turning a 125 into a sump

[jeffers]

well giving up on the barrel design as its becoming a headache and going to 125 gallon glass tank. it has a 2" hole drilled into the bottom on one end. im putting a bulkhead on this and valving it straight to my pump that is a reeflo hammerhead. there will be 3 2" pipes coming from my overflow into the sump. i need some suggestions and some designs. i have been looking and looking and book marked a few that i liked but i am hoping some of you master designers can draw me something up. i would also like a refuge in the sump as it is big enough. and i have a 55 gallon barrel full of media that i can put into the tank (media not the barrel lol). tank is 6'x18"x21".

 

[BadOleRoss]

I would keep the design as simple as possible. Having the water enter one end of the sump and go through a prefilter area, then into your refuge, and have that overflow onto a drip plate and flow through your media and to the return pump. Figuring the prefilter area would take up about 5-6", the refuge could be 30" leaving you about 24" for filter media and a small area at the end for the return pump. Damn, thats a nice sump! Something like this....sorry for the paint drawing!

 

[jeffers]

i like the way it looks. the ony thing is maybe bring the first baffle down a little bit to prevent overflows that way i can put sponges in between the two baffles. and also remember that the pump will be out of the tank as the hole is about 2" away from the side wall . so in theory i could go closer to it. also the reason for the refuge is for trouble fish and maybe plants.... i like how you put it first. do you think i need it or what do you think. also thank you very much for the design.

 

[BadOleRoss]

I dont see the need for a refuge in a FW tank. In a SW tank they serve a purpose because nitrates can be harder to battle and its a great place for live rock and other SW stuff. In a freshwater tank with a wet/dry that size you could load it up with bioballs, Poret Foam, whatever and nitrates wont have a chance. I run 2-50G sumps made out of rubbermaid totes under my 315G tank and nitrates, nitrites and ammonia are always zero. Cleaning is very simple and because I use Poret foam I wont have to clean that very often. My foam sitts about 7" off the bottom of my sump in a smaller 15G tote with giant holes in the bottom if it. I have a piece of 20ppi foam, a piece of 30ppi foam, a 100 micron fitler pad and a 50 micron filter pad in the smaller tote. The water dumps straight into the small tote onto a drip plate that is covered with a piece of that blue/white filter pad material you can find at most LFS. It goes through that tote and empties into the larger tote where it is pumped into the tank.

 

[Pharaoh]

I am sold on this design.

 

[jeffers]

i see what you mean ross. i was just curious as i knew it was usefull in salt water and i figured since i have the space it would be nice if i need to take a fish out of the main tank for serperation it would be nice to have a nice large spot for them. i was also thinking about plants in there.

and pharoah i like the design also as thats a great proven design but with the length i have would i just do that twice one after another drip. as if i do one really long one i just dont see it going all the way down with the drip and i have so much wasted media in there. thats why im having troubles as the biggest one i have seen that i like was a 55 with a nice set up. but it came in straight to the drip plate in 3 different places.

 

[BadOleRoss]

Having a place to put troubled fish is a good idea as long as they are easily trmoved from the sump and there is no chance that they will get caught up in the pump. I like Pharaohs design but I feel that some of the scrubbies are using there effectiveness since they are sitting underwater. I think a true wet/dry design where the media stay wet but is not underwater is the way to go. I am also not a scrubbie fan if other medias such as bioball/foam is available. There is a thread around someplace where all the different filter medias were studied and reportedly water flows straight through scrubbies not taking full advantage of their surface area. Water flows different through bioball and foam so the surface area is not wasted. Scrubbies clearly work, I just think there are better options. A nice big drip plate is a great idea just make sure water keeps your media wet and you dont have any dry spots. One way to accomplish this is make it so your drip plate is almost big enough to handle the flow but a little water is designed to flow over the edges of the drip plate as like an overflow.

 

[Pharaoh]

i see what you mean ross. i was just curious as i knew it was usefull in salt water and i figured since i have the space it would be nice if i need to take a fish out of the main tank for serperation it would be nice to have a nice large spot for them. i was also thinking about plants in there.

and pharoah i like the design also as thats a great proven design but with the length i have would i just do that twice one after another drip. as if i do one really long one i just dont see it going all the way down with the drip and i have so much wasted media in there. thats why im having troubles as the biggest one i have seen that i like was a 55 with a nice set up. but it came in straight to the drip plate in 3 different places.

I will admit that my design could be modified a bit to get better flow over the drip plate. Also, I could have decreased the biomedia section a bit. Next time I will give myself more room for the filter socks. If you can add more filter socks, it will just decrease your maintenance schedule a bit.

I would recommend a 75G sump for pretty large tanks. What size tank are you running this on? I have this filtering 6 - 30G tanks. If it was one large tank with less plumbing, I would definitely use this design on a 300G tank.

 

[jeffers]

this will be running on a 250 for the time being. but when i upgrade like i know i have to i want to be able to switch as i want to go at least 500. so already having the big filter will be nice to have everything worked out. also i dont have an extra 75 but i do have 2 extra 125's and having one with a hole already drilled in the bottom works out. plus i have the large pump already. so 125 will end up being the way to go. i drilled the tank for a barracuda and sump. with 3 2" holes. also i plan on keeping the 250 for a grow out tank. tank and if i really like the setup i can use my other 125 for it.... and pharoah what do you mean add more filter socks. like one for each pipe or overlapping socks?

and ross i would like to see this thread if you know where its at. and also was this test submerged or with wet dry. if so i have about half bio balls and half scrubbies. so would it be better to have the balls on the wet dry part and the scrubbies always submerged?

 

[Pharaoh]

this will be running on a 250 for the time being. but when i upgrade like i know i have to i want to be able to switch as i want to go at least 500. so already having the big filter will be nice to have everything worked out. also i dont have an extra 75 but i do have 2 extra 125's and having one with a hole already drilled in the bottom works out. plus i have the large pump already. so 125 will end up being the way to go. i drilled the tank for a barracuda and sump. with 3 2" holes. also i plan on keeping the 250 for a grow out tank. tank and if i really like the setup i can use my other 125 for it.... and pharoah what do you mean add more filter socks. like one for each pipe or overlapping socks?

and ross i would like to see this thread if you know where its at. and also was this test submerged or with wet dry. if so i have about half bio balls and half scrubbies. so would it be better to have the balls on the wet dry part and the scrubbies always submerged?

If I had it to do all over again, I would give a little more room. You could have a little more room for bigger filters socks. Bigger socks = less changing.

Reality is, any media will work. 99% of the people that have sumps probably have too much bio media in their setup. I am one of those people. Go with what is the cheapest and most easily obtained. They will all work.