First time sumper - Help please

Hi all.

So I decided to try out the DIY sump method. I purchased a pump with a rated flow of 4500l/h. The plastic container has a volume 150 liter. My tank is 260 liters.
For the overflow I bought 25mm PVC pipe to siphon the water from an overflow box in the tank. I'm scared it may be too small.

Any tips and thoughts that will help?

 

Hi i had an tank with 4x 25mm out lets biggest pump i could use was 2000lh

 

@RaXoR_ZA


What overflow box are you thinking of using, a hang on back box?

If that's what you have in mind, we did try a while back on a tank that was not drilled but you battle a bit because unless you use a fairly big box, it doesnt cope with the
amount of water your pump is drawing and often the box kept running dry
I cant remember how many liters per hour the pump was
Its not that it cant be done, it takes fine tuning until you get it right

 

@MariaS It is difficult to do a hang on back box on my tank, plus I have limited space there. Still doing research on all options. Thus far the plan is to have the box on the inside. The box is about 200 x 100 x 200 deep (old plastic betta tank).

 

Normally a powerhead should be big enough to filter 4 to 10 times the tanks volume in an hour.

Your tank is 260 so a powerhead of about 2600 L/h should be fine. The 4500 l/h powerhead is a bit overkill for the tank.

If you can set the speed to about 60% is should be fine, else return it and go for a pump which can be manually set eg Jebao DCP 5000 Sine Wave.

Alternatively you can choke the pump's flow with a pvc ball valve, but there might be a compromise with some noise from the impeller.

if you are using an overflow option the 25mm will be too small, a full syphon will give a flow of about 2500 to 5000 l/h, depending on the height of the source.

An overflow box will not allow a full syphon and a small diameter pipe will often the noisy due to the water vortex, similar to the drain pipe of a basin.

I would go for at least 40 to 50mm pvc to allow for better flow.

Just make sure you have a small air vent drilled into return pipe just above the water line, else your tank will end up being drained if the return is submerged. A safe option will be to use spray-bars just above the water line.

I used a 3 layer plastic kitchen organiser in the sump which works well for placement of batting and bio-media in the different layers.

You can also run the tanks heater in the sump to clean up the tank's display.

The following video gives a good overview of the management of water flow (with reference to 2:50 were bulkhead size is discussed).

A sump is a great filter option and is far superior to cannister, my opinion xD



Ps: Also invest in a diy float switch option which will cut off power to the pump if the overflow gets blocked, I got the t-shirt after late nights running around with towels and mopping up

 

This is very helpful! Much appreciated!

 

Yeah also been through this trial and error stage... Originally tried running an external overflow but as said above, the 25mm outlet was noisy and even putting in a reverse durso didn't help much, never mind the issues with siphon breaking on the overflow box, had to install a power head on the siphon line to kick start it if the power went off, but that defies the point of a sump, to me, I don't want anything in my display, not even a power head...

Ended up drilling the tank, put in 2 x 40mm overflows, one as an emergency drain if the first gets blocked, have 2 x 32mm returns on a Jebao DCP 6500L an hour, I only run the pump at about 60%, works like a charm and will clear Clarity out of the water within 2 hours.

Also a huge advocate of a freshwater sump, can't go wrong, just takes some fiddling and faffing to dial it in but once you have the hang of your setup, you can't beat it.

 

Absolutely... Long term, the best is to drill the tank, we found the overflow boxes become a pain

Aquarium Center, in Kenilworth will drill the tank for you and if i recall he charges like R200/300, you wont ever have hassles with siphons and powerheads. ball valves to reduce flow and what ever else
At the end of the day, by the time you have spent money on powerheads and what else, it will be the same or more than just having the tank drilled
The overflow box is easy, with 2 pieces of glass you can just do it yourself

 

So I had a go at it today... and it was not pretty. Bought the wrong pipe system (normal PVC drain pipe), could not get it to seal properly even though it can handle pressure up to 4m.

Going with blue PVC pressure pipe next and also giving the hose idea a miss.

 

Yeah that's the way to go, just make sure you aren't stingy with the cement once you've dry fitted everything and start gluing, nothing worse than crawling around under a tank trying to find a random drip leak

 

@RaXoR_ZA

I assume you trying to join the PVC pipe and bends together and you using PVC glue

Sometimes the pipe has an outer coating that you cant see but prevents it from sealing properly as the glue doesnt take so well
Take some very fine sand paper and sand the pipe slightly, just enough to get rid of the coating, then apply the glue on the pipe before fitting it into the other pipe/connection
Not sure if this is what could be happening but we have had it in the past

 

Yes I am using PVC glue, and didn’t do it entirely in the correct way including sanding off the ends and smoothing out the cuts.

Going to buy the new pipe over the weekend and allow myself sufficient time to plan and assemble.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hahha take your time!!

Good luck, hope you come right this time

 

Pipes are cut and dry fit is done. Now we start glueing. Quite happy with the end result.

Used 25mm for the supply and 40mm for the overflow. Also using 75mm as a weir.

 

Very nice! Cost? If you don't mind me asking.

 

That looks clean....
So how does the weir work.. I assume same as an overflow box... How good does it prevent clogging.

 

Paid about R2200 for all the pipe and fittings but I used less than half the material. Was planning on doing 2 x overflows, but ended up only doing one. May do another on if one does not cope.

 

yes, the 75mm pipe will sit in the tank and act as a weir with the 40mm overflow drawing from it. i cut the bottom of the 40mm pipe at a 45 degee angle to give it a larger opening and hopefully will have less chance if blocking.

 

R2200..thats sounds like a lot.. Even for two.
What was so expensive? If you dnt mine sharing?

I just bought fittings for R220... The pipe is R16 a meter.. 50mm..blue pipe.. I just have to order some elbows and T piece. And it looks similar to the parts Rebel Pets sell.the ones I got also rated better than the white pvc

Why are these so expensive. Just curios or maybe missed something myself. And I got the same exact pump as you.

 

Do u have fail safes for the overflow blocking, I'm asking cause I'm currently building a sump. First time sumper also .