Sump Question

[Coryd55]

I know that there is a return pump from the sump to the tank but how will the water go from my tank to the sump without messing up the water levels and what not. Keep in mind I have no overflow unless someone tells me where to buy one.

All i have is two holes in the bottom of my tank near the center. I figured on goes out and one goes in. I have the "in" and the sump figured out but not sure how the "out" will work and how to keep the same amount going out and in without an overflow.

 

[Coryd55]

BUMP.

Anyone?

 

[chemicall]

Okay the 'out' is easy........They will act as overflows moreless.......

Attach a fitting to the hole in the tank, then glue(or use some unions so they can thread apart) a piece of PVC pipe or ABS to the fitting, now the pipe you install must be as high as you want you water level to be. This way your WHOLE big tank can't back-drain into the small tank, only a slight amount of water will come back down. I would use both the holes and have 2 overflow pipes like this, if one gets clogged atleast you have the other., and your tank won't overflow. This way your waterlevel is always set and again can't back-drain your whole tank. If you don't use them both as overflows then your setting yourself up for disaster.

For the return from the sump run pipework up and over the side of the tank(since you only have 2 holes drilled). I would then build a spray bar from a piece of pipe to distribute the water, only thing you need to know about the return is to drill a hole in the spray bar where your water level is, if you don't your spray bar could suck back too much water to the sump and then the sump overflows. With the little hole drilled at the water level when the power goes out you won't get a back-siphon, it will suck in air and break the siphon.


What size are the holes in the tank? you have to size each overflow to be able to flow MORE than your return pump. The max GPH of your return pump will also be determined on the size of the holes you have in the bottom of the tank.

These are thing's that have to be figured out first, So let me know and we can continue on from there. If there is anything that is unclear in my babbling just let me know.......

 

[Coryd55]

I am almost positive the holes are 2" but they might be 3".

I am a little confused as to how to "overflow" works with the two holes. Is it just a pipe coming straight up out of each hole to the top of the water level?

If that is how it works then I understand the concept.

Thanks for the help.

 

[SketcHDawG]

I am almost positive the holes are 2" but they might be 3".

I am a little confused as to how to "overflow" works with the two holes. Is it just a pipe coming straight up out of each hole to the top of the water level?

If that is how it works then I understand the concept.

Thanks for the help.

Yep. You can run two 32mm Tank drain fittings and put silicone grease on the surfaces of the washers. Dont run silicone as the washers will compress slightly over time and if you try to take the play out, it will break the seal.
You will find that the noise of the water flowing over the drain can be silenced by adjusting the hight of one of the drains a little bit so that it siits sub waterlevel, and only a small amount is flowing through the surface drain.

Here is a pic of the drain you are after. Take note that you dont need the screw on 90deg bends or the screw in fiter grate. These are plumbed at surface level, I think your holes are on the bottom. They are refered to as TANK DRAINS or BULK HEADS. You can get them from plumbing or hardware stores for about $10-12 AUD. If you want some more pics, I just did a sump conversion for cheap. You can find the thread @
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249188

Post some pix so I can talk you through some ideas.
Any more questions?
I Hope I could help

Enjoy

SketcH

 

[Coryd55]

One more question.

How do I know what return pump to get?

 

[jcardona1]

One more question.

How do I know what return pump to get?

what size tank do you have? id aim for somewhere between 4-6x turnover

 

[Coryd55]

So it doesn't matter how big the pump is?

 

[jcardona1]

So it doesn't matter how big the pump is?

what do you mean? you dont want a 5000gph pump on a 100g tank. it should be sized accordingly

 

[SketcHDawG]

From what I know of your setup, I think you would atleast want a 3000 lph pump. Dont forget that you will lose pressure the more hose you use. Anything more than 4000 lph is going to be pumping the water up faster than it can drain. There is a really good drain flow rate chart as a sticky on here sommewhere. Check it out, it was helpfull for me.