~~~~~~Sump size?~~~~~~

[dh350twin]

I am putting up a 240 gallon peninsula tank and wondered what is the smallest sump i could run......ideally would like to run a 30 breeder.

What do you guys think?

 

[TimeConsumer]

Think of it this way. If you have a power outage and the top 1" of your tank drains to your sump, that's 11.5 gallons. Add in the water inside of the plumbing and the skimmer and you could end up at 15 gallons or more. That's a lot of water for a 30 breeder, you better design it just right.

 

[dh350twin]

i guess i should step it up to a 40 breeder.

 

[TimeConsumer]

That's better, but I'd go even bigger. There's a 40 breeder on my 75 gallon.

Think of this example using my 75g tank: Most people run a rough average of 5x display volume turnover through their sump. So in my case my sump volume would be turned over 10x every hour. Not bad. Some people do a smaller sump than I, and run a 20 long, this means the sump volume would turn over 18x per hour.

If you ran a 40 breeder on your 240g with a 5x display turnover you would have 30x your sump volume turned over every hour. That's pretty quick. You may end up with some microbubble issues. If you can fit it, I would use a 75g or a big rubbermaid tub for your sump.

 

[billdogg]

My general rule of thumb is:

As big as you have room for. Having a little extra space in your sump will NEVER be a bad thing. Having too little will.

 

[allsps40]

Dont think of as what is the smallest sump you can run instead run the biggest sump possible.

 

[CHSUB]

i have a 80 gallon sump on a 280. it works well, get as big as possible!

 

[geaux xman]

i have a standard 75g for a sump that i bought from a local forum for $100 bucks delivered. While it works out well, I wish I had gone even bigger.

 

[TimeConsumer]

i have a standard 75g for a sump that i bought from a local forum for $100 bucks delivered. While it works out well, i wish i had gone even bigger.

larc?

 

[reefermad619]

I like to size my sump volume to be at least 1/3 of DT volume. I think 80 gallons would be a good place to start. I run a 100 gallon sump on my 180.

 

[dh350twin]

Thanks guys...

 

[johnike]

75 under 240 here. Go big if you have room.

 

[krzyphsygy]

Us the sump volume calculator....I was just doing this while trying to decide my sump size for a 125. My thought was I wanted a adequate size sump, not just a big sump. I had other things I wanted under the cabinet than just a huge sump. Money was not an issue. The sump calculator helped me decide I went with a 40gal