I was thinking about building a small sump for my new nano reef and I had a question I know that a sump is just like a storage tank with a feed line and a return line my question is instead of using a overflow box could you use a just a plane peice of hose and start a suction on it like you would your siphon hoses for cleaning if you were only going to use a rio power head for a return pump? if so what rio pump would you need if you were only pumping the water back up like 2'-3' let me know you thoughts and ideas on this and if anyone has tried it before thank you. :dive2:
question about making a sump?
- Thread starter amf82380
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you can just use a hose, but keep in mind youd have to restart it if the power ever went out, it might be a hassle. If I was setting up another tank I would have my tank drilled and have a bulkhead installed a few inches below the top of my tank, that way water will go down that, only at the rate that water is being returned to the tank. I don't know much about rio pumps. I have a mag 9.5 on my tank, you could prolly get a mag 6 and put a ball valve on it to controllt he flow.
yeah, if the power went out the suction would backflow-filling the sump. The sump would keep filling deepending on how far below the waterline your return and feedline was. After the suction from those two lines were broken, all would be well and good- assuming your sump didn't overflow. When the power comes back ON, however, the feedline would not be returning water to the sump. The sump-pump would pump all the water from your sump to your tank (maybe overflowing the tank) but DEFINATELY running dry and then burning out the pump itself.
If your tank isn't drilled (like mine) use an overflow box with a U-tube long enough to prevent suction from being broken. I can turn the power off without letting air in the Utube, so when I turn the power back on the prefilter box (inside the tank) fills with water and thus, water returns to the sump. The draw back to this is: you have a prefilterbox taking up space inside your tank. Outside of getting a drilled tank, I feel this is the safest way to go. It only takes about 5minutes of no power to screw things up otherwise.
Let me know if you need some diagrams of my set up. I realize my little shpeal was probably unclear. Goodluck
~d
If your tank isn't drilled (like mine) use an overflow box with a U-tube long enough to prevent suction from being broken. I can turn the power off without letting air in the Utube, so when I turn the power back on the prefilter box (inside the tank) fills with water and thus, water returns to the sump. The draw back to this is: you have a prefilterbox taking up space inside your tank. Outside of getting a drilled tank, I feel this is the safest way to go. It only takes about 5minutes of no power to screw things up otherwise.
Let me know if you need some diagrams of my set up. I realize my little shpeal was probably unclear. Goodluck
~d
If you don't mind, I would like some more info. Did you buy it or is it homemade, any info is really appreciated