monster sump

ok so im finaly moving on the 25 th after months of waiting for paperwork and transfers etc etc

Ill be putting in a custom 2.8 X 80 X 80 from FFW for my arowana and S.A cilchids and in an effort to save cost i will be using one of my old 1.5 tanks as a sump.
I need to have the design correct by the 20th so that it can be in before i move ..this is the idea I am loking at instead of the normal 3 chambers i want to go for 6 adding a planted area and stone and sand area.
opinions and sugestions please


thanks

 

Looks good, intake chamber is correct. In my Discus tank I have it going under into the second chamber, so lots of poop goes through.

Why the water change port and stone and sand area?

 

I'm a bit concern about the planted area as the water might struggle to move through the substrate from underneath and end up flooding your room. I'm also in the process of designing a new sump for my 3 meter tank. Will post my design tomorrow.

 

I thought the same :wondering:

 

water chnage outlet should be on the tank, else you would only be able to chnage the amount of water the 1st chamber holds, also i would put all bio balls, rocks etc infront of the plante section, that way the nitrates that get produced by the bio filtration has to move through the planted section and thus the plants get a chnace to take up some of the nitrates before going back into the tank. so in short 1st your mechanical filtration (sponges etc), then bio balls etc, then planted section and then maybe some chemical filtration for clarity ( carbon, purigen etc)

and it is from left to right as the return pump is in the last chamber on the right, i guess

 

yes thats idea left to right
so plants after bio balls then carb etc. stones (i have seen these at a koi shop looks like fine white and black gravel)
plants will be potted and trayed dont want water flowing thru sand there.
dont want any drains on main tank .but would like simplify water change would like to put a tap connector on for connecting hosepipe for water in water out ,

 

Then the sump design seems pretty good as I see it.

 

Why the water change port and stone and sand area?[/quote]

1: water change on this tank is gonna be a killer from what ive worked out 25% water change 350l +_connecting hose pipe once a week much easier and only do gravel vac in tank once a month and tank in the middle of house 10m from door or window

2: stones and sand will give more filtration if thin enough layers i think

3:cant put plants inside main tank ,the siver dollars will eat or the oscars will dig em up or the jag cilchid will rip them apart cause he dont like them in his way.

 

Like SomethingAbstract said, water change port in the Display. Otherwise you just need to get creative with your plumbing and ball valves for routing water flow

 

ie creative :any suggestions

 

maybe if you show us the design of the overflow

 

. overflow on drop chamber or final chamber of sump at +_ 5cm from top of glass.piped diectly out house.outlet pipe in main tank at 60cm water level at 70cm so it should be only about +_15% water loss during powerout about 200l or am i confusing myself ?

 

Having the plants after the bio balls will make nearly zero difference. The system is "small" and closed and circulating, so the water will show no difference in nitrate content before and after the bacteria. Just like a water loop for cooling your computer is not much hotter after the heat source than after the heat exchanger. It's about equilibrium. The bacteria only digests a very small amount of nitrites on each pass, that's why it takes so long to cycle or to clear a tank.

As for the water change, why not plumb in a second, dedicated overflow (with a hosepipe connector on it) and include a smaller pump to keep the water moving in the sump while you change the water?

It should be really easy, just lay a pipe from beginning to end of your sump and put a powerhead on the end so it circulates the water to keep the bacteria alive. This will allow you to switch off your return pumps and drain the display tank to whatever level you decide to set the water change overflow pipe to. It would be awesome if you could make that overflow adjustable between let's say 10% and 30%, and to have a cover pipe so you can close it up entirely when your system is running normally. This second overflow won't even need to be that big either. You could use 3/4 inch or 1 inch pipe so it won't intrude into the display that much.

Alternatively you could make up a special device for draining you tank. Just make a U-shaped piece of pipe that you can hang over the side of the tank and put a nice big sponge on one end and a hosepipe connector on the other. That way you just need to get the flow going and then gravity will do the rest. You can make the inside pipe as short or long as you need it, and it's cheap and quick and easy and you can take it off the tank when you don't need it.

The part that's actually going to be difficult is when you need to fill up that water again. And for that reason I'd say you would be best off with some sort of tank next to the sump that holds as much water as you need for refills, and put in a pump and maybe a tap with a hosepipe connector on it. That way you can let the water mature or add chemicals, and then just pump it back into the tank.

 

Stormbringer go to MASA. there is a guy that builds sumps and tanks and he will be able to build it and help you decide what you need to have. Ask Rory what the guys name is he should know.

 

(As for the water change, why not plumb in a second, dedicated overflow (with a hosepipe connector on it) and include a smaller pump to keep the water moving in the sump while you change the water?
The part that's actually going to be difficult is when you need to fill up that water again. And for that reason I'd say you would be best off with some sort of tank next to the sump that holds as much water as you need for refills, and put in a pump and maybe a tap with a hosepipe connector on it. That way you can let the water mature or add chemicals, and then just pump it back into the tank)

Nice ideas thanx.THE more I look at our traditional tropical setups the more I see how far behind we are from the marine setups in terms of utilizing tech and simplifying daily weekly running of the system.im not sure wether it is the costs involved with this (is for me ).allready going with a trad marine lighting solution its exp but just looks so much better, but yes a water change holding tank is a good idea thats about 300l + in the case of a 25% water change on this tank so again space is my only issue and im not realy keen on seperating the system from out of one unit and piping thru walls because of the costs(and my wife will flip )so mabe. 1.5 m sump 1.2m water change tank will run it by derik when i get hold of him again

 

You mean Adriaan/Idol Marine?

 

will check .thanks

 

Can't wait to see this setup

 

Im going to try and do a photo journal of the instalation and setup but from past exp I tend to get over involved and forget the photos.
decided to use my current arowana setup as the sump as its bigger and changed the setup.

is there a max amount of compartments one can use in a sump as ive added partitions so that the water will always flow thru or down the filtering flos , bio media, plants ,sand and pump and up and over the heater. the slower the water moves over the bio material the better as there is more time to work ?. I also dont want a fast flow rate in the tank itself.
am i over complicating things or what .the idea is to have as much filtration area as possible as there will be 10 med(10cm) fish 5 lrg 25cm and 1 big old arowana 50cm +