Two story filtration system.

[Cheezefrog]

I've looked everywhere, browsed google for hours...
What i'm looking to do is setup a reef tank that has a sump filtration system above in the second story crawl space directly above it. I guess I would have to have some sort of decent pump too push water upwards but I would like to keep this system AS natural as possible.

Thanks.
Would appreciate pictures/diagrams, thanks for your replys.
~Cheezefrog

 

[Cheezefrog]

I found this, thought it was rather interesting, and could be a possibility.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img.../images?q=upwards+water+lifts&um=1&hl=en&sa=G

 

[Cheezefrog]

bump for info..

 

[SHOmuchFUN]

I don't see why this couldn't be done... Just drill the tank in the back for a pump, pump the water UP into the sump, and drill the sump as you would a reef-ready tank to drain back into the display. It's just a sump system in reverse, essentially.

Your display basically becomes the "sump".

 

[dzeadow]

problem is, now you have to worry about your sump draining into your tank during a power outtage, and generally people keep their display tanks full enough not to be able to handle much additional water, especially as much as would probably drain from a sump, unless VERY VERY carefully planned.

 

[surge19us]

You could plumb some type of siphon break into the fuge so it won't drain back to the tank and the gravity return would have to be plumbed fairly high on the sump. The bigger problem I see is if any thing blocked or restricted the gravity drain you could flood the sump and continue to flood down to wherever your pump feed is plumbed. When you pump from a sump because of the baffles hopefully if the worst happens it will be limited to relatively few gallons compared to the tank.
The other issue is to insure your pump can never exceed your sump drain capacity. If you attempt to do this with valves you are asking for problems.

 

[kfennell]

Don't forget that there will be a good chance of air bubbles created in the gravity line that will be put directly into the tank.

 

[Jefe12234]

Plus the float switches for the ATO would need to go in the display instead of the sump.

 

[Cheezefrog]

Thanks for the reply's. My initial goal is to put a 5'x4' starfire front view into a small closet space that only has a indepth of about 2 feet. Sounds slightly scary I know. I do plan to use plywood for this project with your essential poxy's and fiberglass.

The post I found earlier concerning an air lift pump
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...l=en&sa=G

perhaps may sound like a promising way to move hundreds of gallons of water..Like I said I wanted too keep this as natrual as possible. I don't plan on using valves because I can see how it would become a problem. I do however always use stoppers on my main return lines etc.

 

[lostanime]

Wouldn't keeping the display low and sump high mean that all evaporation from the setup would be reflected in the display's water level?

You could avoid overflowing by having a safety "hole" drilled near the top of the main tank, with a pipe running to a container (5gal bucket?) underneath tank so if things begin failing the water doesn't just overflow, but that would be as much work as just setting up the sump below.

If your trying to hide equipment, why not have a false acrylic "back wall" added in the tank and all the gear/pumps/filtration/whatever hide behind that?

 

[areze]

throw a small sump under the tank, somehow... it will be your top off and common sump to the display and upstairs sump.

run both off an overflow to the tank under. smaller and less accessible, but itll serve its purpose.

 

[Cheezefrog]

I'm afraid there inst going to be much room to work with this is the reason for the hiding of it. beings I plan to have a very large display glass but narrow in depth I have a feeling there wont be much room on the floor beneath it, not to mention I'm trying to make this as clean as possible, allowing enough room for lighting and thats about it...

I'll try and get some pictures up soon, I plan to make a build thread on this but it wont be for a few months.
I anticipate this to be around 200+ gallons

 

[Cheezefrog]

Thought i would update this thread and share with you all this....I came across it earlier...Its a shame there aren't more closeups but after seeing this..Im convinced.

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic34197-13-1.aspx

If anyone has any pictures similar to systems like these I would graciously like for you to share them...

Thanks,
Cheezefrog

 

[Fish2reef]

We had a store with an elevated sump,the neat thing was the water returned to the tank via some type of dump system creating a wave action return. Downside bubbles and noise.

 

[MattAndKim]

Installing a check valve in the supply line and a normally-closed solenoid operated valve to isolated the upper tank from the lower tank would solve your problem. You'd still have to worry about leakage through your check valve. To maximize flow, you'd want to install the solenoid valve as low as possible, and the sump as high as possible.
These valves could be actuated by wiring them into the same power source as your lift pump: http://www.plastomatic.com/ps.html
They are rated for the service you need.

I think the best way to do this is with both tanks having overflows and having the main tank drain to a small sump underneath, instrumented with an ato, then pumping up to your fuge, which has an overflow installed to drain to the main tank. this would cause only the volume of water over the minimum heights of both overflows to drain to the lower sump in the event of a power outage.

 

[wolfofstone]

Run a sealed sump.

Put your input and output in the top of the sump.

Put a pump in the display tank to push the water to the sump.

The syphen will carry some of moving the water.

The only water that will drain into the tank wold be from the tubes if the syphen is broken.
If you want a drawn example e-mail me at wolfofstone@msn.com