Dual Sumps - Opinions

reefin_with_the_fam · Nov 28, 2019

Hey everyone I’m in the process of building my 150g, and the stand doors are really tight limiting my sump size. I want a 40 g sump but the only way I can make it work is to plumb two 20g Longs together. At least that’s the best I can come up with that I can fit. Or else I’d have to put a sump in and god forbid it fails or leaks I won’t be able to get it out. Any one that HAS a two dumps plumbed together how did you do it and how do you like it? I want one tank to house the filter socks, skimmer and a Fuge and was thinking g the second tank be my return. I want to make sure as well in case of a power outage the sump is able to handle the water. Any opinions on another option all together is appreciated as well!

Hemmdog · Nov 28, 2019

You need A bigger sump for a 150gal imo.

zach_discus · Nov 28, 2019

Does your tank have 2 overflows? I had twin dumps under my 180. One overflow dumped into the mechanical sump on one side and the other went to the refugium side. Each sump was baffled to a return section that was drilled and plumbed to a central mounted return pump that set between them. The mech sump was a 20long and baffled to 8” water height. The refugium side was a 20tall and baffled to 12” water depth. Was more than capable in running reeflink dart return pump.

ScottB · Nov 28, 2019

You can absolutely make this work. It is neither hard nor risky. I had a thread about this a while back which I link below.

In my case, I just drilled the sumps near the bottom of each return section and put some soft 1.5 inch tubing in between. I chose soft versus hard to avoid any torque cracking the acrylic. The sumps are level with each other. Bulkhead strainers are a must as a clog will flood. You can bigger if you like, but I have had NO issues with the sumps balancing each other. I am actually now planning on adding a THIRD sump to hold a bunch of old rock.

You can see the hose I chose to run and the bulkhead fittings. I ended up doing something different to the original diagrams by running a single external pump versus having extra pumps in each sump, but you get the jist.

Two connected sumps for three frag tanks -- this should work. Right? I mean, what could go wrong?

Having tried to hijack 3 other vaguely similar threads (somewhat sorry!) I begin my own thread and will bump it mercilessly for feedback. Or just plow ahead and share my experiences. Why would I do this? Oh, the excuses: a) I already own all this equipment. (some exceptions, but roughly true)...

www.reef2reef.com

ScottB · Nov 29, 2019

Oh one more thing. Add ball valves on each side. Or you can do what I did and just keep and End Plug nearby (see pic) in case you need to isolate the sumps.

lavoisier · Nov 29, 2019

You can certainly plumb two 20g together. For the amount of labor involved you might be better served to reinforce your stand with 1x3s and replace the multiple doors with one hinged along the top, and go with a simpler sump setup. For what its worth, I've never had a sump fail as the water pressures don't exert a lot of force in smaller containers.

reefin_with_the_fam · Nov 29, 2019

lavoisier said:
You can certainly plumb two 20g together. For the amount of labor involved you might be better served to reinforce your stand with 1x3s and replace the multiple doors with one hinged along the top, and go with a simpler sump setup. For what its worth, I've never had a sump fail as the water pressures don't exert a lot of force in smaller containers.

I thought about that but I get really nervous changing any of the load bearing structure supporting 1200+ lbs. I know the likelihood is the sump will never fail, but I’m very big on preparing for the worst. I am still going to reinforce the stand as I’m not really pleased with it currently but I just can’t bring myself to cut any out even if I know in my mind it will more than likely be fine.

reefin_with_the_fam · Nov 29, 2019

Hemmdog said:
You need A bigger sump for a 150gal imo.

I’m actually thinking I may do two 29 gallons now. I think I will be able to fit two. I’m all about as big as possible

lavoisier · Nov 30, 2019

brian_yi said:
I thought about that but I get really nervous changing any of the load bearing structure supporting 1200+ lbs. I know the likelihood is the sump will never fail, but I’m very big on preparing for the worst. I am still going to reinforce the stand as I’m not really pleased with it currently but I just can’t bring myself to cut any out even if I know in my mind it will more than likely be fine.

I totally understand. Plumbing two 29s will work.

reefin_with_the_fam · Dec 10, 2019

ScottB said:
You can absolutely make this work. It is neither hard nor risky. I had a thread about this a while back which I link below.

In my case, I just drilled the sumps near the bottom of each return section and put some soft 1.5 inch tubing in between. I chose soft versus hard to avoid any torque cracking the acrylic. The sumps are level with each other. Bulkhead strainers are a must as a clog will flood. You can bigger if you like, but I have had NO issues with the sumps balancing each other. I am actually now planning on adding a THIRD sump to hold a bunch of old rock.

You can see the hose I chose to run and the bulkhead fittings. I ended up doing something different to the original diagrams by running a single external pump versus having extra pumps in each sump, but you get the jist.

Two connected sumps for three frag tanks -- this should work. Right? I mean, what could go wrong?

Having tried to hijack 3 other vaguely similar threads (somewhat sorry!) I begin my own thread and will bump it mercilessly for feedback. Or just plow ahead and share my experiences. Why would I do this? Oh, the excuses: a) I already own all this equipment. (some exceptions, but roughly true)...

www.reef2reef.com

I’ve been thinking of possibly doing the Triton method down the road but have concerns with the fuge being at the front and clogging the strainer to connect to the second sump. What do you think?

ScottB · Dec 10, 2019

Both of my sumps have a media filter section between the refugium and the return section. The fuge overflows to a foam filter before reaching the return section. (they are both Trigger Sapphire sumps).

IME, if I get super lazy about sump maintenance, it is the foam filter that clogs. Usually just a quick glance at the sump and I will see that the return section is low, and I should probably rinse the foam filter.

In theory of course the chaeto could overflow the media section and end up in the return section, but a bulkhead strainer should allow flow for a considerable time before clogging.

In my case, I use an external Cor20 pump, so if it were to starve or heat up, it would shut down and text me. The other alternative are the optical water level security devices that are cheap, simple and for me pretty reliable. They will shut the pump and give an audible alarm until you reset them.

Wen · Dec 29, 2019

I love having 2 trigger sumps

plumbed together.
Here’s mine.

ScottB · Dec 29, 2019

Wen said:
I love having 2 trigger sumps

plumbed together.
Here’s mine.

Very cool. In my setup the 1.5inch connector pipe has a "T" that feeds a Cor20.

Wen · Dec 29, 2019

ScottB said:
Very cool. In my setup the 1.5inch connector pipe has a "T" that feeds a Cor20.

Excellent idea!

My triggers connect with 3” pvc.

The second cor20 was an upgrade. Both are returns, one feeds uv and other feeds chiller. Second pump also offers the redundancy peace of mind...if one fails, there’s backup.

ScottB · Dec 29, 2019

Thanks. I thought about larger diameter but this seems to work.

I will admit though that on restart the other day, some air got trapped in the line. Those pumps are pretty smart, so it fussed and shut down twice before restarting (on its own) and staying on. First time that has happened. My guess is microbubble accumulation over time. I need to think about this a little. APEX would warn me, but I am not always around.

Dr. Dendrostein · Dec 29, 2019

Could do this, maybe?

ScottB · Dec 29, 2019

Dr. Dendrostein said:
Could do this, maybe?

Doc, I think you may be missing a shim on the left tank, back right side.

ca1ore · Dec 29, 2019

Yes, you can absolutely do dual sumps. You need a large diameter ‘balancing’ pipe to connect them, but that’s not difficult to do. I ran dual, same-level sumps for a while and connected them with 2” flex pvc.

Dr. Dendrostein · Dec 29, 2019

ScottB said:
Doc, I think you may be missing a shim on the left tank, back right side.

O no...

Bruce60 · Dec 29, 2019

I don't have a sump made from glass or acrylic, but made from HDPE. The sump itself is two chambers (see image).
Chamber 1 (left) accepts the overflow from the tank. You can install a sock in this chamber. I have my probes in here.
Water flows from chamber 1 to chamber 2 through the black elbow. The key is chamber 1 is taller than chamber 2.
Chamber 2 can be set up with media baskets, and I have plumbed my sump through this chamber. It has a built-in baffle to the return section where there are two 3/4" returns (green hose).
There is also a separate refugium to the right that is supplied by a dedicated pump through the curved green hose in back and comes back to chamber 2 return section through the pipe coming towards you in the picture.

The point here is that you can create a 2-sump solution with a minimum of holes and baffles drilled. If you get a tall tank for chamber 1 and a shorter tank for chamber 2, you then need only drill one bulkhead into the upper part of the tall tank, then have it run downhill to chamber 2. For example, chamber 1 can be a 29 gal (30x12x18) and chamber 2 a 20 long (30x12x12). Or any other combination of sizes that fits, as long as one tank is taller than the other.