Sump to Tank Ratio...

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B

brichter04

Feeder Fish
May 16, 2010
2
0
0
Savannah GA
Ok, so, I'm working on a new project and trying to get the figures right so I can do this right the first time.

I have acquired a 285 gallon tank. The interior dimensions are 119L x 23D x 24T. I am in the process of building my stand. Here's a couple pics of the frame that I put together on Sunday.

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/brichter04/IMG00115.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/brichter04/IMG00116.jpg

It's all 2x6's with uprights roughly every 24 inches. I am planning on wrapping it with 3/8" plywood and staining it. The tank is drilled with overflows in the back corners so I have offset the corner uprights by 3 inches to make room for the tubing to come down.

Ok, here is where I get stumped. I cannot find any one source that will give me a definitive number on how big your sump/wetdry filter/trickle filter should be compared to your tank. Most users on another site say 1/4 the total volume of your tank and another says 10%. If by that math, canister filters shouldn't be able to do the job their doing. An FX5 only has a gallon and a half water capacity. I guess my rationale is if you have more media and very high water turnover, you should be able to get away with less volume in the sump.

Basicly what I am looking at doing for this 285 gallon tank is getting two 18 gallon storage totes, 1 for each end of the tank. I want to put 1 inch bulkheads on the side as close to the bottom as possible with a strainer to keep bio-media out. Then I will fill the tote with bio-balls, ceramic rings or lava rock to act as biological media. I will fill it roughly to the top to leave one more layer of mechanical media. In the lid, I want to put another bulkhead right in the center to run my hose from the overflow. From the bulkhead on the bottom, I have already purchased two 1000 gph water pumps that I will use to pump water back up to the tank. I think this should be sufficient. 36 gallons before media is just over 10% of the tank volume.

Thank you in advance for the tips and advice.

Billy
 
The purpose of the extra volume is to hold the excess water that drains from the system when it is shut down. Canister filters do not have this problem as they are a closed loop system.
 
Pharaoh;4323741;4323741 said:
The purpose of the extra volume is to hold the excess water that drains from the system when it is shut down. Canister filters do not have this problem as they are a closed loop system.
Click to expand...
yup, thats what it's about. its not about being able to use extra media, since most of the media we use is overkill anyway. you can have all the media in the world, you will only grow bacteria based on the bioload of your fish.

i aim for a sump that's 20-30% of the tanks volume. you dont want an under-sized sump that cant hold all the water from the tank after the pump shuts off
 
I understand there has to be enough room to hold water from overflows and tubing. I get that part. Makes sense that bb is based on the bioload. I'm still considering the FX5. Cheapest I've found it is $229 on eBay. Not trying to be cheap but am definitely on a budget.
 
theres plenty of ways to make good affordable sumps. the tote system that ross is talking about works great and i have seen it on plenty of tanks. im using 40gallon garbage cans and a 50gallon tote connected together, so i can have my bio tower way above my water level.. the thing i have been told to keep in mind when building a sump is you want the full capasity to be 1/3 the size of your tank for safety when the power goes off, also so you have plenty of space to add all your media and mechanical.
 
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