Finished Sump...well almost.

[adampw]

Well I pretty much have my sumped finished after months of planning, redesigning, etc. Today I put it all together and tested it and it works great. I have a 20g High seperated into 3 sections. As you can see below, the middle section is the overflow from the main. The left section is the return and the right section is the refugium. I just needs to get some macro algae to put in there. I have a T off my return pump to circulate water back through the refugium as well as back to the main display. I have ball valves on the return and the line from the T to control the flow into the refugium.







Can you tell from the last image what I forgot to put in on my plumbing? Yup, I forgot to put in a check valve on my return line. I simulated a power failure and of course the phone rang. When I came back my sump was pretty much full. So tomorrow I will be adding a check valve...eh, more plumbing.

[Piggy]

Looks pretty good. Great job!

[joeman]

Looking nice!

> from what I have read check valves can fail so people tend not to use them - best to make sure that the sump can accommodate the full amount of water coming back from the tank in the event of a disataster (as you did)

> skimmer: is that one you have HOB of your main tank? Is that how you plan to keep it? Reason I ask is that if you move it down to your sump and place it in the mid section (which would make sense) the overflow from the refugium would be back into that mid section where each critter would need to run the gauntlet of the skimmer pump .. a solution would be to have a syphon running from fuge to final section - shortcutting the mid section: air blocks are usually a concern here, but the failure mode would simply be water running back through the mid section - so no real harm... alternatively you could change the order and have the fuge in the middle...

[adampw]

Yeah i thought about that actually. I may end up leaving the skimmer on the main. For one it oxygenates the water for me a bit and the sumps water level isnt high enough for a HOB skimmer. I could probably lengthen the hose between the skimmer the and pump but I don't know if that would effect the performance of the skimmer or not. Do you think it would?

[Bifferwine]

Did you mean to put a check valve on the return line? If so, there really isn't a way that your sump could accommodate the backflow from the tank during a power outage. Even though check falves aren't 100% foolproof, they are still useful. You also need to be sure you drill anti-siphon holes in your return lines near the surface of the water. This will prevent your return line from drawing out your tank's water in a power outage.

[adampw]

Yes I was talking about the return line. I adjusted the water in the sump today and now it can accomadate all backflow from the return line. I simulated a power failure at least 5 times this morning lol. Everything seems to work great. Now I just need to find some macro algae. There is no where in within 200 miles of where I live that have any

[Bifferwine]

I got chaeto off of Ebay for $5.

[adampw]

I was just looking at that on ebay...scary....that and a rio 1400. The guys from AquaC said I can use the Rio1400 with my HOB skimmer so I can put a longer hose on it to still use it as a HOB skimmer on my sump...its all comin together

[ccCapt]

I hope you don't evaporate alot of water each day. The area of the sump where the pump sits is very small and that is the section where the water level will drop when water evaporates. Plan on topping off at least once/day or you have a good chance that section will go dry.

[adampw]

I was actually thinking about that today. I watched the evaporation over the past couple of days and it is not a whole lot. I could probably let it go for a couple of weeks before worrying. I will be adding a top off system here in the next month or so to prevent that section from going dry.