Plans for a sump. Thoughts?

[Angrycubano]

I finally found a sump that fits under my stand. I have a 55 gal DT going into a 24 gal sump. So I'm going from overflow box to drain side of sump where the skimmer will be in. Then it will go through a couple of baffles into the fuge area where I will have some LR and chaeto. This will then go through another couple of baffles into the return area where it will be pumped back by a mag5 then through a UV sterlizer then through a GFO reactor and then back to the DT. Does this sound right?

Any ideas of how to direct it better?

 

[mapn4reef]

I'm not 100% on this...but I think the GFO should just come/go into the sump independantly...and the UV sterilizer will kill all the benefits you're trying to get from the fuge... I'm sure folks will confirm or deny this info...

 

[nightfire]

yea if it were me i'd do the gfo heading into the fuge just to try and clean up the water a bit before it goes into the fuge....as far as a sterilizer goes ya will here many thoughts on its effectiveness or lack there of....personally i wouldnt waste my time with one but thats just me.....as far as where to place it, i would say maybe before the fuge....not sooo sure though on that one

 

[Pickupman66]

The sterilizer sounds fine to me. just make sure you dont exceed its recomended flow or it is just another light bulb. I run one and will continue to do so. Copps runs several in his system and swears by them. he is a "expert" or at least he knows a ton and has a bunch of hobby experience. his success with angels is incredible. read his TOTM thread.

GFO needs a fraction of the water running thru it than you will pump thru your tank. in my 225+ gallons of water, with close to 10,000 gallons of total water moving somewhere every hour, my GFO runs on a maxijet 1200, and is dialed back at that. with GFO, you want the top later to gently tumble. otherwise it will grind into a pulp and the fines will get into your tank and corals.

 

[Angrycubano]

Thanks for the heads up. I already have a UV that's why I was asking about input/output section. I've seen where most people have it at the last section before going back to the DT so that you expose ALL water before it goes back. My main concern for the fuge and uv is for algae and phosphates/nitrates reduction.

 

[Angrycubano]

The sterilizer sounds fine to me. just make sure you dont exceed its recomended flow or it is just another light bulb. I run one and will continue to do so. Copps runs several in his system and swears by them. he is a "expert" or at least he knows a ton and has a bunch of hobby experience. his success with angels is incredible. read his TOTM thread.

GFO needs a fraction of the water running thru it than you will pump thru your tank. in my 225+ gallons of water, with close to 10,000 gallons of total water moving somewhere every hour, my GFO runs on a maxijet 1200, and is dialed back at that. with GFO, you want the top later to gently tumble. otherwise it will grind into a pulp and the fines will get into your tank and corals.

I have the 19W and it's recommended flow is 465 gph for algae control so that's why I am looking at getting the mag5 with the 3 foot head it will get me the flow that I need. My concern is once I hook up the GFO what that will do to the flow.

 

[Angrycubano]

yea if it were me i'd do the gfo heading into the fuge just to try and clean up the water a bit before it goes into the fuge....as far as a sterilizer goes ya will here many thoughts on its effectiveness or lack there of....personally i wouldnt waste my time with one but thats just me.....as far as where to place it, i would say maybe before the fuge....not sooo sure though on that one

So you think go from skimmer to GFO to fuge?

 

[mapn4reef]

Usually the GFO has a separate/independant pump from the main return pump...like a Maxi-Jet 1200...read Pickups post above.

 

[Pickupman66]

as ai said, the GFO needs to be run in a seperate container with a seperate pump. i have maybe 150 gph in my gfo. maybe less. the output from your skimmer will have a bunch of mircobubbles in it.

 

[nightfire]

ya can also run T fittings off things and gate valves and ya will onlny need to run one pump to supply everything....minus the skmmer of course....my tank is supplied by a single quietone 3000 and is T'ed off to supply my fuge and my gfo reactor....now of course depending on the size pump ya have remember that everything ya add to it will pull ya GPH down a tad....as mine sits right now it looks like i could add 1 ....maybe 2 more things to my supply before it affects the flow going into my display

 

[Angrycubano]

ya can also run T fittings off things and gate valves and ya will onlny need to run one pump to supply everything....minus the skmmer of course....my tank is supplied by a single quietone 3000 and is T'ed off to supply my fuge and my gfo reactor....now of course depending on the size pump ya have remember that everything ya add to it will pull ya GPH down a tad....as mine sits right now it looks like i could add 1 ....maybe 2 more things to my supply before it affects the flow going into my display

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing. I just wanted to see if anyone else did it that way and are having luck with it. If you have any pics of how you have it I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[nightfire]

here is a mock up of what i have more or less...sorry the camra isnt working right now but the red is feeding line and the blue are drain lines....ya can set it up many ways but here ya can see i feed my display and reactor with the same pump and line

 

[Angrycubano]

here is a mock up of what i have more or less...sorry the camra isnt working right now but the red is feeding line and the blue are drain lines....ya can set it up many ways but here ya can see i feed my display and reactor with the same pump and line

That's perfect. It's pretty much exactly what I was thinking of doing to mine. I just want to make sure I get the right pump so that I can feed my reactor and uv sterlizer to go back to my DT and have enough flow. I think the reactor comes with it's own gate valve so I can control the flow going to it and then install another gate valve going to my uv. As long as I can get 400-465 gph going to my uv and back to my DT I'm golden.

Thanks for all of your help man.

 

[nightfire]

sure man.....i havent checked it but my quiet one 3000 does good for my 55......as long as ya go big on a pump ya can dial it back....can even T it off to send some of the water back to the sump.....lots of ways ta do it really....as long as ya know how to lay the plumping it can be limitless