Confused With Sump

HouseofstoriedTails · Jun 4, 2018

You guys have probably heard this questions millions of times before, but I am really confused with pretty much everything to do with a sump. I have done lots of research, but I am still confused with it and can't seem to find the answers.

-Backstory-
Currently, the only saltwater tank I have is a 30-gallon saltwater tank (I own other freshwater tanks), I am now going to update that to a 75-gallon tank and I'm going to have a 20-gallon sump.
--

After reading many forums and watching many videos, I know that I need to have an overflow box on the top, and that is what is going to bring water down into the sump. Question 1 is does that need to be attached to a pump in order to get the siphoning going down into the sump?

I don't think I'm going to be using a filter sock, because I heard pods can get stuck in them.

then I know that there will be a large section just for water, and this is usually where the protien skimmer goes. My question is how will that work? I see photos of the protein skimmer sitting inside of that, but how does the protien skimmer work and is it like a filter where it then releases from a certain section the good water to use? I hope this makes sense. Pretty much I am asking how do I get the protein skimmer to suck up water? then where does that good skimmed water go? does it stay in that large section?

* Extra question, where do I put the live rock (in the sump) for the biological filtering? or is the rock that is in the tank good enough?
* Where do I put the heater in the sump? does it matter where in the sump it goes?
Then I know that the water goes through those different placed pieces of glass, what does that do?

Last question is how do I get the good water to go back into the pump? I know that I will need a pump that sucks up water and brings it back up into the tank through a return piece. Is that all that is needed?

Thank you so much if you answer these questions! Sorry if they sound like pointless questions, I just want to makes sure I do this correctly the first time because I don't want it to get messed up and possibly hurt my babies

George Lopez · Jun 4, 2018

welcome to salt water

Ok so yes overflow takes the water down. You shouldn't need a suction pump once you start the siphon unless you have a bad overflow that loses the siphon.

Skimmer usually has is own small pump unless it is run by the main pump. The skimmer then puts the cleaner water back in the same chamber.

The water should then pass through a bubble break before getting to the main pump that pushes the water back into the display.

Rock depends on how much you have in the display but it never hurts to have in the sump or a refugium. These go before the return pump chamber. Sumps can be very simple or very complicated depending on what you are trying to accomplish with it.

vector824 · Jun 4, 2018

Mine is configured like this:

It's fairly simple, three chambers. First chamber is the main pipe (which flows into a filter sock) and backup pipe from my main tank, it also contains the skimmer. Second chamber has a heater and refugium with Chaeto. Third is the return pump and rock pile for pods. This chamber has the only water level that varies in the whole system so my auto top off sensor is here. Pictures for reference in order from left to right:

You only need one pump to drive the whole system, the Return Pump. As it pumps water up to the display tank it fills the overflow box which then carries the water via gravity back to the sump.

The more rock you have the more surface area for good bacteria to cling too, and copepods love to live in them.

Hope this helps!

Erica-Renee · Jun 4, 2018

OK To make this simple..
First The concept..
The sump is a remote place to store equipment such as , Protein skimmer , heaters and extra biomass butt well as refugium (can be to shelter pods or as a nutrient export vessel) as well as just to add water volume .
Now we know what a sump is for..

Water movement..
First you need to circulate water from the display thru the sump and back.To do this we use gravity and a pump.

Gravity part first..
The tank needs a dam,weir (water control ) The Over flow is a box or pipe at the top most highest point you wish to have water in your tank. What this does it allow water dumped into the tank to flow using Gravity down to the connected sump. This is considered Drain Line .

Water pump...
Now that we know the tank will not over fill because of the weir / overflow, If we pump water into the tank it will just flow back into the sump. This creates what is called a OPEN LOOP. Basically the one pump in your "RETURN CHAMBER" (We will get to that next) Pumps water from the sump into the display it over flows thru the weir / overflow and back.. This keeps repeating constantly.

Sump layout.

First you want the water to flow into a chamber where you have CONSTANT WATER LEVEL.. Meaning a set of baffles between this chamber and the Return chamber.. This can be where you place your skimmer or you can have more chambers .

Safety and Evaporation

So you have a RETURN CHAMBER in the Sump. This is the Very most important area of the sump.. (well unless you ask your skimmer) But really.

Your system will have water in the pipes . Water in the tank will Rise slightly above the weir/ over flow teeth or min over flow level. When the pump stops running this extra water will flow back to the sump thru the return pump filling the return chamber .. Your Return chamber has to be large enough to hold this water .. Also your tank will evaporate some water.. This depends on many factors .

You need to find the Minimum running level of your pump in this return chamber , shut off the pump then fill the sump to the max level of water you want in this chamber.. When you start the pump again it should be somewhere between the two marks.Call this your running level..

You will have to check this level and top off the sump to maintain it on daily basis at first then as needed .. A Auto top off Device is best .. (TOP OFF WITH RODI WATER ONLY ) Salt does not evaporate... For water changes use saltwater matched to tank salinity.

Ok my fingers are tired from typing...
Read Read Read.. If your still confused set the tank up outside or basement near a drain temporary and experiment , do this with just regular tap water until you get a handle on things..

Good Luck .. Unless you are not serious.. and I am suspicious

HouseofstoriedTails · Jun 4, 2018

George Lopez said:
welcome to salt water

Ok so yes overflow takes the water down. You shouldn't need a suction pump once you start the siphon unless you have a bad overflow that loses the siphon.

Skimmer usually has is own small pump unless it is run by the main pump. The skimmer then puts the cleaner water back in the same chamber.

The water should then pass through a bubble break before getting to the main pump that pushes the water back into the display.

Rock depends on how much you have in the display but it never hurts to have in the sump or a refugium. These go before the return pump chamber. Sumps can be very simple or very complicated depending on what you are trying to accomplish with it.

Thank you so much, I feel that I knew most of these things, but I just want to be 100% sure about this!

HouseofstoriedTails · Jun 4, 2018

vector824 said:
Mine is configured like this:

It's fairly simple, three chambers. First chamber is the main pipe (which flows into a filter sock) and backup pipe from my main tank, it also contains the skimmer. Second chamber has a heater and refugium with Chaeto. Third is the return pump and rock pile for pods. This chamber has the only water level that varies in the whole system so my auto top off sensor is here. Pictures for reference in order from left to right:

You only need one pump to drive the whole system, the Return Pump. As it pumps water up to the display tank it fills the overflow box which then carries the water via gravity back to the sump.

The more rock you have the more surface area for good bacteria to cling too, and copepods love to live in them.

Hope this helps!

This drawing really helped! Thank you so much

HouseofstoriedTails · Jun 4, 2018

Erica-Renee said:
OK To make this simple..
First The concept..
The sump is a remote place to store equipment such as , Protein skimmer , heaters and extra biomass *** well as refugium (can be to shelter pods or as a nutrient export vessel) as well as just to add water volume .
Now we know what a sump is for..

Water movement..
First you need to circulate water from the display thru the sump and back.To do this we use gravity and a pump.

Gravity part first..
The tank needs a dam,weir (water control ) The Over flow is a box or pipe at the top most highest point you wish to have water in your tank. What this does it allow water dumped into the tank to flow using Gravity down to the connected sump. This is considered Drain Line .

Water pump...
Now that we know the tank will not over fill because of the weir / overflow, If we pump water into the tank it will just flow back into the sump. This creates what is called a OPEN LOOP. Basically the one pump in your "RETURN CHAMBER" (We will get to that next) Pumps water from the sump into the display it over flows thru the weir / overflow and back.. This keeps repeating constantly.

Sump layout.

First you want the water to flow into a chamber where you have CONSTANT WATER LEVEL.. Meaning a set of baffles between this chamber and the Return chamber.. This can be where you place your skimmer or you can have more chambers .

Safety and Evaporation

So you have a RETURN CHAMBER in the Sump. This is the Very most important area of the sump.. (well unless you ask your skimmer) But really.

Your system will have water in the pipes . Water in the tank will Rise slightly above the weir/ over flow teeth or min over flow level. When the pump stops running this extra water will flow back to the sump thru the return pump filling the return chamber .. Your Return chamber has to be large enough to hold this water .. Also your tank will evaporate some water.. This depends on many factors .

You need to find the Minimum running level of your pump in this return chamber , shut off the pump then fill the sump to the max level of water you want in this chamber.. When you start the pump again it should be somewhere between the two marks.Call this your running level..

You will have to check this level and top off the sump to maintain it on daily basis at first then as needed .. A Auto top off Device is best .. (TOP OFF WITH RODI WATER ONLY ) Salt does not evaporate... For water changes use saltwater matched to tank salinity.

Ok my fingers are tired from typing...
Read Read Read.. If your still confused set the tank up outside or basement near a drain temporary and experiment , do this with just regular tap water until you get a handle on things..

Good Luck .. Unless you are not serious.. and I am suspicious

This was very, very, helpful. I just wanted to make sure that I am doing this correctly.

I swear that I am serious about this, and I'm sorry that you feel suspicious on how serious I am on this. Personally I feel that with me taking the time to ask this question proves I am serious, but I understand. Check back in on my account in a year to see how it is going with me. You can also find out more about my saltwater tank process, or my experiences with my other animals on my blog, www.houseofstoriedtails.com .
r

HouseofstoriedTails · Jun 4, 2018

HouseofstoriedTails said:
This was very, very, helpful. I just wanted to make sure that I am doing this correctly.

I swear that I am serious about this, and I'm sorry that you feel suspicious on how serious I am on this. Personally I feel that with me taking the time to ask this question proves I am serious, but I understand. Check back in on my account in a year to see how it is going with me. You can also find out more about my saltwater tank process, or my experiences with my other animals on my blog, www.houseofstoriedtails.com .
r

Correction -www.houseofmanytails.com