Need some help and advice on sump

[schiavonir]

I'm very unhappy with my DIY sump setup. I did it on the cheap and seemed effective for a while, but now I can't keep my nitrates down or keep my water clear. It's getting to the point that I don't like my tank anymore because it's nothing but trouble. So I'm hoping I can get some of your expert advice on cleaning up my situation. I've drawn a crude sketch of my current sump setup.

Behold:

The main box is plastic rubbermaid tub I bought at Wal-Mart. It's probably about 12 gallons. The fuge is a smaller plastic tub, and the other box is an even smaller tub which was my latest attempt to keep detritus in one place that I could empty out easily. (It doesn't work very well.)

I think I will probably budget $200 - $300 to putting together a better setup. It is a 65 gallon tank, so my space underneath is limited to about 32" W x 18" D x 24" H. The limiting factor is actually the door opening, which is 11" W x 21" H. I can get a 10 gallon tank in there, but not a 15 gallon, for example.

So I'm thinking about taking a 10 gallon tank and creating some chambers with pieces of acrylic. My hope is to catch the crud that comes down from the tank and then clean it out somehow. This is the part I'm missing - I don't know how you guys do that. How do you get that stuff out of your sump? What chambers should I create? Should I use some foam to catch the junk? Or LR rubble in one of the chambers? What about carbon?

Then I probably need to upgrade my skimmer (I bought this off a guy for $30, so it's probably pretty crummy) and get a bigger/better pump. In the main tank, I have 3 Maxijet 900's which were originally alternating on a wavemaker powerstrip, but are now on full time.

This tank has been established for just under 2 years, and despite my nitrate problem, I do manage to keep the fish healthy and I'm able to keep some of the heartier soft corals - a couple of leathers, some toadstool, couple kinds of mushrooms, and some button polyps. A while ago, I had many beautiful zoos, but they all eventually died off, along with my GSP.

So go ahead and take a stab at it. If you were spending my money, what would you buy? And if you think my budget needs to be bigger to do it right, please say so. If there's anything from the current setup I can reuse, that would be great.

I really appreciate your help on this.

Roger

 

[jeemann99]

I would move the skimmer to a separate compartment as the return pump. The return pump should be the last chamber in a sump not sharing with anything else. If you plan on running a fuge in with the sump you should have it right before the return pump.

1st chamber = Flow in from tank
2nd chamber = protein skimmer
3rd chamber fuge put in it non sexual macro algea, live sand, and live rock
4th chamber = return pump

each chamber should be separtae from one another by using egg crate or just over or under flow between plexiglass/glass.

This is JMO, but maybe you might get some other ideas form others. I will take a pic of mine later and post it so ou can see what I mean.

hope this helps
Garrick

I had the same problems with my tank before I put a sump w/fuge on it 1 mos. ago HIGH nitrates. Now they are good.

 

[RRafael]

I will be using this design the only changes will be my skimmer and return pums will be internal to the refugium.
http://jjgeisler.com/reeftank/55g_sump-refugium2.htm

 

[schiavonir]

Cool, thanks for your ideas. Do you think I can jam 4 chambers into a 10 gallon tank? Where does your detritus end up and how do you clean it out?

 

[RRafael]

you should consider sock filtering filled with carbon to catch so of that stuff.

 

[jeemann99]

4 chambers in a 10g is tight in my opinion

 

[Poppy828]

I would have the protein skimmer in the same section as the drain/s from the tank, then flow into your fuge, then to your return. You don't need 4 seperate areas really. Plus, you will not have the room with a 10g. Do you have room for anything bigger by chance? Go as big as you can with your sump.

You can make a divider down the middle of the sump (I prefer glass) with a small piece of eggcrate on the end of that reaching the end of the tank. Idea behind that is to allow flow into the return section. The middle divider can be placed in a spot just big enough for the return pump to fit in. On the other side of the return, you use (1) glass baffle/partition whateve you want to call it. The first secgtion is your drains and skimmer, water will flow over that baffle and into your fuge, from there it will go through your eggcrate to the opposite end of the sump and into the return pump.

Hope that makes sense.

Todd

 

[schiavonir]

Todd, so what divides the fuge and the sump? Just eggcrate?

So all your detritus would collect in the first chamber where the drain is, right? Do you ever clean this out?

There is physically more room down there for something bigger than a 10 gallon tank, but I wouldn't fit anything bigger through the door. If there was a safe way to connect two 10g tanks together, that might work out. By "safe", I mean not relying upon a siphon or something that could stop working and flood my family room.

 

[RRafael]

can you post pics of your system especially the base cabinet with measurment, if that was posted I am sure somone can give you a few ideas of how to fit a larger sump

IF IT DONT FIT MAKE IT!!!!!!! just kidding

 

[schiavonir]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6914397#post6914397 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishfood23
I will be using this design the only changes will be my skimmer and return pums will be internal to the refugium.
http://jjgeisler.com/reeftank/55g_sump-refugium2.htm

I like this design. Am I wasting my time trying to build this in a 10g tank?

fishfood, the dims are in my original post. The space under the tank is 32" W x 18" D x 24" H, but door opening is 11" W x 21" H.

Does anyone know if the piece of wood between the doors is load-bearing support? If I removed that temporarily, then my opening becomes something like 24" x 21", so I could fit something larger than a 10g.

 

[RRafael]

Could you fit a tank this size if you put it in on an angle (30"x12"x18" dimensions for a 29 gallon) also is there any chance of moving the tank away from the wall to make room to get in the back of it?

 

[RRafael]

Or a 20 gallon High 24"x12"x16"

 

[schiavonir]

A 20 or 29 under there would be awesome, but there's no way, even at an angle, I would get it through that opening. Well...maybe the 20g high could be squeezed in. I'd have to do some modelling to know for sure.

I think moving the tank even an inch away from the wall would require breaking it all down. Not something I really want to do now. Good lesson learned for the next tank.

I have a message into All-Glass about that piece of wood. If that can come out, I'm golden, although the 29 would probably take up every available cubic inch, leaving no room for other items I store under there.

 

[Naperville Reef]

i have a 10g sump that Rod made for me. it works great.

it only has 3 chambers and i think 4 would be hard to do.

my 1st chamber is where the display tank drains to. it also acts as my refugium. then the water overflows into the 2nd chamber where my protien skimmer is located. then the water flows into the 3rd chamber where my Mag 5 is located.

 

[schiavonir]

Naperville,
How does the water flow from the 2nd to 3rd chambers? Is it another overflow? How big is each chamber? I think a 10g is 20" long. What kind of skimmer do you have?

Doesn't having the tank drain into your fuge cause a bit of unrest in there? ie. too much flow in the fuge?

 

[Naperville Reef]

just something to consider regarding the 20H.....

it is 4 inches longer and 2 inches deeper than the standard 10g. but it is 4 inches higher which may or may not pose problems accessing the tank. i have trouble reaching to the bottom of my tank when i want to clean my skimmer's pump. if i had a 20H there is no way i could get it. i guess it will depend on the structure of the stand.

 

[Naperville Reef]

i will take a picture for you b/c it may be difficult to describe. give me a few minutes on that.

my skimmer is an Advanced Aquarium Excaliber SV 100 with modified Maxi-Jet 1200

i have live sand and live rock in my fuge and the sand does not get stirred up, based on the PVC drain design. there is probably a little more flow than most fuges but it does work. i have lots of critters, pods and my cheato grows like crazy.

 

[RRafael]

I would actually go to Rod (Rod's Reef) he is an expert on this I know he built the one for JEEMANN99 and it was probably one of the best part of his system now.

 

[Naperville Reef]

Roger...... i am having trouble with my photo imager. pm me your email address and i will send you some pics.

i can not get a picture of the overflow into the 3rd chamber but basically there is an angled glass baffle.

you are always more than welcome to stop over to check it out if you are ever in the neighborhood.

but as fishfood23 mentioned, i would (and did) have Rod build one. it was not expensive and you will have peace of mind knowing it will work properly.

 

[schiavonir]

Well, rest assured, all. I took your advice, and Rod is on the case.

BTW, I think I can get either a 15 high or 15 show to fit in there.

I'll post an update when I have something figured out. From what I've read, I think I'm in good hands.