Sump Questions

[Phillybean]

I've decided to go with a sump. The problem is my tank is not drilled and can not be drilled. What are my options? I have a 75 gallon w/ a 20 gallon tank ready to be the sump. Can a pump pull the water from the top of tank, run it into the sump where another pump will put it back into the tank? How can I prevent a flood? I have read up on sumps but don't know the answers for these...

 

[_K_E_P_]

You can use a siphon U tube, but I don't like them as they can get airlocked and cause a flood.

I'm sure there must be an ingenious way to use to pumps

 

[taku]

I have a 120gallon non-drilled tank and after it was running I came to the same conclusion you did.. deciding to go with a sump.

Let me just jump ahead and say you will ultimately be MUCH more happy with a drilled tank. So before you go spending money on plumbing piping and all that good stuff, how badly do you want to upgrade your tank? Because now might be the right time before you spend money on overflow boxes and all that jazz.

I wanted a sump as well so I bought 2 overflow boxes (lifereef I believe) about $80 each, they are fantastic as far as overflow boxes are concerned. My only gripe is there is ALWAYS a risk of flood with any hang on back overflow boxes and I *never* feel comfortable going on any vacation or away for the weekend because of possibly them breaking suction.

Now I'm about to upgrade tanks to a drilled RR tank and I should have just done this from the beginning.

I would NEVER recommend 2 pumps one sucking over the tank to sump and the other pumping back up to the tank from the sump. You can never match gallons per hour on two pumps to make them remain equal.

The reason the overflow box with a single return pump works is that the pump in the sump pushes water up to the tank and causes the water to overflow into that hang on back overflow box.. so as long as your return pump is not pushing more gallons per hour, than the overflow box can handle.. you're fine.

I again want to recommend upgrading to a reef ready drilled tank and doing it right like I should have!

 

[Serioussnaps]

I seriously reccomend not doing this at all. Not worth it at all. Dont want to bust your bubble but better this way than the other way(disaster in your home) If your tank CANT physically be drilled, sell/trade it for a tank that can. If you want to reef then make sure every little step along the way is right, including this one. Im not saying you cant do it, but I wouldnt touch it with a ten foot pole.

 

[taku]

After having my non drilled tank for 4 years I COMPLETELY AGREE!!!

Get rid of the 75g undrilled tank or keep it for the sump under another tank that's drilled.

 

[_K_E_P_]

You can install a water level sensor to shutoff the return pump if the siphon did fail.

 

[Phillybean]

Did some research and some thinking and I can up with this idea.

Basically the water will flow over the top of the tank, into a overflow box which will go into the sump. It will flow thru the ref, skimmer/heater section (all to be decided where) and into the pump section. Which will push it all back into the top of the tank. If the pump dies, the sump will overflow but a pipe will connect the sump to a 2nd overflow tank (I have more then enough room in the stand) which will be able to hold enough water for the weir to run out of space. The only other problem that might happen is if I lose siphon the pump will overflow the display tank. To stop this from happening, The pump will sit a third of the way down the tank, only pumping at the most, the top third of the tank. With enough space in the display tank to hold another 8 gallons of water (which I'll leave) this should be enough to cover it. The only think that could happen is with no water I'd burn out the pump, but would avoid a flood from happening. Comments?