putting in sump....please help

[garyw68]

When I first setup my 90 gal reef, I was too much of a newbie to think about overflow and a sump/refugium. Now I plan to put in my sump this weekend using a overflow box that I just received today. Is is a CPR CS90 with a flow rate of 600 gph and is rated for tanks up to 125 gallons. I got it from marine depot so I assumed it was a good buy. My questions are these:

1. what rated pump do I use for this kind of overflow box? I have two maxi-jet powerheads which are rated for 295 gph each. Do I stay close to 295 or more towards the 600 gph?

2. what keeps the overflow/sump from overflowing when the power goes out?

3. Do I use draining hoses or PVC pipes with shut off valves for the overflow and return?

I guess thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s it for now. I am sure I will have more questions during the weekend while Im putting it together.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BadOleRoss]

I would use a pump close to or over the capasity of your overflow t get maximum water flow. Make sure you run a line from your return line back to your sump with a ballcock so you can control the extra water flow. As far as an overflow when the power goes, your sum should be large enough to hold anything your overflow will give it. I use PVC on my return lines and clear vinyl hoses on my overflows. I took the shut off valves (ballcocks) off my overflow lines because they restricted the flow too much.

 

[Kurt03]

use the headloss calc on the front page and you will be able to tell what pump you will need to get the flow you want.

 

[chemesgh]

I set up a 10 gal sump fpr my 55 gal tank this past weekend. My overflow box can handle up to 500 gph, but I didn't want to push that to the max so I bought a Mag 5 pump, which when estimating roughly 4' of head, it's around 300-350 gph. My sump is not drilled, thus I just ran the 1" flex hose that came with the overflow box down into my sump and it's in the first chamber of my sump, with the skimmer. Also, my return line is just 3/4" vinyl tubing, which I snaked around with no sharp turns to prevent kinking. This will also help eliminate some frictional losses you might see using PVC pipe, especially at 90's and such.

To prevent overflow during a power outage, I just drilled four small holes on my return line, right below the water surface where the normal water level is when everything is running. On the overflow, I drilled a hole at the top of the U tube large enough for some standard airline tubing to fit in. I siliconed the tubing into this hole and had the other end of the tubing attached to the venturi inlet on my penguin 1120 powerhead. I mainly did this because it makes my entire sump system self starting in that if the power goes off, and comes back on, I won't lose siphon from my overflow box and have my main tank overflowed by the return pump. To break siphon from the overflow, I set the portion of the overflow box that sits in the tank to it's highest setting. This means that once the tank level falls below the bottom of the "teeth" around the top of the box in the tank, the overflow stops draining water into the sump. I played with the water level in the sump until i got it to a point where it was able to run well, while not having so much water in that it would overflow from the little water that does siphon back from my return line when the pump shuts off.


I don't know if that makes sense, but it made sense to me once I was putting it in and actually doing it in person. I'm glad I did it, my water looks so much better to me now, and I have almost all equipment hidden under the stand now!!!


Edit: Also, I had some bad draining/gurgling noises coming from my overflow when i first set it up. After reading through some threads, I ran about 3' of standard airline tubing down through my overflow box into the overflow line leading to my sump. I had to move it around a bit, but this allowed the air that was in the overflow line to be vented, which made the overflow silent! I was extremely happy about that, as the bath tub draining noise was wearing thin on me!