sump project (finally)

[stingythingy45]

I used a 1/8 drill bit.
The holes are like 1/4 inch above the waterline.
I guess because the water circulates through a couple elbows to make it over the tank wall is the reason hardly any jets out.

 

[dakar652]

awesome....that'll really save me from having to worry about my sump overflowing ever. great idea...thanks.

 

[Jennifer]

Whenever I see or type that word I can't help but think of odd couple where Phelix explains to Oscar about a**-U-Me

Marco I think you are dating yourself with that comment.
Sorry. But I knew what you were talking about so whats that mean about me. LOL

Joander are the tops of the 2 tanks the same height. If they are or can be that would simplify the process. In this case you could make a U shaped pipe out of pvc. Basically a siphon tube, once the siphon is started it would keep the water levels in the 2 tanks equal. The more flow you have the larger the diameter of this tube needs to be.
Google "water bridge" this should give you an idea of what I am talking about.

I once had 4 display tanks connected this way. Water flowed through all of the tanks before getting pumped back to the first.
Worked great never a problem.
I can give you a lot more specs and details if you are interested.
http://home.comcast.net/~jennyleep/AfricanCichlids2.htm
Scroll to the bottom of that page.
I was going to post the pic here but it was way to large. OOPs

 

[Dave]

How did you start all those siphons?

 

[Jennifer]

For those I just dipped the tube upside-down under water in 1 of the tanks. Cap 1 end off with the palm of your hand and carefully lift that end up and over into the other tank. Being careful not to let the other end come out of the tank.
And wa-la, you could also use a piece of airline tubing to suck the air out. Tank water tastes terrible. LOL

 

[stingythingy45]

"Tank water tastes terrible. LOL"

Oh come on it aint that bad.
Every Reefer should rinse daily with it.lol

 

[Jennifer]

LOL Nuttiin like garglin with tank water. Who needs scope anyway.

 

[dakar652]

i always wondered what kind of repercussions this could have on the health of a human being...hah...especially w/poisonous tank additions like zoa's and volitans...not to mention the bacteria! kinda nice in the winter time though...makes me feel like i'm swimming in the ocean and just got swallowed by a monster wave.

anyone have any good seawater recipies/drink mixes? little tequila...little seawater...maybe some lime...sounds tropical, eh?

 

[Joel A]

wow.. jennifer that is awesome...

one worry though...with my return being a mag 9.5 (950 gph without head loss) that means a lot of water is going to get pumped into my sump... would this be able to keep up ok?

 

[Dave]

wow.. jennifer that is awesome...

one worry though...with my return being a mag 9.5 (950 gph without head loss) that means a lot of water is going to get pumped into my sump... would this be able to keep up ok?

That is too much flow. I used a MAG7 (~3 ft of head) on a 30 g sump and I would have been better off with a MAG5.

 

[Joel A]

well i've got at least 4 feet of head, and will be using 90 degree elbows which will cut down on it some... i also have a ball valve going into the return line that i can use if needed..

 

[stingythingy45]

Gee Jo,why push so much water through a sump?
You can throttle a mag back with a ball valve.....right?
How about T'ing off and sending some back in the sump that has your return pump?

 

[Joel A]

Gee Jo,why push so much water through a sump?
You can throttle a mag back with a ball valve.....right?
How about T'ing off and sending some back in the sump that has your return pump?

well that was more or less my plan.. i figured it will be about 600 gph after head loss, and with a ball valve maybe 500 or so... 500 gph running through bad?


Also, according to Matt L's table.. i should use a 1" diameter pvc, should i still use that or should i actually opt for the 3/4 to cut down the pump some more?

 

[Dave]

I would match the pump to the sump. You can throttle it but why run a pump that is almost twice what you need.

 

[Joel A]

i got it for half price, a mag 9.5 for 45 bucks brand new i couldnt pass up.. and i figured i could use it as my return... i'm probably going to swap it out for a mak external at some point...

 

[Dave]

i got it for half price, a mag 9.5 for 45 bucks brand new i couldnt pass up.. and i figured i could use it as my return... i'm probably going to swap it out for a mak external at some point...

I hear ya, The mag 9.5 will cost you about $5 more per month to run than a mag 5. After 9 months you will have eaten up your savings.

 

[Joel A]

ok, well i got everything up and running good yesterday...everything is balanced, only real problems i ran into was that i did end up removing the center brace to get get the sump in the stand (supported with 2x4's), and i did have to do a good deal of balancing to maintain the level of water in the display and sump (i did it by adding a ball valve to my drain line and playing with that a good deal until it matched the pump.)

I Am happy with the results thus far.

My skimmer has been up and running now for about 16 hours... and still is pulling nothing.. I'm wondering if i have it set up right....

Its an aqua medic turboflotor 1000, in sump protein skimmer and is being powered by the recommended ocean runner 2700 pump with needle wheel modification. Water is being pushed into the chamber, but no foam is being pushed into the cup. It seems like the water level in the chamber itself should be higher, but i may be wrong.

I'm gonna snap some pictures later of both the skimmer and sump itself so you can tell me what you think.

By the way Bob, the anti siphon hole works great...i drilled it a tad to large and it actually did jet out some water with the hole that size (it was a 3/16 drill bit i believe) my fix for the jetting water was to put a zip tie over it so it only dribbles out, the hole still works fine even with the zip tie restricting it some.

 

[stingythingy45]

Glad to hear that worked out for you.
You'll just have to check them once in a while to make sure nothing blocks it.
It might take a while before you get some skimmate collecting.
My skimmer a while as I almost doubled the water volume.It has to get a nice scum built up on the riser tube first.

 

[Joel A]

pictures

heres a few pictures, hopefully they work.

this one is just to show the return and drain placements, you can see the return in the right corner, and the drain in the left. I might cut down on the return pipes length a little bit, i havent decided yet.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f146/joander123/100_0461.jpg

this one is just a picture of the sump itself down below... not to exciting i know but it works.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f146/joander123/100_0466.jpg

These final two are of the skimmer... just wanted to see if you guys think it is working properly.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f146/joander123/100_0464.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f146/joander123/100_0465.jpg


Thanks.

 

[Joel A]

Looking for some help on the skimmer... its been the same now for 24 hours.. i'm not seeing anything rise up over the current water level at all.