What's going on with this thing??

[Morgadeth]

I've pulled 80% of the coral out, and added 20lbs of live sand. I'll most likely pull out a little more of the coral (It's located on one side of the tank, under live rock and my rather large elephant ear..) and add another 20 lbs of sand.

I think I'll leave a small amount of the coral there... It shouldn't hurt anything, once it's a small enough amount not to make a difference...

 

[New Reefer]

I do have a skimmer, and I was thinking about installing a sump... Is there anything special I would need to know about setting one up, or is it just a secondary chamber I could set up with a smaller aquarium?

The sump itself is very simple, and could be anything from an old tank to a rubber trash bin, and lots of other containers inbetween. The trick comes in getting the water from your existing tank (undrilled, I presume...) to flow down to the sump reliably. If your tank is not drilled for an overflow, and if it's not made of acrylic (easy to drill yourself...) your best bet will be to install a syphon-type overflow device. The problem with many of the not so well designed syphon overflows is that they tend to lose syphon when there is a power outage, and then the tank overflows when your return pump starts up again but the syphon is not working.

Some syphon designs work very well, and if you're prepared to DIY you can easily build one yourself - although you can't see it in the photo, my old tank ran for nearly 2 years with a DIY overflow made from a Tupperware cornflake holder and some PVC pipe. Alternatively, you can buy some very good commercially made overflow systems.

I was actually lying in bed this morning, dreaming up a design for a "false cabinet" face I can install right over my existing stand. Being that it's made of angled steel, I can build a panel with doors and mount it with simple clamps from thie inside. No one would know the difference! (Other than anyone who reads this post)

That should work very well. If you make the clamps removable it will make it much easier to remove the whole face if you need to work on the sump.

Good luck with the project.

Hennie

 

[ooja3k]

As for the canister filter with nothing in it being useless... It is wise to use it for additional water flow, and also, for chemical filtration if needed... Just throw some carbon/phos-ban or something in it and your good to go!

How much water do you have moving around now?? It may be wise to add those unused powerheads in your tank especially if you are going to be going in the direction of corals.

 

[Morgadeth]

I'm about to upgrade my daughter's 10 gallon tank for the sake of her rather large angelfish... It's getting a bit snug..

So, I'll use her old tank for my sump...
So, I want three chambers, right? water into the first, over and under into a mid section with live sand/rock, then over into a collection point, where my return pump would be located?

What would be the preferred location for my skimmer and heater?
I also need a small light as well for growth...

Am I tracking this correctly?

If I add the power head to my tank, how should I mount it? I didn't use the undergravel system I have; didn't need it...


I suppose I could employ one of the undergravels for the sump... Maybe?

 

[ooja3k]

I have a 10gal sump under my 30 gal... I found that the flow was too fast through it to make the DSB and macro beneficial...

So i went with a nice big skimmer instead... I have 3 chambers within my 10gal sump

the first is a 4"x4"x9" high divider that i built into one corner... (two sides acrylic, the other two the glass corner of the tank...) and this is where my intake from the display is... it helps keep the microbubbles contained...

then i have an under,over, under bubble trap as far across the tank as possible allowing 5" for a return pump...

i should have some pictures within my 30gal thread.

in my opinion a skimmer would be more beneficial within a small sump like we have as opposed to a DSB and macro algae..

 

[Morgadeth]

So, here's my layout as I understand it...

I spent hours on CAD designing this... Anyone seeking my computer skills; please drop a request. My fees are modest!!


Honestly; 2 minutes in Photoshop to get a visual.. Will this work, or is there a flaw anywhere, or anything else I would need? I have two powerheads, but plan on putting one in the tank tomorrow...

I'm actually quite good with computers! I do lots of CG art and stuff...

 

[ooja3k]

well for 1, the water level will be same throughout the whole sump... therefor you need to have all baffles the same height... except the ones the water goes under of course...

also, the water needs to enter the sump, not through the protein skimmer then the sump... also... what pump are you going to go with for the return??? if you go external then you can allot much more space to your refugium area... if you get an internal pump though, my suggestion as before would be to go without the refugium area and go with an in-sump skimmer... basically instead of putting sand and rock in #2, put your in-sump skimmer there and make chamber #1 as small as possible...

as far as the bubble traps go, your design looks decent, but i have one suggestion...

if the water is flowing from right to left, make the water go under your first piece of acrylic, and then over the next into the refugium area... that allows you to get the most space out of that area... then do and over,under,over (from right to left) into the return area...

 

[Morgadeth]

okay; Modifications, as directed:

I'm trying to use existing resourses and minimize extra spending.. That's why I'm going with the skimmer I already have.
I'm looking at pumps now, and the Eheim seems like a great deal, and capable of return flow. As for the feed end, would a siphon line flow quick enough? the only other thing I would worry about would be flloding my tank during power outages.

How does an overflow box work? does it hook to the sump? Thet's where I would assume it goes. This seems like something else easily built...


On a side note: Those **** damsels are making a MESS with that live sand... Any suggestions on how to deal with them?

 

[Morgadeth]

Here's some pics of "the mess" right now.. The rest of the sand goes in tonight...

1st pic..
King o the tank, My wife's dwarf lionfish..

2nd.. The much happier Elephant ear, getting rather large... (green spot is some algae I need to scrape off the glass)

3rd..
The sand storm never stops, thanks to the damsels.. :silly:

 

[New Reefer]

well for 1, the water level will be same throughout the whole sump... therefor you need to have all baffles the same height... except the ones the water goes under of course...

Actually, the water level in the sump would be controlled by the last baffle before the "return pump chamber" (if that last baffle goes all the way to the bottom of the sump, that is...). The water level in the return pump chamber will vary, depending on the evaporation rate of the system - as water evaporates the water level in the tank and rest of sump will remain constant, but the level in the return pump chamber will drop. This makes it very easy to control the tank water salinity - either by installing a float valve (to your fresh water supply) in the pump chamber, or by making a simple mark with a permanent-marker pen on the outside of the pump chamber, and just filling this chamber up to the mark at regular intervals (every day...).

To do this, you only need four baffles to create a 3 compartment sump. Fit the first three baffles close to the side where the water flows from the skimmer/tank into the sump, as in your drawing (this is the "bubble trap"). Fit only one baffle to create the partition between the central chamber and the return pump chamber. This baffle must be sealed on the bottom and sides of the sump, creating a simple weir overflow into the return pump chamber.

also, the water needs to enter the sump, not through the protein skimmer then the sump

Why? If the skimmer is capable (and most of the modern needle wheel Euro-reef type skimmers are...), the best skimming can be achieved by running ALL the tank water through the skimmer. The only "trick" to do this is to make sure that the return pump delivers a water flow rate equal to the design flow-through rate of the skimmer. My Deltec AP902 skimmer is set up like this, and I run around 3500 liters per hour through it.

For more info, read the following link:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=554786

How does an overflow box work? does it hook to the sump? Thet's where I would assume it goes. This seems like something else easily built...

Yes, it can be built quite easily, and cheaply. Do some searching for self-starting overflows/syphons, ust to get a better understanding of how they work, and what is needed to make them "self starting". If you then have more questions I will gladly explain how I built mine.

Hennie