Sump Question......What Do I Have?

[tommyfc3s]

i wouldn't make a second shelf there personally since other media is supposed to be submerged. the water level of the setup will only drop in the sump not the tank so you'd have to stay on top of the water level more so if it's raised. i have that entire area under the bio balls completely packed with media and i also raised my bio balls a few inches to allow more media and water (i work with acrylic for a printing company and made risers for the egg crate holding the bio balls and the drip tray). i'll take a couple pics of my sump setup later when i get home

 

[EricJ7182]

i wouldn't make a second shelf there personally since other media is supposed to be submerged. the water level of the setup will only drop in the sump not the tank so you'd have to stay on top of the water level more so if it's raised. i have that entire area under the bio balls completely packed with media and i also raised my bio balls a few inches to allow more media and water (i work with acrylic for a printing company and made risers for the egg crate holding the bio balls and the drip tray). i'll take a couple pics of my sump setup later when i get home

I added the second shelf thinking I'd put pond matrix (or something similar) in bags on it. Should the bags be just submerged in water under the bio balls? Sorry for all the questions. I'm a noob at using a sump lol


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[tommyfc3s]

Yea you don't need that shelf for regular media. Just get a media bag big enough to fit as much as you can underneath. The bag makes it easier to clean the sump out too. While I'm at it I have some pics of my setup from before I modified it and switched over to pond matrix and purigen. I had fluval bio max with carbon and zeolite in these pictures and the top propped up higher (ghetto version 1 was 2 plastic strips) to fit 3 filter pads. You can also see where the sponge would go in yours at the bottom of the divider.


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[EricJ7182]

After looking at the return tubing I think I should replace it. After googling a lot of wet/dry pics looks like a lot of ppl use vinyl tubing or braided vinyl tubing. Which would be a better choice?


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[tommyfc3s]

for the drain plain vinyl should be fine but i would do braided for the line going from the pump to the tank. i have my pumps with braided vinyl tubing run to barbed fittings on pvc pipes that run up the back of the tank with 90 degree fittings going around the top of the tank and spraying the water across the tank

 

[EricJ7182]

I'm hoping to get the missing parts and tubing this weekend and set the whole thing up when I'm on vacation


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[tommyfc3s]

excellent keep us updated and post some pics once its setup

 

[EricJ7182]

It's finally up and running!!! I couldn't wait a week til my vacation to put it up. Ty tommyfc3s for answering all of my filter questions! The only thing I'd change is I replaced the flexible tube and I think I bought one that's a bit too long but I figured out a way to make it work. It's really quiet idk why I thought the pump would be really loud.


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[EricJ7182]

How I fixed the flies tube issue


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[Nim Dibbley]

you dont want your bio balls to be submerged. you want the water to drip over them. so ideally the water level should be right at the eggcrate in your pic