tha Bait Shack
- Thread starter CHOMPERS
- Start date
The whole setup in operation. The main difference of this pic and the one earlier in the thread is that I relocated the pump shunt (by-pass) to the collection sump. Earlier it went back to the sump filter and the total water flow would exceed the capacity of the 1 1/2 inch pipe causing an overflow.
The black can is only a water collection sump or surge sump. When I designed the system it was entirely by the seat of my pants. I kept making changes for the next best idea. I started with the idea that I would buy an inline pump but I had several sump pumps. Additionally, since the equipment is outside, I planned for the water to just overflow from the sump if there was a power outage. I have a drip system and it would make up the extra water. When I did the actual calculations of the surge, I didn't have enough water in the sump to assure myself that I wouldn't burn up an inline pump. I had the sump pumps and I was also about to go on a month long vacation so I opted for the cheap way and used what I had. I also have two sump pumps in there so I can pump water out to water the plants in the yard. (Just thinking ahead.)MrRngr94 said:
THA PLUMBING (outside):
Ok, so the plumbing is a mess Here is the water path from the house, through the equipment, and back to the house:
The bottom pipe coming out of the wall is from the tanks. It dumps into the sump filter (brown container) then after flowing through the media it is onward to the black surge tank. From there, it gets pumped back to the house through the top pipe. Between the pump and the house is the red valve on the tee. That is to shunt part of the water back to the surge tank. This allows me to control how much current is in my tanks. The two lower tanks on the system are also valved. The top tank gets the remainder of the water. It is a mess getting it adjusted, but it works.
So far, I have omitted mention of the wet/dry filter. That is because it operates offline and it seems like it would make it really confusing to mention in the above operation. The wet/dry gets its water from the last chamber in the sump filter. It is pumped through the clear tube to the green tub (the wet/dry). The spray bars are directly connected to the plumbing fittings that connect to the green tub. None of the parts inside the tub are glued because any leakage drips back into the system. I can also make modifications without replacing everything (already added new spray bars). After the water flows over the bio-balls, it flows out the bottom pipe back to the sump filter. Yes, it is redundantly filtered but I can shut the primary system down and the wet/dry will stay wet. I have had prior experience with the sump pump that would run the show, and it over heated my 110g. Tha Bait Shack has a total of around 95 gallons when the surge tank is full, so the impending heat problem was known. I looked for a better solution but the real solution was a no brainer. I put the system on a timer to shut it off to allow for cooling.
