in the event of a back-siphon.

Using one of the silent overflow options (Beananimal or Herbie) you would want to use a gate valve in order to achieve a full siphon, but you would have emergency drains to be able to handle any excess flow in the event that the full siphon drain gets clogged. It's a little more complicated to setup this style of drain, but not much more so than Dursos.

I'm also looking at Durso standpipes to reduce noise & help prevent loss of siphon during power outages or turning the pumps off for WCs. Do these get the thumbs up from everybody?

Dursos are great; I run them on my tank. They won't typically be as quiet as Beanimal or Herbie mainly due to the fact that water falling into your sump will be mixed with air, creating a crashing effect, but they work well.

*John gave good advice on setting up Dursos.

 

[decoy50]

Thanks for the tips! Yall have given me some areas to check out, I'm sure I'll have more specific questions as I dig deeper into this info.

I've got some time before I start this project, I first need to enclose my porch that I'll be turning into a small fishroom. Good thing about this is sump noise won't be a huge issue - doesn't mean I want it to sound like a waterfall in there though!