Building a sump
- Thread starter Luca Brazzi
- Start date
Yes.. that does help somewhat.
However, I have a question about its design. When the water flows over the drip plate and into the second chamber it will flow over the bioballs, though the eggcrate and into the 3rd chamber, the water level in the second and 3rd chambers will be equal so wont your bioballs in the second chamber be at least partially submersed? Arent the bioballs supposed to be suspended OVER the water level and not submersed?
Maybe its just that the drawing isnt to scale?
What will be the dimensions of the sump/chambers?
However, I have a question about its design. When the water flows over the drip plate and into the second chamber it will flow over the bioballs, though the eggcrate and into the 3rd chamber, the water level in the second and 3rd chambers will be equal so wont your bioballs in the second chamber be at least partially submersed? Arent the bioballs supposed to be suspended OVER the water level and not submersed?
Maybe its just that the drawing isnt to scale?
What will be the dimensions of the sump/chambers?
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why would the water level be equal in both the second and third chambers?
bioballs function either way, submersed or out of water. you will be able to support more bacteria having them out of water, but with 5 gallons of bioballs you can support an extremely large bacteria population, even if they are mostly submerged.
bioballs function either way, submersed or out of water. you will be able to support more bacteria having them out of water, but with 5 gallons of bioballs you can support an extremely large bacteria population, even if they are mostly submerged.
From the looks of the drawing, the water flows over the 1st baffle, through the bioballs, and then under the second baffle(between the 2nd and 3rd chambers), then over the heaters. So wouldnt the water level rise to equal heights in these two chambers?
The sumps Ive looked at in the flesh all had the bio media completely out of the water (or at least the water level line marked on the side of the sump was below the bottom of the media bioballs/biowheel)
Its good to know however that the bioballs will support at least some bacteria even if partially submerged. This may allow me to lower the height of my bio tower a bit to reduce the height of the stand its going into.
The sumps Ive looked at in the flesh all had the bio media completely out of the water (or at least the water level line marked on the side of the sump was below the bottom of the media bioballs/biowheel)
Its good to know however that the bioballs will support at least some bacteria even if partially submerged. This may allow me to lower the height of my bio tower a bit to reduce the height of the stand its going into.
well the biggest thing is having enough water to cover the pump...
the problem is how much variance there is.
meaning if you fill up the sump so the water is just over the pump, then you turn the pump on, the water level is going to drop and the pump will be sucking air.
likewise, if you dont put in enough water, within a couple days enough water will evaporation and leave the water level in the sump very low.
the problem is how much variance there is.
meaning if you fill up the sump so the water is just over the pump, then you turn the pump on, the water level is going to drop and the pump will be sucking air.
likewise, if you dont put in enough water, within a couple days enough water will evaporation and leave the water level in the sump very low.
Hmmm, thats got me thinking... Maybe what I can do is partially submerse the bioballs and then use a few bubblewands and an air pump to bubble air up through the bottom of the balls. This way I can reduce the overall height of the bio tower, and raise the water level in the sump to whatever I want.
Dunno if your idea has validitiy (sounds good in theory, but someone can answer better), but there are also those "bubble plates" which would disperse bubbles over more area on the tank bottom.
Ok, here's the latest.
I got home early enough today to do a little work on the sump. I built two more trays for the bio tower. So now I have 3 trays total. 2 shallow ones (2.5" deep) and one deep one 5.5" deep, all have inside dim of 12" x 12". The deep one should hold 3 gallons of bio balls. The top tray has a drip plate for a bottom, and this is where the mechanical filter cloth will go. The second tray also has a drip plate for a bottom and who knows what will go here... for now... nothing, but if I want to use it for something in the future, its there.
Ive decided to stick with just 2 trays above the bioballs, so the next part of this is to build the biotower itself.
This should be pretty simple, just a three sided box with a top (a 1" bulkhead fitting will be in the top if I can ever get one from Big Als!). Does anyone know a way I can build a bulkhead without waiting 2 - 3 weeks for one from Big Al (and please dont point me to that VatoElvis site)? Inside of the 3 sided box Ill have to glue some rails for the trays to slide onto.
The biggest question I still have is: What height should the bottom of the bioballs be from the bottom of the sump? If I can partially submerge the bioballs (and maybe bubble air through them to increase the bacteria colony) Then I can reduce the overall height of the biotower and stand. If I need to make sure that all biomedia is OVER the waterline then the height of the biotower and stand increases. The way Im thinking now, the best way to ensure a constant bacteria population is to have the bioballs OVER the water. If the biomedia is partially sumberged, the waterline will rise and fall depending upon the dynamics of the system, and cause the bacteria population to fluctuate.
Am I over thinking this?
I got home early enough today to do a little work on the sump. I built two more trays for the bio tower. So now I have 3 trays total. 2 shallow ones (2.5" deep) and one deep one 5.5" deep, all have inside dim of 12" x 12". The deep one should hold 3 gallons of bio balls. The top tray has a drip plate for a bottom, and this is where the mechanical filter cloth will go. The second tray also has a drip plate for a bottom and who knows what will go here... for now... nothing, but if I want to use it for something in the future, its there.
Ive decided to stick with just 2 trays above the bioballs, so the next part of this is to build the biotower itself.
This should be pretty simple, just a three sided box with a top (a 1" bulkhead fitting will be in the top if I can ever get one from Big Als!). Does anyone know a way I can build a bulkhead without waiting 2 - 3 weeks for one from Big Al (and please dont point me to that VatoElvis site)? Inside of the 3 sided box Ill have to glue some rails for the trays to slide onto.
The biggest question I still have is: What height should the bottom of the bioballs be from the bottom of the sump? If I can partially submerge the bioballs (and maybe bubble air through them to increase the bacteria colony) Then I can reduce the overall height of the biotower and stand. If I need to make sure that all biomedia is OVER the waterline then the height of the biotower and stand increases. The way Im thinking now, the best way to ensure a constant bacteria population is to have the bioballs OVER the water. If the biomedia is partially sumberged, the waterline will rise and fall depending upon the dynamics of the system, and cause the bacteria population to fluctuate.
Am I over thinking this?
