first sump how to ??

oodan · May 15, 2016

I have been running a hob set up for a while I have been having problems with nitrate " algae bloom " I just got a new sump set up not to sure how to set up it is a hang box set up and a tall sump box how do you size the flow what's all this noise about siphon is my floors going to get wet of power Gos out well I bought a battery back up ?

recess62 · May 15, 2016

Following

glb · May 15, 2016

Can you tell us more about the sump? Is it premade acrylic or do you need to put up the dividers etc? Typically a sump has 3 compartments. The first has the drain from the overflow. It's where a filter sock and skimmer usually go. The second is usually for filter media (carbon, gfo reactor, macroalgae etc). The final chamber is for the return pump, which pumps the water back up to the tank. There are many variations but this is a basic setup. I'm setting one up now so I'll post a pic when it's done. If you do a search on the site for sumps, you'll find some great info. Good luck!

oodan · May 15, 2016

I had a hard time finding one to fit my stand I did not want to go buy a diff stand or have to make one so..... I was Limited to what kind of sump I could use this is how it came I'm not sure about the bio balls but this is how it came

glb · May 15, 2016

oodan said:
I had a hard time finding one to fit my stand I did not want to go buy a diff stand or have to make one so..... I was Limited to what kind of sump I could use this is how it came I'm not sure about the bio balls but this is how it came

You can take the balls out to make room for other stuff. If you can take off the black lid and move the white pipe over, you might be able to fit a skimmer and filter sock in that compartment. The left side could be for the return pump. Two-chamber sumps can work just fine. You just have to be a little creative figuring out where everything goes.

oodan · May 15, 2016

That is kinda what I had in mind my question is well I have spent the last 2 days looking on google and YouTube and what's this siphon all about there is no return how do you size your pump I have a lil one will a lil 295usgph work it's small ?

glb · May 15, 2016

oodan said:
That is kinda what I had in mind my question is well I have spent the last 2 days looking on google and YouTube and what's this siphon all about there is no return how do you size your pump I have a lil one will a lil 295usgph work it's small ?

I don't know anything about syphon overflows because my tank is drilled. Hopefully someone else will chime in. I believe the return pump should be rated at 10x the number of gallons in your setup. You'll need to account for loss of head pressure due to bends in the plumbing and how high the pump has to push the water back to the display tank.

jsker · May 15, 2016

Are you going to have a skimmer?

jsker · May 15, 2016

oodan said:
That is kinda what I had in mind my question is well I have spent the last 2 days looking on google and YouTube and what's this siphon all about there is no return how do you size your pump I have a lil one will a lil 295usgph work it's small ?

Thing of it this way, what ever you put in is going to come out at the some rate. I think the low would be 3 x tank size = flow per hour and I have seen some member recamend 10 x tank size = flow per hour. I would say if you hit some where in between there you are good.
I agree with @glb that this sump can work.
1. Over flow on the floor issue: put a back flow valve on the return. So that if you have your return lower then your overflow it will not siphon more water out during shut downs or power outages then were your overflow level is. You are going to have to experiment with the overflow level to adjust how much water the sump can handle.
2. As @glb said get rid of the bio balls, get rid of the black top if possible and add a filer sock set up. This would mean figuring out away to secure your over flow line so that the over flow line goes right into the sock, but also you can still remove the sock without shutting down the system.
3. looking at the sump you do not have enough room for a internal skimmer so I would still use the egg create to place media (GFO, Carbon) or what ever else.

ReeferBob · May 15, 2016

Don't use a backflow valve - they gum up and create more problems than they are worth. Your system should be able to handle anything that would pump up in the event of a siphon break and your sump should be able to handle anything that would flow down in the event of a pump outage. HOB overflows work great. Is that an Eshopps? They are very well designed and never (rarely?) lose siphon if set up correctly. Your flow is somewhat dictated by your overflow capacity. Once you have it all set up, it will flow x amount and keep equilibrium between draining and filling. Don't lose too much sleep on "x times turnover rate". It really isn't that important. Make sure you either have an ATO (JBJ is the best) or keep up with evaporation (daily or better top offs!).

As others said, lose the bio-balls they just become a trap for ditreus and create more nitrates.

oodan · May 15, 2016

Well I got it all set up I will loose the balls I just bought a lot today spent about $300.00 today on everything got the Mac daddy pump my local fish store had I'm set up pumping 500 GPH with my 50 gal tall tank and my 5 gal lil 2 chamber sump and I bought a cheep coral life protein skimmer and ran 2 valves and they are both wide open and my tank flows awesome I will get some love rock and a sock set up for it next week and next is a better skimmer I killed the power on it all and it filled my sump up and had a few inches from top and stopped I turned power back on and it came back to life no problem

Bdog4u2 · May 15, 2016

Those bio balls will raise your nitrates higher than your hob filter unless you clean them 2-3 times a month. If you keep them id dose vodka or some other type of carbon source to keep nitrates in check. Bio balls is more of a freshwater thing

oodan · May 16, 2016

ReeferBob said:
Don't use a backflow valve - they gum up and create more problems than they are worth. Your system should be able to handle anything that would pump up in the event of a siphon break and your sump should be able to handle anything that would flow down in the event of a pump outage. HOB overflows work great. Is that an Eshopps? They are very well designed and never (rarely?) lose siphon if set up correctly. Your flow is somewhat dictated by your overflow capacity. Once you have it all set up, it will flow x amount and keep equilibrium between draining and filling. Don't lose too much sleep on "x times turnover rate". It really isn't that important. Make sure you either have an ATO (JBJ is the best) or keep up with evaporation (daily or better top offs!).

As others said, lose the bio-balls they just become a trap for ditreus and create more nitrates.

Yes it is a Ehopps sump

AZDesertRat · May 16, 2016

This is a great site for everything about sumps:
http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

ReeferBob · May 16, 2016

oodan said:
Yes it is a Ehopps sump

Sorry - I meant the HOB overflow. They are very well designed.

oodan · May 16, 2016

ReeferBob said:
Sorry - I meant the HOB overflow. They are very well designed.

Yes it's a lil loud I'm going to do that lil cap thing why they called it like a Scott plug or something I don't know 24 hr and no no to loud fo me lol