Sump tank build thread

[sponger0]

Is your tank cycling? It will take time to break in, which many have said it will take a bit. But without any stock, there really isnt a bioload.

If your still cycling, you dont need to run the skimmer.

In time you will be able to adjust it once its broken in and you have a load on the tank

 

[Mr.Tan]

tank has already cycled, today is its 85th day running..took 2 weeks for the cycle to fully complete and then i started adding fish. I currently have 2 blue/green chromis, 1 coral beauty and I just added a strawberry dottyback last night..along with a coral banded shrimp that has been in for awhile. so there is a bioload on the tank. That video of it running wasent with the DT water flowing into the sump. that was just a video of it being turned on and running for 5 minutes in fresh SW that i started filling up the sump with..so it had no bioload or organics in it.

 

[Mr.Tan]

First run!

First run!

Well a bit of an update... Started it all up for the first time tonight! Great success!! Everything was flowing perfectly and no overflows. I was afraid/convinced i would need to adjust something to get the flow proper and equal, however to my complete suprise the water was going in and coming out just how it should have.

Only problems that I have come up with is noise (which i didn't even think i would have a problem with). The one pipe from the return is resting on the hole and vibrating like CRAZY!!! I had my mom (yes i still live at home while im in college haha) stand downstairs in my room the DT is in and listen while i lifted the pipe, and sure enough it was resting on the wood and causing it to vibrate loudly, nothing a couple adjustments and moving shouldn't fix and make it less noisy and unbearable.

The overflow is also noisy, i have no bubble in the syphon tube however where it goes down in to the overflow it is kind of noisy, sounds like water running down a sink drain. I think i'll look into that gurgle buster setup thing and see what I can do. It does already have a tube in the pipe that it came with (i guess the upgraded it?) however it doesnt do much..see below pic for the tubing piece i am talking about).

Also, the return head anti-syphon hole is producing a lot of micro bubbles in the tank. i need to do soemthing about it because it looks ugly. Is there any recommendation? I mean, can i plug those holes and put a smaller one up higher or something? i can't deal with them in the tank. They aren't coming from anything else because i covered them with my fingers and they stopped in the tank.

heres some boring pics.... The skimmer itself was up and running and producing a very light brown skimmate at the top, i can't wait for it to break in and really start doing work. Next on the list is to go scoop some LR and macro algae (chaeto) from the LFS once its running for a bit. Eventually want to get a TLF phosban reactor to run to help with my phosphate issue, cyano is killing me!... Also need to get a filtersock thing situated for the overflow pipe.

once i get it up and running with the LR and macro algae and the skimmer breaks in, the HOB filter will be removed. Heater will also be making its way down there.

 

[sponger0]

Whats the display look like

 

[jer77]

Looks like a perfect water level for the skimmer. When its breaking in you should have the valve open all the way. It may take a week or more to fully break in. The cavitation from the return line can be fixed easily like you said. I didn't have that problem with my mag pump cause I used clear vinyl tubing. The overflow does make a slurping noise. You will learn to get used to some noise level when you run any tank with any type of overflow. It will never be completely silent no matter what you do. I haven't tried the HOB silencers, but they should help. I like the idea of macroalgae. I love it. I use halimeda in my sump and display. There are a bunch of "acceptable" macros that can be employed for nutrient control. Chaeto is currently the most common. Here's a pic of my tank before it cracked:

The second pic I got featured in a magazine featuring Halimeda for the month. GFO reactors are the easiest ways to go, but they cost a lot if you have a big tank or run them for a long time. Plus macro is just cool IMO. OK, enough pitching the macro idea. A filter sock can be good but can be bad. They keep your water very clear in the beginning, but without regular washing they clog up quickly. I would suggest using carbon in a reactor for clear water. If you really want to use a filter sock, use a bigger filter size as opposed to a tiny one that would clog up faster. Also get two of them so when one clogs up take it off and wash it in the washing machine while you use the second one. It involves a little too much maintenance for me.

Yeah lets see your display. All these pics of the sump and no display.

 

[Mr.Tan]

Looks like a perfect water level for the skimmer. When its breaking in you should have the valve open all the way. It may take a week or more to fully break in. The cavitation from the return line can be fixed easily like you said. I didn't have that problem with my mag pump cause I used clear vinyl tubing. The overflow does make a slurping noise. You will learn to get used to some noise level when you run any tank with any type of overflow. It will never be completely silent no matter what you do. I haven't tried the HOB silencers, but they should help. I like the idea of macroalgae. I love it. I use halimeda in my sump and display. There are a bunch of "acceptable" macros that can be employed for nutrient control. Chaeto is currently the most common. Here's a pic of my tank before it cracked:

The second pic I got featured in a magazine featuring Halimeda for the month. GFO reactors are the easiest ways to go, but they cost a lot if you have a big tank or run them for a long time. Plus macro is just cool IMO. OK, enough pitching the macro idea. A filter sock can be good but can be bad. They keep your water very clear in the beginning, but without regular washing they clog up quickly. I would suggest using carbon in a reactor for clear water. If you really want to use a filter sock, use a bigger filter size as opposed to a tiny one that would clog up faster. Also get two of them so when one clogs up take it off and wash it in the washing machine while you use the second one. It involves a little too much maintenance for me.

Yeah lets see your display. All these pics of the sump and no display.

First and foremost, very nice looking tanks! Its ashame that one cracked, was it destroyed or did you just take it down and move to a new one?

I wasent sure if i needed to run the skimmer fully open or not, the level inside seems to drop down a good amount. I read that the waterlevel should be 1" above where the neck starts to taper down for breaking in, but i will change it to what you said.. I did think about using clear vinyl tubing, if worse comes to worse and I can't get the vibrating to stop or can't get the piping moved enough i will (its really annoying haha).. I know it will never be completely silent, but I want to get it down atleast a little bit more then what it is, i mean i can deal with it compared to the vibrating of the piping.. I am def. going to get some chaeto and whatever else they have at the LFS, they usually have a large selection for cheap.


I did consider GFO, my tank isn't that large (only a 29g) so i wouldn't think I would need to run it all the time or much at all... Its something I would eventually like to get, but won't right away, need to save up some money now and get my Red sea test kit and start doing the dosing and waht not to work my way up to having corals...however i need to get this cyano under control work so who knows what will happen :spin1: . I've heard mixed feelings on filter socks, my buddy runs them in his sump and loves them, so i will most likely eventually get them in, i will get 2 for sure, maybe even 3 so i can always have backups. I don't mind the maintanence, keeps me busy and out of trouble :lmao: , half the reason i started this tank up was to keep my mind off other things and occupied. plus its just fun and rewarding.

I'll have to get some good pictures of the DT..its nothing special or much to look at right now though, just some rocks and 4 fish (coral beauty, strawberry dottyback and 2 blue/green chromis)

 

[Mr.Tan]

another question regarding the return tube.. IT has those 2 anti-syphon holes that reside right below water level to prevent it from sucking water back in when turned off.. They are spewing a TON of micro bubbles into the tank when the water blows out through them. Is there anything I can do about this? if they are above water level they are gonna spray water everywhere i think, but below they just make to many bubbles, it looks ugly! i covered them up with my fingers and sure enough the bubbles stopped right away.. Is it something i will just have to deal with?

 

[jer77]

First off thanks for your regards about my cracked tank. Here is a link with pics:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2053618

Second, about the anti-siphon hole. With your tank being so small how much water siphons back to your sump anyways? The sump can hold maybe 5-7 more gallons can't it. So would there be a chance of an overflow? For my first siphon hole, I had it above the water line facing towards the back of the tank so it sprayed on the glass. It really isn't that much water. Oh, and why are there bubbles coming out of the hole to begin with? Is your pump sucking up air? Maybe you should add water and raise the water level in your sump, it looks sort of low.

I do this hobby for the same reason my friend. I have def gotten in my fair share of bad luck. I can't imagine what there is to do out in York in the Middle of the state.

 

[Mr.Tan]

I saw that thread in the discussion forum and holy cow! thats ridiculous, i'd be so angry :headwalls:.

Not really to much siphons back, i'd say about 2 gallons goes back in at the most. it can atleast hold another 5 gallons of water i would think. I think i am going to plug that first hole facing outwards into the tank (there are two holes, one on front and one on back directly across from one another) and see if it helps a bit. I have NO idea why there is any bubbles coming out, it boggles my mind! I will try raising the height in the sump a bit, i can just add some water to the return side once it is up and running, right?

ha yeah york is pretty boring. Its nice that lancaster/harrisburg and even baltimore are only an hour drive if you get to bored and want to go somewhere...but that gets old fast.

 

[stewartms]

Mr. Tan,

Can you lower your returns a bit deeper? The bubbles are more than likely caused from the holes being so close to the surface that they are pulling air into the the water streams from the surface. Lower them just enough to get the bubles to stop and then check to ensure your sump handles the extra water volume. You should be good as long as you only go as low as needed to stop the bubbles.

 

[Mr.Tan]

I wish i could, the way the return comes to the tank its sitting down as low as possible. it forms a hoop over the rim of the tank from the sump to the inside of the DT itself. its kind of screwy how it is....i really want to upgrade to a reef ready tank with built in overflows, its such a headache setting this up with the HOB overflow and all of that stuff...

 

[TACoraled]

What stewartms said, you'll want those siphon holes under the water when running. with them above the waterline, you're in effect adding oxygen to the water, similar to what you do in freshwater with powerheads.

I was fortunate enough to have enough space in my return section where I don't use/need anti-siphon holes, I let the pump drain until the actual output from the return pump breaks the water level and causes the siphon to stop. You may want to see if you can angle your return output to do the same. Have your return nozzle just barely under the water. Test by turning off the pump and see how much drains. Should it start draining more than the return section can handle, be prepared to plug the pump back in quickly.

 

[stewartms]

other option is if you have enough room in the sump to handle the back siphon would be to temp plug the anti siphon holes and raise the return high as you can. run a power out test to verify you can handle the volume and if it works, plug the holes.... I have ran several external overflows over the years and found that it just takes a bit of tuning to get them how you want. I am currently in the process of putting together my first reef ready tank.....

 

[Mr.Tan]

So I started the sump up again yesterday.... I made the holes big enough where the PVC runs through the wall.. However i am still getting an excessive amount of vibration noise when the mag7 return pump is on!!!!! Could the PVC that i used for the entire thing be the problem? its bugging the crap out of me and I can't have it running because of the noise... last thing I thought was i would be having noise issues with my sump in the basement

 

[sponger0]

What is the noise coming from? Are the PVC vibrating on the wall or sump or......?? Have you thought if using some dampening material or some mounts to stop it from vibrating?