What do you know about sump/fuges?

[RONCGIZMO]

I'm getting ready to glue this thing together but before I do I wanted to have a few of you sump Gurus check it out and let me know if you can improve on it...

I have this wet/dry filter (Thanks Stan) and I thought I'd make use of it
So far I cut a few baffles to fit using the same thickness plexi as the sump.

The floor of the Bio ball chamber is now solid and will be sealed with weld-on 4 I also added another chamber in the Bio ball area for a DBS
but I'm not sure how much space I want to tack with that just yet.

On the top of the DBS I have (5) 1/2" drain holes that came from the factory. On the other side I'm going to add 2 baffles but I'm not sure witch one to have open (on the bottom) I'm assuming the first one past the DBS...

On the return I wanted to split it with a T (or a Y if I can find one) to get lower flow going into the fuge (using 1/2" PVC and a Ball valve) and higher flow to the sump.

What do you think? will it work alright or do you have an idea for a improvement ..Please don't hold back I only want to do this once...lol and if someone has a better idea for this I would love to hear it...

Heres a pic of what I have so far...the return pump and skimmer are for illustration only..

[RONCGIZMO]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11216096@N00/2128439410/" title="For DIY by rvc03, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2369/2128439410_c69c31cfd4_o.jpg" width="1280" height="960" alt="For DIY" /></a>

[not_sponsored]

Where's the return going to be?

[RONCGIZMO]

see where the pump is..that's the return. I was thinking about pluming it outside the sump but I don't think I have the room. plus it's a Mag-Drive pump, they tend to leak over time.

[Sk8r]

I'm worried about freeboard: if you have to fill that fuge high enough to reach those exit holes to get water through to the next section, what do you do when your pump shuts down? Is there enough room for all the drain-down water with the pump off?
Put both skimmer pump and return pump in same chamber: fine: route skimmer outflow pipe back to fuge area to tame microbubbles.

[RONCGIZMO]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11438671#post11438671 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
I'm worried about freeboard: if you have to fill that fuge high enough to reach those exit holes to get water through to the next section, what do you do when your pump shuts down? Is there enough room for all the drain-down water with the pump off?
Put both skimmer pump and return pump in same chamber: fine: route skimmer outflow pipe back to fuge area to tame microbubbles.

The 1" pipe you see in the pic...That's going to drain into two places
full open on the bottom and on top I'm going to T off into 1/2" with a ball valve so I can get a slower flow in the fuge part.

My currant sump is a 10 gallon tank. the return side is only about 5" and I leave a 6" water line on that side. the rest of the sump is about
3" from the top.

the new sump give me 5 or 6 time the water volume on the return side.

I think when I turn off the pump it will be fine not 100% sure yet tho...but that's why I'm here...lol

[RONCGIZMO]

No Ideas?

[RONCGIZMO]

:wavehand:

[vito is hooked]

Im doing the same thing to my bio ball sump. But im doing mine oppisite of yours. My skimmer is first with the two overflows with filter bags then 1 baffle, then the same one you have in the middle with holes at the top(SK8R made good point ,i made holes about 3 and a half inches down from the ones that were there) another baffle CHAETO, baffle ,return

[RONCGIZMO]

Hey Vito, do you have any pics?

[vito is hooked]

Not yet, but soon .Kinda new with computers. After i took all my bio balls out(took forever) I had so much more room,i kinda wish i moved that middle baffle (the one with the holes at the top) back about 4in towards myskimmer side so i would have had more room in my fudge for chaeto, LS, RR, pods. Is that where your skimmer is gonna go? If so you will be skimming your PODS before they get to the tank!

[RONCGIZMO]

Thanks Vito..

Does anyone have any other configurations of what I'm trying to do?

I would love to see some shots of what you came up with.

Thanks

[ReefSparky]

Hey RONCGIZMO. Under my 55g are two sumps. One a wet/dry, the other a 'fuge made from a 10g tank. Each is fed by its own overflow box on the tank, and each has its own return pump. In the wet/dry, I'm about a week into taking out one bio ball per day until they're all gone. Here's a pic of the fuge: http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd46/lbmcse/fugeinplace.jpg. The fuge turns over about 100gph, a bit less than 2x tank volume.

The wet/dry turns over about 218gph, or 5.5x the tank volume per hour. Between the two, there's plenty of surface area for oxygenation of the water.

As for the wet/dry, I've got no immediate plans, but my phos reactor hangs from it, and it's home to my skimmer. There's no rush in this hobby. With all the bioballs gone, it's still a sump.

As for the fuge, it's new, and just beginning to produce copepods. It works very well from what I can see. The chaeto is tumbling 24/7, and there are copepods scurrying about in the ball of chaeto.

I should have my TX5 Aquactinics fixture midweek, and it's a RO/DI unit shortly after.

I'm trying to stay clear of filter floss. My skimmer is my only mechanical filtration, if you want to call it that. I think the floss is only adding another variable and means for accidents.



Just my 2 cents.

[RONCGIZMO]

That look just like the fuge i'm using now...lol

The way I'm setting up the W/D the fuge part would be the same size as what I'm using now..the rest of it would just give me a sump...I'm upgrading my stand so now I can fit something bigger re:this W/D

What I'm really going for is to make this one sump two separate parts
(if that makes any sense)

The fuge part will be sealed (aside from the drain)
I'll have a hole in the fuge floor dropping most of
the water into the sump. my drain from the tank
will be split with a T and ball valve to get a slower
drain into the fuge. It might sound like an odd setup
But I like the idea..

[RONCGIZMO]

Here's what my current fuge looks like..

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11216096@N00/548691257/" title="DSC01656 by rvc03, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1299/548691257_a4b326b823.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSC01656" /></a>

[ReefSparky]

Wow, we almost do have the same fuge! Both homemade, too! That's good stuff. I showed my wife your fuge and said, "See honey, I'm not the only one doing this stuff." LOL . . .And he's a guitarist too!

The only issue I see with a stacked system as you state (fuge above the sump) is control over water when pwr goes out. However, so long as the fuge drains from the top (ie, overflow box or U tube) you could have some control over this, I suppose.

My system currently does exactly what it should when the power goes out. The wet/dry fills to within 8" of its top, and the fuge stops at about 2" shy of the top. When the pwr comes back on, everything levels itself out.

Sleeping well at night, priceless.

What I've seen others do, which I like, is have a sump with the return in the center, and fed by a T'd overflow box from either side. This way, a 1200gph overflow box (double U tubes) can be T'd into 2 diameters--the larger diameter feeding one side of the sump, the "slower" diameter feeding the other side (fuge side). This is simpler, and IME, simpler is better.

[RONCGIZMO]

No, I play drums :)) I have a few basses that I just fool around with when I record..I have a guitar but I only know 3 chords..lol

anyway, this is plain B.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11216096@N00/2133073833/" title="For DIY plain b by rvc03, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2388/2133073833_a471f48462_o.jpg" width="1280" height="960" alt="For DIY plain b" /></a>

[RONCGIZMO]

Late night bump :)

[RONCGIZMO]

no more sump guys here? :(

[RONCGIZMO]

Looks like I'm going for plain B...

No one has any other ideas?

[RONCGIZMO]

TTT

[RONCGIZMO]

Still looking for a good suggestion on this...anyone?

[RONCGIZMO]

bump

[Newlin]

I have that same sump and I have been thinking about a way to do this. Your sump is drilled for the pump on the side, mine is straight out the front, that is the only difference. I'm interested in this as I may be getting some ideas from this. But, one thing that I'm worried about is, are you going to have enough room if the pump shuts off and the water drains out of the tank?

[RONCGIZMO]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11502298#post11502298 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sooner Handyman
I have that same sump and I have been thinking about a way to do this. Your sump is drilled for the pump on the side, mine is straight out the front, that is the only difference. I'm interested in this as I may be getting some ideas from this. But, one thing that I'm worried about is, are you going to have enough room if the pump shuts off and the water drains out of the tank?

Yes, if my pump gos out I'll have room for overflow. in fact I'll have more then I have now in my 10 gallon reason #237 why I want to do this. what kind of ideas have you come up with so far?

[Newlin]

Well, the only thing that I have come up with is to cut out the holes to where the water can flow over that part of the sump and into the return part of the sump. I can't put any baffels in mine cause of the size of the skimmer that I'm running. My return pump is outside the sump so that grants me a little more room. Right now I have a 10 gallon with a HOB overflow plumbed into my system for a fuge. Right now, it's a 6" sand bed just because I havent been able to get rid of the sand. But, I want to put everything under the tank. I also have a problem there cause I have two Gobies (convict and Dragon) that have moved all the sand away from the bottom of the tank so I will have to find a way to stop the light from coming in the bottom of the tank. I will post up what I have thought of tomorrow. Right now, it's bed time :D

[RONCGIZMO]

Any sump builders in the house :) I was thinking about feeding the fuge part with a power head, will that work? or should I stick with the split input?

[RONCGIZMO]

oh! BTW, the power head would be from the output on my carbon reactor.

[Newlin]

Well, I decided to put 2 10 gallon tanks under my tank and removed the sump. The first one is the fuge and the second one is the return pump/skimmer/heater tank. There are U tubes that connect the tanks and there is no problem with losing siphon. This is working out really well and the flow in the fuge is perfect. And, it fits better under my stand than the sump did.

And, Im sure that you can use the power head for the fuge but I think the return that is split with a valve is a better idea. The idea is to get the water from the tank to the fuge and not after the filter. At least, that is what I have read on here.

[jccash]

Newlin can you post a picture of your two 20 gallon tanks and how you have them plumbed. Thanks,