Need help understanding my sump

[AnnaG]

Hey,

Trying to figure out how my CADE S2 900 (370 litres total) sump works. I have included images of the sump and tank.
Which way does the water go? Like is it through the filter sock, then main large chamber, then media baskets then return?

Do I just fill the display tank, then turn the gate valve to start draining water into the sump- then just turn the pump on? also I have a Sicce syncra 3.0 which is rated 2700lph.

If too much water comes drains from the display tank, will the pump not be able to keep up?

Now for gravity fed ATO. the ATO reservoir is behind the display tank. You can see in the third image where the little float thing sits, then there's a little window. Do I need to fill that up with freshwater??? Salt water?? how does it work??

these questions may seem a bit dumb especially since it seems everyone just knows how sumps work, but seriously just dont know how it works.

Thanks

 

[Petcrazyson]

Hey,

Trying to figure out how my CADE S2 900 (370 litres total) sump works. I have included images of the sump and tank.
Which way does the water go? Like is it through the filter sock, then main large chamber, then media baskets then return?

Do I just fill the display tank, then turn the gate valve to start draining water into the sump- then just turn the pump on? also I have a Sicce syncra 3.0 which is rated 2700lph.

If too much water comes drains from the display tank, will the pump not be able to keep up?

Now for gravity fed ATO. the ATO reservoir is behind the display tank. You can see in the third image where the little float thing sits, then there's a little window. Do I need to fill that up with freshwater??? Salt water?? how does it work??

these questions may seem a bit dumb especially since it seems everyone just knows how sumps work, but seriously just dont know how it works.

Thanks

Hello. Maybe I could help. Could you just take one pictire turned right side up with a view of the entire tank and sump.

 

[AnnaG]

Hello. Maybe I could help. Could you just take one pictire turned right side up with a view of the entire tank and sump.

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

 

[fishface NJ]

#4 is the return section

 

[Petcrazyson]

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

Ok thank you. First off, the 2 pipes running down the left side or the sump picture are your drain pipes. The one with the gate valve, which is the one with the orange circle valve on the left, is your main drain pipe, the valve is there to regulate how much and how fast water flows from your tank, to the overflow box, to the drain pipe chamber which is the small chamber the 2 pipes on the left are draining into. The second drain pipe, the one next to the gate valve pipe, should be an emergency drain pipe. This pipe takes in water from the tank and the overflow box down the sump so the main display tank area doesn’t overflow and start to leak.

 

[Petcrazyson]

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

Then the water flows to the skimmer chamber, which is the biggest of the chambers in the sump. This is where you would put your heaters, protein skimmers, media reactors and so forth.

 

[Petcrazyson]

Then the water flows to the skimmer chamber, which is the biggest of the chambers in the sump. This is where you would put your heaters, protein skimmers, media reactors and so forth.

The 2 white meshes i see in the skimmer chamber are the filter socks, these trap nutrients, detritus, fish food, fish waste, and a lot of the nasty stuff coming from your main display. What is rlly weird is that they should have an area designated to them that has flow and 2 small compartments in which you place and hang them in the water in the sump. For some reason this doesn’t appear. Do you know why?

 

[Petcrazyson]

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

Now for the fun stuff

 

[AnnaG]

The 2 white meshes i see in the skimmer chamber are the filter socks, these trap nutrients, detritus, fish food, fish waste, and a lot of the nasty stuff coming from your main display. What is rlly weird is that they should have an area designated to them that has flow and 2 small compartments in which you place and hang them in the water in the sump. For some reason this doesn’t appear. Do you know why?

hahah, its just in front of the drain pipes, I have four but you can fit just a single one at a time.

 

[New&no clue]

The diagram above is good for showing the water flow through the sump. What I do to step up a tank is as follows;
Step 1: Fill your tank with water and let it flow down into your sump until it is half full.
Step 2: Turn on your return pump and decide how much flow you want. I typically have my return pump at full speed.
Step 3: once your return pump runs for a bit, you want to adjust your gate value on the drain line. If you have a drain line and an emergency line, you want the drain line to be underwater and the water level just at the emergency line. This will reduce the gurgling noise.
Step 4: Now, you will need to adjust your water level in the sump. You want the water level in your return section(4) to be at the float switch for your ATO. You may need to add water or remove some.
Step 5: Your ATO should be filled with Fresh Water, and having a tank like this with a gravity feed ATO, I suggest every couple months taking the float switch off and cleaning it as they can get stuck with gunk.
Step 6: As you add equipment and filtration into your tank, you will have to adjust the water level again to ensure it stays at the float switch.

 

[Petcrazyson]

Now for the fun stuff

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

The brownish area in the sump should be your refugium. This is where you can keep macro algae, live rock, Xenia coral, and is a place where copepods, small invertebrates hatch and grow and then feed your main display tank. This does not mean this keeps them full and the fish should be fed regularly. The only fish that should have the base of the diet as copepods are mandarin fish, dragonets, and some wrasse species

 

[Petcrazyson]

hahah, its just in front of the drain pipes, I have four but you can fit just a single one at a time.

Ok,,,

 

[Petcrazyson]

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

Now the black hose should be in the chamber in the back of the sump (where the little white ball is. (I forgot the name Lol). This is where your return pump goes and fits. The return is the most important part of your filtration as it is the heart of the tank. The black hose would connect to the return pump

 

[Petcrazyson]

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

Where the little floating white ball chamber is where you have your ATO. However it is rlly odd that it doesn’t have an ATO chamber for itself. What I mean by this is that there should be another small tank full of freshwater that would feed into the ATO ball chamber that would flow into the return pump chamber. (This freshwater goes into the sump area to a: regulate some salinity, and b: to make sure the water level in the return pump area doesn’t run out of water. The seperate freshwater chamber should be re-filled with processed RO water once a week, or whenever the freshwater chamber is running low on water). Do you know if it came with it?

 

[Petcrazyson]

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

I can give you pictures of my reef tank sump area to help clear some confusion.

 

[Petcrazyson]

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

Now I’m not too familiar with Cade aquariums so I don’t exactly know what the 2 other pipes with the long orange valves on the right. But from my understanding of other tanks those 2 pipes should connect to a UV sterilizer or a reactor

 

[Petcrazyson]

It was right side up, but then turned itself when I inserted the image lol lets try this :

I hope that I could give you some help and info.

 

[New&no clue]

Where the little floating white ball chamber is where you have your ATO. However it is rlly odd that it doesn’t have an ATO chamber for itself. What I mean by this is that there should be another small tank full of freshwater that would feed into the ATO ball chamber that would flow into the return pump chamber. (This freshwater goes into the sump area to a: regulate some salinity, and b: to make sure the water level in the return pump area doesn’t run out of water. The seperate freshwater chamber should be re-filled with processed RO water once a week, or whenever the freshwater chamber is running low on water). Do you know if it came with it?

It looks like the ATO reserve is in the picture of the whole tank.

EDIT: Never mind I was mistaken, not enough coffee yet I guess

 

[AnnaG]

Where the little floating white ball chamber is where you have your ATO. However it is rlly odd that it doesn’t have an ATO chamber for itself. What I mean by this is that there should be another small tank full of freshwater that would feed into the ATO ball chamber that would flow into the return pump chamber. (This freshwater goes into the sump area to a: regulate some salinity, and b: to make sure the water level in the return pump area doesn’t run out of water. The seperate freshwater chamber should be re-filled with processed RO water once a week, or whenever the freshwater chamber is running low on water). Do you know if it came with it?

I said in my post :

Now for gravity fed ATO. the ATO reservoir is behind the display tank.

 

[AnnaG]

It looks like the ATO reserve is in the picture of the whole tank.

That's right. That whole black panel behind the display is literally the ATO reservoir.