Setting up sump

C

clancaster23

Reefing newb
I'm about to set up this sump under my tank and was looking to get a little help on how to set things up and where to put what. Drew up a little diagram on what the wet/dry looks like and posted a link to it to show the actual thing.

Basically looking to know what to put where, any kind of rock, biological filtering etc...

Also looking for the minimum gph rating I need on a return pump. My tank is a 75 gallon.

Image4.jpg


It's the 200 Gallon Wet/Dry, fifth one down on the page.

Wet Dry
 
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two problems I see with it, would be no place for a refugium and not sure if the skimmer and pump would fit in the return area skimmer might have to sit outside the filter.. the rock could go in the section that the bioballs would be in..Could set up a second small tank above that to run a refugium have one of the drain lines run to the refugium first with a ball valve to regulate flow then have it go to the rock area of the sump.. drill a hole in the side of the refugium tank and have that line dump into the pump section of the sump.. see what some others might have for you, maybe someone would have a better idea.. :D
 
skimmer should sit inside the first chamber where the water enters...thinking .. ( watch out this is where things usually get costly when I try thinking ) .. think i would remove the top of the bioball area and have the skimmer sit outside...put some liverock in that area and setup a seperate refugium.. like i said maybe someone can help a little more.. either that or just change out the wet dry and build a sump..lol
 
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In a 12x12 area you're going to find it difficult to fit any decent skimmer AND the return pump. What you could do since the wet/dry is acrylic (and easier to drill) is install a bulkhead on the return side and either use an external pump to return the water to your tank and put the skimmer in that section or, use the bulkhead and plumb the skimmer outside the wet/dry and have the pump inside the section.

As far as the size of the pump, I think that will depend on what kind of overflow you're using. You want the pump to be rated slightly higher then the overflow.

I agree though, put the LR in place where the bioballs would be. And, if you decide to keep that sponge in there, make sure to clean it often because it will collect tons of crud there.
 
Or I can just scrap the whole wet/dry plan and just get me a small tank and do an actual sump/ref the way everyone else does. This thing looks like it'll be too much work to fool around with.
 
lol, it might be easier just to use a tank and setup a typical sump/refugium. Do you already have the wet dry?
 
Yeah, I already have it but I didn't buy it so it wouldn't be a waste of money or anything. I actually got it in a trade for a couple freshwater fish I used to keep. Anyways, just thinking here but would this work? I can section off the big part in two sections, one for the skimmer and another for the return pump. I'd have to check measurements but if I can fit the skimmer in, then a piece of acrylic then have enough space for the return pump, would that work?

Image5.jpg
 
that is along the lines of what I was thinking the first post I did but dont think there would be room for both the pump and skimmer inside that chamber, you will have to decide on the skimmer and pump and see what room you have,, See I was thinking of putting two dividers in that chamber the first one lower so the water runs over it then the second an inch or so from that one higher and make the water go under that divider putting your sponge inbetween the two..
 
clancaster23 said:
Yeah, I already have it but I didn't buy it so it wouldn't be a waste of money or anything. I actually got it in a trade for a couple freshwater fish I used to keep. Anyways, just thinking here but would this work? I can section off the big part in two sections, one for the skimmer and another for the return pump. I'd have to check measurements but if I can fit the skimmer in, then a piece of acrylic then have enough space for the return pump, would that work?

Image5.jpg
Click to expand...

Here's another problem I didn't think about before, if you try to fit both the skimmer and pump in that same section you're going to see issues with the skimmer. The section that your return pump is will be where you'll see the water level drop due to water evap. Wherever you put the skimmer needs to have a constant water level (usually 7-9 inches deep) in order to function correctly and it's most efficiently.
 
Ok, next try at it.

Image6.jpg


I have 11 7/8" inside dimension to play with. My skimmer's tube is a hair more than 4" so I gave it a 5" space to set in there. Have what the skimmer puts out flow directly over a wall down onto the sponge where it then flows through into the return pump. I'm thinking this ought to work as long as the flow is high enough to keep the skimmer section filled and the return pump covered.
 
looks like my first thought post.. but I was thinking the second to be a little lower to the bottom of the tank and the sponge between the two.. see what others think.. could put some crate at the bottom to keep the sponge up a little..
 
Just a prototype ;). I could cut the sponge, that wouldn't be a problem. And I do have a crate laying around so I can cut it up a bit to throw in there if needed.
 
When you say the pump has to have a slightly higher rating than the overflow, how much difference should there be? I'm looking at a 300 gph overflow. Would a 350 gph pump be sufficient or should I go the 500 gph?
 
the reason the pump has to be larger then the overflow is to get the max out of the overflow you have to take into consideration for loss due to height returning to the tank restriction from the piping and elbows.. just make sure you get a pump where the max head height from the pump exceeds your overflow ( example 300gph overflow pump rated at 500gph at 5ft ) by the time that 500 gets to the tank it may only be 300 to 400 or so due to piping.. then just put a ball valve in just after the pump so you can regulate the flow if it is to strong still.. hope this helped
 

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