I recently bought a 4ft long x 2ft x 2ft id like to start cycling for a tropical setup but im having issues with water levels in the main tank.
This tank has two 1" holes cut in the back wall with bulkheads. The holes sit aprox 3" from the top of the tank. So i assumed the holes were cut for a sump setup. I attempted to assemble one and this is the outcome -
Sump Details -
Sump capacity = 30 gallons, more than enough to handle the overflow when the tank drains to the bulkhead level.
The sump consists of a heater, acrylic trickle plates, 2 layers of filter pads, 14 liters of bio balls (aprox 390 balls), I put 1 acrylic wall in the tank (to seperate large matter and bubbles and from the filter to the pump) with a 1" x 10" slot to allow for flow to the pump, the slot sits 3" above the base of the sump.
The pump i used is a cheap Sun Sun HQB-3900, sucks 3500 litres an hour with a 3.9 meter head height. It sits at 1.3m at the moment.The pump can handle a 3/4" or 1" outlet.
Hose arangement -
From the 2 bulkheads i ran (x2) 1" hoses down to a T-piece into the sump, the T-piece sits just above the sump. (I may eliminate the T for better flow).
From the pump i ran a 3/4" line up over the tank and split in to 2 lines for better distrabution.
*No overflow box installed yet*
My problem -
The water level rises and falls in the tank slowly,
Issue #1-
when the water level drops just above the top of the bulkhead it allows for air to travel through the hose creating the most anoying hissing sound. I think the pump then struggles to bring the water level over the bulkheads to stop the noise.
Issue #2-
When the water level rises - (A). the sump level drops almots to a point where the pump is unsubmerged and (B). if the pump was to extract all the water from the sump my main tank in theory would overflow.
How can i eleminate these problems without creating new ones?
This tank has two 1" holes cut in the back wall with bulkheads. The holes sit aprox 3" from the top of the tank. So i assumed the holes were cut for a sump setup. I attempted to assemble one and this is the outcome -
Sump Details -
Sump capacity = 30 gallons, more than enough to handle the overflow when the tank drains to the bulkhead level.
The sump consists of a heater, acrylic trickle plates, 2 layers of filter pads, 14 liters of bio balls (aprox 390 balls), I put 1 acrylic wall in the tank (to seperate large matter and bubbles and from the filter to the pump) with a 1" x 10" slot to allow for flow to the pump, the slot sits 3" above the base of the sump.
The pump i used is a cheap Sun Sun HQB-3900, sucks 3500 litres an hour with a 3.9 meter head height. It sits at 1.3m at the moment.The pump can handle a 3/4" or 1" outlet.
Hose arangement -
From the 2 bulkheads i ran (x2) 1" hoses down to a T-piece into the sump, the T-piece sits just above the sump. (I may eliminate the T for better flow).
From the pump i ran a 3/4" line up over the tank and split in to 2 lines for better distrabution.
*No overflow box installed yet*
My problem -
The water level rises and falls in the tank slowly,
Issue #1-
when the water level drops just above the top of the bulkhead it allows for air to travel through the hose creating the most anoying hissing sound. I think the pump then struggles to bring the water level over the bulkheads to stop the noise.
Issue #2-
When the water level rises - (A). the sump level drops almots to a point where the pump is unsubmerged and (B). if the pump was to extract all the water from the sump my main tank in theory would overflow.
How can i eleminate these problems without creating new ones?
