Sump How Do I Do It Im Real Confused

[bae1994]

i know its not technically in the right place as its for a fresh water tank

but sumps are generally used in salt water so i thought it would be the best place

im getting a 8.4ft x 1.5x1.5 ft fish tank for tropicals its drilled in the base and the back so im going to plug the base with a small piece of glass and silicone

then im thinking of using a sump

can i do this

the top tank is the main display tank

then the bottom sump is a 3ft by 1 ft deep by 15 inches tall

the pumps on the left and the light blue is filter media

the little dark line next to the pump is a mistake ignor it


the things in the pipes are shut off valves

so it puts water into the tank

and it over flows down the other tube

however how do i stop it from siphoning incase of a power cut

 

[Morri]

Looks ok but I would not but a valve on the return pump as you will shorten life of pump if you restrict the flow back,

instead add a T piece in and take the return direct into the tank then take the piece T`d off back into the sump with a tap if you need to reduce the return flow you can just open the tap this will return excess water back into the sump.

Hope that makes sense will do a piccy if needed

 

[bae1994]

yeah i meant put the shutoff falve for maintanenance so shut it off for safety

 

[bae1994]

ok there are to small bulk heads about a foot apart and the internal diamiter of the bulkheads is like 1 cm so can i use one for a return and one for a intake

but extend the return to one end so its not just taking in the same water or is using the same size hole for return and intake a no no

or could i use the 2 1cm bulk heads for intakes and then just have the return go up through one hose over the top of the tank and into the tank

 

[bae1994]

any one ccare to shed some light on this

 

[bae1994]

any one

 

[Morri]

Not sure you can get a 10mm bulkhead and if you could the flow would be very low smallest I can think of is 3/4" about 19mm you will struggle to do a durso on this diameter I would go no smaller than 1" myself made my last one at 20mm took a lot of hassle to get it quiet but done now

 

[bae1994]

ok just measured them they could be 19 mm

the tank is drilled at the bottom in the back two corners but ive heard they can be un reliable and can leak so

could i have a wier in one corner with the pipe from the base if so how do i build a wier lol

 

[Morri]

Hehe I would definatley add a weir for 2 reasons one it takes the rubbish from the top of the water the other is if your bulkhead leaks or fails you dont end up with a hhuge flood.

To make one work out how big you want the weir this will depend if you use a durso etc. I ust ordered 2 pieces of glass cut to the size I wanted set siliconed them togother to form an L shape then siliconed them into the corner using BigC`s method with masking tape makes a tidier job.

I went with the weir being 1/4" below the braces in the tank as this will set your tank depth and you need to allow a little space for surface tention.

If they are 19mm you will end up with the same issue that I had with silencing the pipe if needed I can giv you my design of durso that works perfectly for this size.

 

[bae1994]

is that ok if i have alook at the durso also whats a durso


the holes in the bottom for the outlets are lik 1-1.1/4 inch and theres two one in each corner and theres two holes at the top for the return and there like 19mm so i was gonna block one of the holes in the bottom

 

[Morri]

Durso is a standpipe (Drainage pipe) that is designed to quieten the slurping sounds from the water draining out of the main tank into the sump if your holes are 1.25" then you can use a standard durso design easily just google it my tank is almost silent now the only noise I have at the moment is a stupid cheap fan used for ventalation have a new silent fan to install then I dont expect to here much apart from some gentle bubbles in the sump

 

[bae1994]

ok thanks

 

[bae1994]

ok thanks

 

[bae1994]

so i found this

why dont you just have a straight pipe up with a litle intake cover ?

 

[bae1994]

hi do you think 10mm acrylic would hold the presure