water change/sump <my brain hurts>

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firstone

AC Members
Feb 7, 2007
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hey all,
sorry to bother, but this is hurting my brain :confused:
whats the best way to do a water change?? Im using protien skimmer w/ rock and sand.

also i would love to have a sump because it just seems so much easier and a cleaner looking install. is there anywhere that sells a good with everything i need for not a arm and leg or does anyone have a site that explains how to use say a 10 gal. in a simplifed way,,, all the ones ive found make it seem like rocket science... and they dont say which pumps to use or how do it with out drilling glas?????

thank a million :read:
 

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You should be able to find alot of good deals on Sumps and stuff on ebay, also most do come with an overflow and everything else you would need other than a pump. To decide the GPH of the return pump just look at the GPH of the overflow. Most Overflows are rated at 600-1200 GPH so a pump around that area would be fine to return the water from the sump to the tank. You want to make sure that your Overflow can handle the ammount of water that your return pump puts back in the tank. Hope this helps. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.
 
Best, and easiest way to do a water change is to turn equipment off and syphon with plastic flexi hose out of the tank and into a bucket..Obviously, there are other methods and is also dependant on the size of your tank..Doing it that way on 350 gal tank and doing a 15% water change can get a little tiring..I put a power head on some flext pipe and put the other end of the pipe straight into the drain....and the similar when filling back up, i put a powerhead and hose into the mixed saltwater and pump it into the tank...

With regards to the sump, always try to get the biggest you can fit inside your stand. Doing it DIY is not that hard once you learn how it all runs..The main bit that people find confusing is the plumbing side ( like i did when i planned out mine ), but, with patience and help from us, we should be able to get you on the right track with pumps and pipe diameters etc etc..

Here are few articles that may help to expain sump DIY jobs...

http://ozreef.org/diy_plans/tank/sump.html

http://w3page.com/fishline/gif/sump.gif?

http://www.cyberreefguru.com/diy/sump/sump.html

http://www.cyberreefguru.com/general/overflow/overflow.html

Hope this helps and, by all means, post back any questions that you may have...Maybe start a new thread in the DIY section perhaps?

Niko
 
A sump is anything that is not toxic and can hold water.

You do not have to drill into your sump. A submersible pump doesn't need a hole and the overflow tube could just dump water into the sump too.

Even if you have or want an external pump, you could plumb the PVC into a upside down U going into the pump. You will need to create a siphon to feed water into it and make sure the water level in the sump never gets below the inlet. Doing it this way will lower the water flow from the elbows.

I have a 90g farming supply tub (Got new and never used for anything else) as my sump using submersible pumps. I have a room behind the wall of my 180 with holes drilled in the wall for the plumbing.

A place to look is Home Depot for plastic containers large enough. Drilling on a flat side and using a bulkhead connector will work too.

Use lots of teflon tape at screw connector joints and hose clamps on the hose to barb connections. The two most common places for leaks.

SaltTinker
 
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