Hi All. I am planning on building a larger tank than the
current 125 gal I currently have. Since it will be custom built I had/have been
toying with the idea of using a sump on it. Note that I have never had a sump on
any of the tanks I have had or currently have so it's somewhat new territory.
I'm loving the idea of constant water level in the main tank as well as skimming
of the bio film and that heaters etc can be "hidden" in the sump.
My initial
concern, being a planted tank, was that the overflow/s would negate any CO2 I
pumped into it. In a previous thread I believe someone assured me it was
possible to run CO2 AND a sump successfully, although I'm not sure how increased
the injection rate would have to be to maintain a decent level.
I'm sorta
back in the mode of considering/planning/calculting things for it and have a few
more questions that I'm hoping you more sump experienced people can answer for
me or at least add their two cents worth
SUSPENDED DEBRIS: I have a
never winning battle (I have yet to come up with a solution for crystal clear
water) with the debris and particles suspended within the water column. While an
overflow would defiitely solve the constant battle of surface scum, if it is
just skimming the water, how effective are they for total water exchnge vs a
canister filter intake which is mounted closer to mid/bottom of the
tank?
SIDE, TOP, or EXTERNAL: I'm back and forth on whether to go with an
external overflow box or drill the tank for bulkheads for an overflow. If I DO
drill it, it occured to me that perhaps drilling the bottom andhaving standpipes
would be more forgiving than drilling the back should I ever want to quit using
the sump or sell teh tank as the bottom holes are easily sealed and concealed
with a piece of glass and silicone and covered with substrate rather than having
a hole/holes mid way up the side/back of the tank.
SMOOTH or NOTCHED
OVERFLOW: It seems that some overflows are smooth, which would lend it's self to
higher flow, thinner sheeting and quieter systems, but notched ( depending on
size of notches) would provide better "screening" to keep anything but water
from going into the drain pipe, but does that lead to breaking up teh incoming
water..which leads to higher noise levels, reduced flow..and even more gasing
off of CO2?
Lastly I'm still toyuing with sizes. It seems everything
thing I read give reccomended sizes for everything from hole and pipe sizes to
linear overflow values but based on other criteria and when read one after
another, I start wondering if it because some mind numbing number crunching to
get eveything just so or if I have to worry that once it's set up if I've made
an error than correcting any one part will throw off the rest of the
system?
current 125 gal I currently have. Since it will be custom built I had/have been
toying with the idea of using a sump on it. Note that I have never had a sump on
any of the tanks I have had or currently have so it's somewhat new territory.
I'm loving the idea of constant water level in the main tank as well as skimming
of the bio film and that heaters etc can be "hidden" in the sump.
My initial
concern, being a planted tank, was that the overflow/s would negate any CO2 I
pumped into it. In a previous thread I believe someone assured me it was
possible to run CO2 AND a sump successfully, although I'm not sure how increased
the injection rate would have to be to maintain a decent level.
I'm sorta
back in the mode of considering/planning/calculting things for it and have a few
more questions that I'm hoping you more sump experienced people can answer for
me or at least add their two cents worth
SUSPENDED DEBRIS: I have a
never winning battle (I have yet to come up with a solution for crystal clear
water) with the debris and particles suspended within the water column. While an
overflow would defiitely solve the constant battle of surface scum, if it is
just skimming the water, how effective are they for total water exchnge vs a
canister filter intake which is mounted closer to mid/bottom of the
tank?
SIDE, TOP, or EXTERNAL: I'm back and forth on whether to go with an
external overflow box or drill the tank for bulkheads for an overflow. If I DO
drill it, it occured to me that perhaps drilling the bottom andhaving standpipes
would be more forgiving than drilling the back should I ever want to quit using
the sump or sell teh tank as the bottom holes are easily sealed and concealed
with a piece of glass and silicone and covered with substrate rather than having
a hole/holes mid way up the side/back of the tank.
SMOOTH or NOTCHED
OVERFLOW: It seems that some overflows are smooth, which would lend it's self to
higher flow, thinner sheeting and quieter systems, but notched ( depending on
size of notches) would provide better "screening" to keep anything but water
from going into the drain pipe, but does that lead to breaking up teh incoming
water..which leads to higher noise levels, reduced flow..and even more gasing
off of CO2?
Lastly I'm still toyuing with sizes. It seems everything
thing I read give reccomended sizes for everything from hole and pipe sizes to
linear overflow values but based on other criteria and when read one after
another, I start wondering if it because some mind numbing number crunching to
get eveything just so or if I have to worry that once it's set up if I've made
an error than correcting any one part will throw off the rest of the
system?