New DIY Sump installed

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huapala

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Jul 25, 2013
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Ke Aupuni Hawaii, Hawaiian Kingdom
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Huapala
The month of October is moving quickly and soon I will be releasing my M. ramirezi into his permanent home. This is my very first "high maintenance" fish and I want to make sure that water quality is always optimal inside the 29 Gallon tank. Therefore, I finally put my ideas of a side-by-side sump system into fruition.
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Glabe

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May 10, 2011
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Very awesome and makes it look easy! Inspiring
 

huapala

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Jul 25, 2013
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Ke Aupuni Hawaii, Hawaiian Kingdom
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Huapala
Very awesome and makes it look easy! Inspiring
:) thanks Glabe. I was building it in my mind for a long time but it only took me one night to assemble and another night to install the hose and union (more like a few hours). The theme of all my projects is "must be easy to disassemble." I do not own my home and I never know when I will be asked to leave this land, so all of my systems are set up to be taken down and the pieces can be used to build better systems in the future. I think I pretty much have all the different stages of filtration covered and I amazed at how active my fish became after the install. They were always fun to look at but now it as if they (the fish) were in a great big open area. They are constantly exploring and schooling together, the otos love to be seen now and the corys, well the corys are still hilarious but with more social schooling activity. The tetras take up the whole tank now with their formation, I am really very happy. Here is a video of when I first installed the sump and one of the sump now (note the difference in the sumps plumbing, more re-configuration to come for the siphon).

[video=youtube_share;fnVc3jhAfEY]http://youtu.be/fnVc3jhAfEY[/video]
 

FishFanMan

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Jun 13, 2013
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Naperville, IL
Very nice! Can you explain how it works? I'm new to sumps
 

huapala

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Jul 25, 2013
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Huapala
Very nice! Can you explain how it works? I'm new to sumps
Thanks FishFanMan :)

I could explain better if we were in person, but in lieu of my presence I have prepared a diagram. Although sloppy and inaccurately scaled, I believe that I provide enough of the basic information and imagery to allow one to understand how it works. I hope that it is helpful and I apologize for the rough edges.
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FishFanMan

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Jun 13, 2013
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Naperville, IL
Great diagram with nice explanation! Was it difficult to set the #1 ball valve to match the flow of the pump? A lot of thinking went into that design and implementation.
 

Glabe

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May 10, 2011
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The whole thing is pretty sweet, but what will happen if the power goes out for a minute, and the siphon lowers the water level enough to break, then the power comes back on? Seems like either the tank will flood, or you made it so there isn't enough pumpable water to flood the display tank, but then the pump would burn up. Am I overlooking some fail-safe mechanism that you have in place?


Seems to me this setup is deserving of a DIY pitcher overflow box!
 

huapala

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Jul 25, 2013
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Huapala
Thanks Fishfanman and thank you Glabe for pointing out the fail point in my system. As you have already mentioned, the pump is set at certain level so that only so much water can be pumped into the main tank from the sump. However, as you have already mentioned the sub pump will burn out if there is a siphon break in the main tank (after power failure for over 10minutes), but it is better than losing fish from an over flowing main tank. The only real 100% safe way of achieving overflow protection is to plumb some bulkheads into the back to assist with the removal of excess water. I have looked into making an overflow box, but at this point I am not sure what direction to go, considering a lot of the overflow box designs are not 100% guaranteed to not break siphon and end up in the same situation. I have weighed out the cost of replacing a new pump if this happens ($24.95 or free because I always have 1 or 2 on hand) versus buying a new tank (possibly 30gallons) and plumbing in the bulkheads with overflow pipes versus constructing an overflow box that is not necessarily fail safe. With limited funds, my main concern is keeping the main tank from overflowing. This "fail point" is something that has been plaguing me since the commencement of this project...literally I am always thinking about new designs and possible ways of ensuring 100% fail safe overflow control while still being able to feed myself and pay rent. Please let me know your thoughts.
 

huapala

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Jul 25, 2013
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Ke Aupuni Hawaii, Hawaiian Kingdom
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Huapala
the start of my overflow pipe:
krylon fushion satin black
1/2" PVC pipe
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intank overflow pipe siphon
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3/4" female to 1/2" male to 1/2" female (swirl vacuum to start the siphon)
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outlet attachment for sub pump (water flow into tank)
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