55 gallon sump?

bkweibley · Dec 8, 2013

I have a 55 gallon or a 40 gallon tank that I can use for a sump. I am putting the sump in the basement, below my 90 gallon bow front, and then also adding a 40 gallon frag tank and possibly a 20 or 40 gallon refugium. I'm looking for a little dire time on the sump, I don't need to do anything crazy, although I do like how some people add dividers to have a cavity for the protein skimmer so that the water level always stays the same. I will be buying a larger skimmer since I'm adding a lot of extra water to the system but haven't decided on which one yet. I already bought a magdrive18 to use as the return pump so I also need space for that in the sump somewhere. I thought about saving my 55 a using one of those large rubbermaid tubs, but the space that I have, I can't go much wider than a 55 gallon tank there. I have maybe an extra 3 inches or so to play with and that's it.

joekool · Dec 8, 2013

I have my Mag drive 12 and 18 outside the sump keeps my water cooler. I was amazing how much my pumps heated up the water. I now use a heater to keep temp even with MH lighting.

Did you check to see if the 18 could give you the right head pressure to get the right flow in through the tank. That's about 15 feet Id say. maybe a 24 would do the trick. I would use a 9.5 to move water from tub frag to refuge and back. If you stack the tanks you could drain from one to the other and not have more than one pump running.

bkweibley · Dec 9, 2013

8 ft basement. Tank will be about 1 ft off the floor so that's 6 ft there. Stand is 30 inches tank is 29 so round that to 60 inches + 84 inches is 144 inches that's about 12 ft. It will basically be a straight shot up. Not wild about cutting threw the floor so I was thinking about going up threw the wall, so I'd have 2 slight bends. That's about 750 gph at that height according to the head chart. As long as I'm over 500 I should be fine with a 90 right?

bkweibley · Dec 9, 2013

Btw if I use the 55 I can't drill that tank, so I wouldn't have the option of having the pumps outside, although my basement is cool usually so I wouldn't think heat would be a big deal? I was worried about having to get a bigger heater? I have a 200 Watt heater in my sump now that I have directly under my tank

joekool · Dec 9, 2013

sounds like in the water would be fine. Also can't remember the math on flow vs changing direction but I know that using two 45 degree slip couplings will flow better than a 90. use one street 45 and a slip, slip together. The mag 18 should be fine but will be harder on the pump the higher the head. you can go bigger and put a blow off controlled by a valve on to release some of the pressure back into the sump or go to the top of you two or three tank sump setup to get more travel time in the sump. you can siphon over the edge from one tank to the next if you can't drill the tanks. Use PVC Just make sure you drill a hole in the pipe below the water were if the power goes out the tank below the next wont over fill and break siphon.

Hit me up if you have any questions

bkweibley · Dec 10, 2013

joekool said:
sounds like in the water would be fine. Also can't remember the math on flow vs changing direction but I know that using two 45 degree slip couplings will flow better than a 90. use one street 45 and a slip, slip together. The mag 18 should be fine but will be harder on the pump the higher the head. you can go bigger and put a blow off controlled by a valve on to release some of the pressure back into the sump or go to the top of you two or three tank sump setup to get more travel time in the sump. you can siphon over the edge from one tank to the next if you can't drill the tanks. Use PVC Just make sure you drill a hole in the pipe below the water were if the power goes out the tank below the next wont over fill and break siphon.

Hit me up if you have any questions

I am able to drill the 40. Just cant drill the 55. Still trying to decide what size tank to use for my refuge. Id hate to go with a 40 because I dont have much space, but I have a buddy who did a basement setup like this and he used a 40 for his refuge and I think it looks pretty cool. Also obviously would help eat up the phosphates more because I can fit more stuff in there.

bkweibley · Dec 28, 2013

So ive been thinking about this, finally picked up my new Protein Skimmer tonight so I can finally move ahead with this sump. I was feeling like I needed to put all of those fancy dividers that people are doing in their sumps, until I thought about it more. If I prop my skimmer up on something and filled my water level to the 9"-11" on the skimmer, and then just threw an ATO on the sump, there really isnt a need for the dividers is there? Im actually thinking about just grabbing another 40 gallon instead of using the 55 just to save room. I just have to figure out how to mount the filter socks on the tank.

EDIT: I did find filter sock holders at BulkReefSupply. They seem kind of pricey for what they are, but I guess you gotta pay to play. I have a 90 gallon DT draining into this sump, can I get away with a 4" diameter 8" long sock?