Ive never had a sump, and dont know much about setting them up, but want to do it right. I have a 50 gal display tank and an empty 20 gal that im going to make into a sump. Do i have a continuous siphon for water to enter the sump, then a pump to bring it back to the main tank? If so how do i make them siphon and pump evenly so it doesnt overflow or empty out too fast?
Refugium/sump help
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p7willm
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You typically do not use a syphon cause if it breaks it will intervention to restart. Usually the water in the display tank overflows into a drain.
There is a pump in the sump that pumps water back up to the display tank. You want to balance the water out vs water back in, have it quiet, and, most importantly, keep water off the floor.
You can just have water overflow the tank through the side or into a tube drilled through the bottom. This keeps things in balance, the more water in the top the faster it overflows, and keeps the entire tank from draining, it only goes as low as the edge of the drain. The problem is it's noisy.
If you drain the tank through a tube, and have the tube filled with water, it is quiet. A valve can be used to adjust the flow to balance in/out. However, lots of things, algae in the tube, condition of the pump, etc. constantly change. If it happens that more water goes in the display tank than goes out you end up with the entire sump in the display tank and it doesn't fit so it ends up on the floor.
So you have 2 tubes. One under the water that is full of water, and quiet, and one just above the water so when things get out of balance and the water rises it starts to go down the other tube. Noisy, but not on the floor and you can adjust the valve and get things balanced again. A lot of tanks are plumbed like this. The botom of the tank will be drilled or the side is drilled and a box is added on the side.
Or you could have 3 tubes. One under water and quiet with most of the water, two kind of covered with a trickle of water, quiet but then the main tube does not have to be quite as accurate, and three open and a little high in case of emergency.
The tube taking most of the water is close to the surface so that when the pump stops the sump will hold enough water so that it sticks above the water line.
Remember you want the emergency tube, either 2 or 3, big enough so that when that snail gets stuck in the main tube you keep the water off the floor.
There is a pump in the sump that pumps water back up to the display tank. You want to balance the water out vs water back in, have it quiet, and, most importantly, keep water off the floor.
You can just have water overflow the tank through the side or into a tube drilled through the bottom. This keeps things in balance, the more water in the top the faster it overflows, and keeps the entire tank from draining, it only goes as low as the edge of the drain. The problem is it's noisy.
If you drain the tank through a tube, and have the tube filled with water, it is quiet. A valve can be used to adjust the flow to balance in/out. However, lots of things, algae in the tube, condition of the pump, etc. constantly change. If it happens that more water goes in the display tank than goes out you end up with the entire sump in the display tank and it doesn't fit so it ends up on the floor.
So you have 2 tubes. One under the water that is full of water, and quiet, and one just above the water so when things get out of balance and the water rises it starts to go down the other tube. Noisy, but not on the floor and you can adjust the valve and get things balanced again. A lot of tanks are plumbed like this. The botom of the tank will be drilled or the side is drilled and a box is added on the side.
Or you could have 3 tubes. One under water and quiet with most of the water, two kind of covered with a trickle of water, quiet but then the main tube does not have to be quite as accurate, and three open and a little high in case of emergency.
The tube taking most of the water is close to the surface so that when the pump stops the sump will hold enough water so that it sticks above the water line.
Remember you want the emergency tube, either 2 or 3, big enough so that when that snail gets stuck in the main tube you keep the water off the floor.
Thanks for all the information. I think im going to just get a HOB refugium, so i can just grow some algae. My parameters are all almost perfect so ill wait until i upgrade to a 90 gal for the big sump.
