What size sump & pump

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carolines100

Feeder Fish
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Feb 23, 2008
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Ive made a diy overflow and now need think about the sump.

What size sump would be suitable for a 360 us gal tank with large fish and what size pump?
 
CHOMPERS;3490446; said:
For a sump, you will need a tank around 1/3 of the size of the display tank.
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Why?
 
FSM;3490592; said:
Why?
Click to expand...

typically for overflow reasons but it really depends on the design. my 125 has a 20g wet/dry and cannot overflow based on where the inlet is. granting the fact that it has barely 8-10 gallons in it when i normal operation. my 100g tank has a 55g wet/dry and typically has 40g in it. neither differ in the actual filter area design as both use the 3 high drawer tubs which have the flow from the tank at the top of the drawers and then trickles down into the subsequent ones before hitting the base. the 125g has larger drawers and thus more media while having a slower flow rate per tank gallons. The 100g has smaller drawers and less media while having a faster flow rate per tank size.

both work and neither can overflow but the design of the overflows and placement of the pump differs between the two.


depending on where the bottom of your inlets are you can size your sump or wet/dry to the gallons of overflow you have.

say if you have a 540g tank (8x3x3) and the bottom of your outlet to the wet/dry is 4" below the water level. you'll need something that can accommodate an additional 60g of water in the case of an overflow plus media and the regular amount of water in the wet/dry. in this case I'd use a 120g.

take the same tank and put the outlet 9" below the water level and you'll need to accommodate an extra 135g of water in the case of an overflow plus media and the regular amount of water in the wet/dry. I'd say a 200g wet/dry would then be needed.


not sure how those set it up when they use bottom drains but chompers will surely be chiming in to answer that and correct anything i may have misrepresented here.
 
For cost effectiveness i would use 2 55g's plumbed together with a diy overflow or a simple U tube.

And for pump size you just have to figure your total gallonage and get a pump that will turn your tank over as many times an hour as you like.

I have a 125g that has a turn over rate of 10. And it stays really clean, but if i were to do it all over again I would go with 15x turn over rate. And then i would never have to vacumm the bottom.

I also have a 75g with a 5x turn over and the bio is good but the tank needs weekly vac'z to stay moderately clean. If time permits I should be cleaning the bottom daily. Because with that low turn over there is allways something on the floor of the tank.

So IMO start at 5x and go up as far as your wallet will let you. The higher you go the less maintenance the bottom of the tank will need.,
 
I will be using a 125 for my 540G

I am currently using a 100G for my 450G central setup. IMO, its a bit too big. haha
 
I don't see why a single 55 wouldn't be adequate. Build it right and it won't overflow.
 
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