My Sump Sketch / Design... Give an opinion please

[oughtsix]

I am using a Little Giant 3e pump rated at 670 gallons per hour in my sump for my 110 gallon tank.

I carefully chose the Little Giant pump on the basis of "it is what I had lying around". I would DEFINITELY NOT recommend this pump for this purpose per se. It is not a bad pump it just isn't really designed for this purpose. I am pleased with its operation though.

When selecting a pump you will want to find one in which the GPM doesn't diminish quickly with head pressure. The whole house canister is adding to the head pressure for the pump. With my little giant pump the apparent flow rate has not been reduced significantly with the introduction of the canister.

 

[Milos]

Dear Oughtsix,

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I share your understanding on the principles of working of BioBalls in Wet/Dry open system & the ones of the ceramic rings too. I am glad that you agree that it's wise to use both systems in the sump in order to keep bio-filtration alive on all costs. Adding air over the ceramic media is a wise idea - and I will for sure follow it. It cannot hurt & can be quite good I guess!

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I followed one more of your suggestions & changed the order of heating part & main filtration media part! It's much better this way!

I was thinking the same about the air bubbles. Namely if the flow rate doesn't over come the rising air bubbles there will be flow opposing the air flow creating longer a contact time and better gas exchange. In other case - if I notice that the air bubbles are being taken away I can simply move the nozzle / stone above the ceramic media and it will bring air downwards if the stream is strong enough - which will be easily visible.

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I am aware of the evaporation problems. I am thinking of creating some kind of auto refill system that will contain aprox. 20lit of water which I believe could be sufficient for a day and which I can simply recharge every evening!
Maybe some system like that exists already... gotta check the net though I have some simple ideas that I am thinking of.

On the other hand I will have both the main tank & my sump covered so I hope it will put the evaporation levels a bit lower... we will see.

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As drawn & estimated - last two compartments will contain around 40l (20lit each). I hope that's enough water... or am I mistaken?

There is according to the current illustration about 20lit. of space for BioBalls. I believe that's enough of them for 670liters of aquarium? What do you think?

As for removing the last baffle - I was believing that it's the hight of that baffle that defines the level of the water in the COMP.5 with the bio balls. If I remove it wouldn't water level raise higher? Or am I thinking wrong?

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As for the pump - I guess I will be going for a similar size of pump like your one. I just don't know which brand to choose. Will have to investigate a bit more in that field. So many new things in the shops since I left the hobby Amazing!

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Anyway - sump design now looks like this:

Thank you a lot for all your inputs!

 

[oughtsix]

As for removing the last baffle - I was believing that it's the hight of that baffle that defines the level of the water in the COMP.5 with the bio balls. If I remove it wouldn't water level raise higher? Or am I thinking wrong?

Anyway - sump design now looks like this:

Thank you a lot for all your inputs!

This is the only point in which I believe you are incorrect. If the water height is above the top of the last baffle the last compartment will fill to that height. If the water height is not over the last baffle the pump will drain the last compartment and run dry even though there is sufficient water behind the last baffle to keep the system in operation. The only case in which the water level in the bio ball compartment will rise above the bottom of the bio balls is when both compartments are full and the water level in both compartments are above the bio balls. With this level of water the bio balls will be submerged whether the bulk head is there or not. Now if you always wanted to ensure that the bottom of the bio balls were submerged then the baffle would have a purpose.

The last baffle will maintain a minimum water level in the bioballl compartment but it will NOT ensure you don't go over a maximum level.

With 20 liters in the last compartment you will probably have plenty of buffer volume. But if you remove the last baffle would will have much more buffer volume. What do you think you will gain in the system from the last baffle?

If you remove the last baffle you can run a lower water level in this catch basin but still maintain a greater volume of water in the catch basin. This will allow you to lower the bio ball retaining eggcrate and have a great volume of bio balls if you wish.

You are correct in that the system should function just fine with the last baffle in place. It is just that the last baffle serves no purpose and is not adding any functionality to the system.

My recommendation would be to remove the last baffle, lower the bioball retaining eggcrate, make the bioball chamber proportionately narrower to still retain the amount of bio ball volume and then add the extra space to the refuge.


Your welcome, I enjoy the design process!

P.S. I can't wait to see your build!

 

[oughtsix]

Milos,

I don't believe that an auto refill system would be needed with your sump. The volume of the catch basin will act as the buffer for an auto refill system for the tank water level.

From your description of everything being covered to reduce evaporation I would venture a wild guess that you could run the sump in the configuration shown easily for a week without having to worry about a refill. I believe that if you removed the last baffle you could probably run pretty easily for a couple of weeks (with twice the volume in the catch basin).

My 110 gallon tank has an open top and my much smaller sump is almost completely covered except for the area immediately around where the exit plumbing leaves. In a very dry desert climate I can run almost week without having to worry about refilling the sump. I really like that my tank is always at the same level and doesn't drop a 1/4" to 1/2" everyday. Because the level change is more profound in the sump it is easier to get a quick visual reference as to when refill water is needed. I will be covering my tank now that the weather is starting to warm up to keep the humidity levels in the house in check. The extra aeration provided by my sump gives my the confidence to cover my tank and not starve the fish of O2.

 

[garyfla]

Hi
Curious as to how you intend to make regular water changes.? Are you building some type of system into place.??
Have never kept discus but those I've seen use either "open flow" or Veggie filters for display tanks One changes 50 percent every day for the grow out tanks bare bottom with only a few floating plants for cover.
Assune you're using this sump on a display tank?? gary

 

[jauqs]

I would have added an overflow . . . but then all your baffles would have to be lowered. My 2¢

 

[wanabedriver]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but I think it might not be most efficient for the heaters to be before the bio-balls. I have never built a stump, but I would think that because the water would have lots of surface area exposed to air (the whole reason for a wet-dry), it would allow more heat exchange. So by oxygenating the water, you may also be cooling/heating it as well.

To fix this, I would recommend putting the heaters after the bio-balls, either in the narrow compartment between comp5 and comp6, or simply placing them before the pump.