sump above display tank

[PIPELINE]

I asked this in the another thread but got no real replies.

I am going to build a stand and somewhat of a wall to house my 90g in.The wall will go up to the ceiling.What I want to do is to house the sump above the display so that I can put shelves in the bottom of stand.I have a 35g drilled with an overflow drain already.I thought that I could pump the water up to the 35 and then let the overflow serve as the return to the 90.The LFS told me it wouldn't work because there would not be enough flow for the ninety.I don't undersdtand why there wouldn't be since I would still be moving the same amount of water either way.I do know that the display would fluctuate on water level but that could be remidied with an automatic top off on the display.I will also use a 20G to serve as a refugium maybe independant of the sump or inline with the sump.

If this won't work please explain why? I wouldn't want to go through all the work and time if it won't.

 

[skidmarks]

I don't see why it wouldn't work, perhaps they mean you would need more turnover for the tank, that could be resolved with powerheads.

I have a 75 gallon that feeds from a sump up to the 20 gal fuge that flows into the tank and then back to the sump.

 

[PIPELINE]

Would turnover be the same as current(water movement in the display)?Or would it be water transfer from one tank to the other?

 

[kbmdale]

Doing maintinance would be a pain in the rear, othr than that it should work. You will have to add additional flow in the tank. Turnover and flow are not going to be the same in most cases.

 

[PIPELINE]

What do you mean by flow.

Turnover to me means water exchange from tank to sump and vice versa.Flow is water movement or current in each individual tank.Is this correct?

 

[douggiestyle]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6535929#post6535929 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PIPELINE
What do you mean by flow.

Turnover to me means water exchange from tank to sump and vice versa.Flow is water movement or current in each individual tank.Is this correct?

yes that works. but sometimes they can be one in the same if your only water movement is generated by the return from the sump. the return from a high sump will (dependiing on the head height) will more than likely have a lower pressure. depending on how this return is routed in the tank, the lower pressure may force you to reduce the flow from the pump to the sump. which would then lower the overall flow in the main tank.

my lfs is convinced that the bigger the tank the more pressure it generates. he says "that one weighs more"... lol

 

[kbmdale]

Turnover = rate at which water is exchanged from sump to tank.

FLOW = rate of current in main tank

You will not achieve 20x turnover from a sump mounted above the tank.

The only main problem I see is that you will get the splashing from the gravity fed returns in the tank. Like occurs in the first chamber of the sump when it is mounted below. See when you are pumping water up to the tank you get a full pipe with pressure that sends the water shooting through the tank. If you gravity feed with any volume from above you are going to get air in the pipe and not have the pressure needed to disperse the water through the tank. So you will need to add FLOW to the tank.

 

[Mind_nl]

Sump higher than the display tank works just fine, I had my last tank setup like that. The only problem is that water level dropping due to evaporation will be seen in the display instead of the sump

 

[PIPELINE]

kbmdale you mentioned bubbles in the pipe.I expected there would be in the pipe.I have some ideas but not sure if they will work.The only reason for doing it this way was to utilize all the space I have.I want to view the tank from 3 sides.Front back and 1 side.It will serve as a room divider.Water changes will be done through the drain in the wall with a ball valve in the sump.

 

[PIPELINE]

As far as water loss I am topping off with about 4 gallons a week.I will install an automatic top off in the system.

 

[fadeintoblue]

There are benfits to putting the fuge above the tank. No pump to puree your fuge critters on their way to the tank. You'll never overflow the tank in the event of power failure assuming you use a stand pipe as a drain only an inch or 2 below the surface in the fuge. I saw one set up where the pump was tied to a flow switch to shut it off in the event the drain became plugged and the fuge level got too high. The fuge above tank opens some pretty cool ideas.