New Freshwater (brackish) Setup W/ Sump

[myenigmaself]

I'm currently in the process of setting up some new tanks. I've got a 55g on top with a 29g on the bottom that I'll be using as a sump. I had originally thought it was going to be a freshwater setup, but I've recently decided to go brackish. I'm setting up a horizontal overflow. At this point the holes have been drilled in the 55g, all the parts are ordered, and 95% of them are here or in transit here. I've also setup a 10g snail tank to be used to breed food for the future inhabitants.

Inhabitants:
A school of figure 8 puffers
Gobies (probably bumble bee)
Ghost shrimp in the sump, also for food

Today I finally setup the tank and started siliconing in the sump parts together. The journey begins!

Sump Design:


Full Setup:


Inside:


Back w/ holes:


Back other side:


Snail tank:


Sump dry fitting:


Sump dry fitting side:


Sum dry fitting pump end:


Sump, last shot before the gluing begins:


Siliconing begins (please don't laugh):


Siliconing other end:


That's all for now! I don't think I'll do anything else until the elbows are delivered (nothing major at least). Enjoy!

p.s. For the siliconing I took a tip and used a dab of super-glue to hold everything in place while I glued. It doesn't support much pressure, but works quite well if you're careful!

 

[WoodenChair]

Followed you over from your fwump thread.



Watching closely


-Chairman Wood

 

[jennybugs]

So far so good

 

[myenigmaself]

Ok, I lied. I couldn't resist. I finished up the screen between the refugium and pump chamber, so the sump is now no-fish-complete. After 24 hours of curing I'll fill it to see how horribly I siliconed

I also started work on the overflow box. I basically put all the walls together, and once it's cured I'll think about putting it in the tank. I still haven't decided if I'm going to do that before I get the elbows, but knowing my weak will I'll probably end up doing it tomorrow. The elbows aren't scheduled to get here until the 6th of March, but everything else should be here on the 2nd.

Screen pre-installation:


Super-gluing the screen in place with my trusty helper:


Screen is glued in place:


I'm not so sure how happy the cats are I've turned "their" bedroom into my fish-workshop:


The walls for the overflow, just using packing tape to hold together while curing:


Glued the long overflow seam:


Another angle:


Added the end (yeah, I should have made it of uniform height, but I got lazy. I'll probably add something to fix that later):


Siliconed the screen in place:


Another angle:


So I think we've established that I'm not a master of silicone. I'm hoping I can clean up some of the mess with a razor blade after it's dried. I tried cleaning some of it up while it was still wet but ended up just making more of a mess.

Maybe some more tomorrow, but more likely Monday or Tuesday

 

[myenigmaself]

I've made some more progress! The siliconing is complete, I've got the stand and sump tank in place, with a little colony of ghost shrimp living in there. I'm trying to find some java moss and grass and waiting for my elbows and nipples to arrive (scheduled for friday). My biggest problem, however, is an error in the order of my pvc parts. They arrived today and my 3/4" FPTx3/4" Hose Barb didn't show up, and instead they sent me a 1" FPTx1" Hose Barb. It fits neither my PVC nor my hose, so I'm stuck until they can replace it. I can't find anything like that around here. I've attached a picture below. Other than that, things are going swimmingly

Overflow Box:


Sump in Stand:


Sump Filling:


With Critters:


You Know What They Say About Curiousity :


And Lastly, the wrong part :



So we'll have to see what happens with "the wrong part." I'm kinda bummed out a little, but hopefully they'll rush the right part to me after I dropped all those bones on 'em.

 

[WoodenChair]

Lookin good so far. everything seems tip top, love the cats.

But.

Why glue / sillicone in the screen, overtime algae will overtake it and make it either brittle and fall apart or just restrict water fow to the point where it finds elseways to travel.

Just a thought.




-Chairman Wood

 

[myenigmaself]

Hey WC,

Yeah, maybe I'm naive with the screening. Here's what I was thinking:

The screen is nylon, so it should be pretty corrosion resistance.
I've got my colony of shrimp living in there, so I was hoping they would keep any algae under control.
I actually thought cleaning the screen would be pretty easy. Any debris I could blast out with some high pressure water.

I wanted some type of filter media between the refugium and the pump for two reasons:

Keep the waste in the sump where it's consumed by the shrimp and plants.
Keep the shrimp in the sump, away from the pump.

I considered standard media, but my experience with it is it's pretty maintenance intensive. Worst case my screen gets clogged for good and I either have to replace it (labor intensive, but possible), get rid of it, or just let the water go over the overflow.

What would you have recommended?

 

[WoodenChair]

My shrimp have never thought of jumping the wall to the sump. One time i had about 10 or 11 ghost shrimp get swept up and washed over the baffle, they had a blast hanging out on the mag drive pump sponge, eating all the whatnot that made it there.

Your screen should be fine mate.

 

[myenigmaself]

Thanks! Just a couple updates for today.

I moved the big tank from the guest bedroom out to the dining room (with the stand and sump tank). I also figured out that even though I don't have all the right pieces, I had enough to rig together to get the pump running in the sump. It's running directly back into the return section of the sump. The ghosts really seem to like the current. Most of them have congregated right above the rocks where the water comes from the return into the refugium. Oh yeah, and I found a place that sold java moss and java fern. I bought all they had. I still haven't heard from marineandreef.com about the mixup (they shipped quickly, and were cheap. if it weren't for this little mixup they'd have a 9/10 from me). I've called and sent an e-mail to no avail. We'll see what happens.

Tanks Finally in Place:


Sumpin' Pumpin:


Also, I am getting just a little cloudiness. I think it's a combination of the algae pellet I put in there for the shrimp and the lack of water flow. I checked the water params and I everything is normal (I don't think my little ghosties are big enough to have much of an impact on this big of a tank). I'm going to stick to shrimp pellets for the ghosts for now. Hopefully that along with the pump flow will fix things up right nice.

 

[myenigmaself]

Question: Should I silicone my bulkheads in place? I've seen that some people do and some don't.

Thanks!

 

[WoodenChair]

I do an absolutely tiny ring of silicone on the piece of bulk head that does NOT have the rubber on it. Just to give it a better chance of not turning when i slide in and out the compression hoses that i use with the bulk head.

Other then that, with the style of bulkheads you are using (the same as mine) once screwed in tight, I have never had a problem leak. Even without the silicone, no leak, but as i always say

Better safe then sorry


-Chairman Wood.

 

[WoodenChair]

Also, as a side note.

Your java moss
And
Your screen.



The reason i do not use a screen is because i let my ever growing massive heap of java moss float free in the sump, as with the flow it usually tumbles slowly for hours on end right in front of the spill over. the shrimp climb in and out of the moss eating freely and then return to the other side of the refugium and hang out on the plastic air filter case sunk in the opposite corner. I find this traps way more particles (makes the moss a bit messier) but also acts as a screen.

Just some thoughts i had.

And pretty much all tanks that have not been pre-cycled will cloud up when you start adding flora and fauna. (usually a week after when the bacteria starts to build up and cant be processed properly)
This is why we do FISH LESS CYCLING!

-Chairman Wood

 

[myenigmaself]

Just an FYI, "gunk" is already building up on the screen. In hind-sight it was most likely a bad idea We'll have to see how it plays out

I finally got a hold of marineandreef.com and they've most graciously sent me the correct part free of charge. I already got the tracking info and it should get here next week. Two thumbs up for marineandreef.com, if only for fixing a mistake they made. I've found a way I can hookup the top tank without the missing part. I'll just have two overflow lines instead of three. Since I don't really have anything in the top tank (I filled it with water and put sand in today, but that's it) I think I should be fine. The cloudiness has cleared up in the sump too.

Fishless cycling is good for getting the nitrogen cycle going and accumulating good bacteria. However, my amonia, nitrite, and nitrate were all at zero, so I don't think that was the problem. I really think the problem was the algae wafer I put in there. The shrimp have eaten almost all of it and things are looking good

 

[myenigmaself]

What... a... NIGHT!!

Summary of the night:
Horizontal Overflows are AWESOME!!
Siphons, however, are not...

So I had my pump running directly into the other side of the sump, but today I decided to "hook it up." My first step was to disassemble my current setup. Well, I'm an idiot. I turned off the pump, then pulled the hose out of the water. I cleaned off the outside and made sure there was no water in it. Mind you, it's still hooked up to the pump, which is in the water. I go to the kitchen for a couple minutes to check on something in the oven, and when I came back into the dining room, FLOOD - AHHHHHHH Apparently I didn't do a very good job making sure there was no siphon and I'm guessing I had about five gallons of water flow onto the hardwood floor and into the basement. Sigh. After the initial panic I was able to sop most of it up with towels. Almost all the rest has evaporated with the help of a couple fans. I've still got some damp throw rugs, but for all intents and purposes all is well now.

Soooo, I did get everything hooked up Well, everything I could. Due to the parts debacle I don't have my emergency third hose setup, but I'm pretty confident my two should handle everything. I tested, and either of the two pipes will handle the flow by themselves just fine. If both of them get clogged the return (left) chamber of the sump will empty before the top tank overflows, and if power is cut my sump can handle all the water flowing back into the sump just fine too. I'm feelin' good

I made a few modifications to the horizontal overflow design I was working from.
1) I used elbows instead of tees.
2) Rather than running a hose from the outside of the secondary pipe into the tank, I simply drilled a hole on the top of the elbow. Serves the same purpose of sealing and creating a siphon when the water gets too high, but letting air in when the water is low.

I also learned that there is a wide range of valve positions that will support the full siphon with minimal overflow in the secondary pipe. It really was pretty darn easy to figure out. I really like my overflow. High fives all around!

Onto the pictures

Box Fan runnin' after my little oops :


Full Setup, Runnin' 'n' gunnin':


Overflowin' from the front:


Overflowin' from the top:


Overflowin' from the back:


Return and whatnot backside:


Whew, again, what a night! Time for some R&R. So long, and thanks for all the fish

 

[WoodenChair]

Lookin good, i love all that plumbing direct into the back of the tank like that, all glass overflow.

Super nice man


Keep us updated, more pictures!!!


-ChairmanWood