vendredi 4 mars 2016

Sump Design

Hi everyone new to this I've had freshwater tanks for 5 years and finally got myself a reef tank. I got a really good deal on a used 125 gallon oceanic complete system for 500 with a bunch of live rock and corals and 2 fish (flame cardinal and some sort of damsel) not sure what all the coral is but theres 2 big leathers and according to who I bought it from a kenya tree, ricordia mushrooms, zoanthids and gushers and i think theres other kinds in there also and I of course plan to add more. This is a well established tank and I reused the water and kept everything wet and alive transporting it. I'm also temporarily housing a pretty big clown and hawaiin stripe for my mom.

The tank came with 2 big Leds dont know much about them but their bright, a fluvial 4 plus filter an sca 303 skimmer and a kent phosban reactor (need to get a new pump). I just ordered 2 1300 gph power heads for it.

MY question is about the sump. I have 2 overflows with 1'' tubing connected to the drain. I don't think it is setup right and Ive been reading a lot about it but can't figure out how it should flow through it. Its not homemade it was store bought and I can't find any info about this design. I'll post some pics in a few minutes but both overflows drain into the chamber on the left and has the heater and skimmer and misc chemical bags thrown in don't know what they are but some are carbon.

After going through the first chamber water flows under a partition into the second chamber. The bottom of the second chamber is sloped towards the right side and there is plastic grating sitting an inch or two above the bottom. On top of the grating is a bunch of ceramic rings and rock. The water level is about 4'' above that grating and the return pump is basically sitting right on top of the grating and can't be raised up at all because it would be sucking air and there isn't any way to attach a hose to the intake of it so the water isn't really flowing through the media in the second chamber, most of the flow just comes up through the grate into the pump. I don't know the gph of the pump doesn't say on the pump I'm going to see how fast it will fill a gallon jug and do the math but the discharge is inch and quarter though. The overflow boxes are really noisy as well but I've been reading about the dorso standpipe and might do that.

There is also a homemade refugium with a bunch of stuff growing but don't know what it is. There is a small pump pumping water into it and then it discharges from the top of the fuge back into the 2nd chamber of the sump.

The first chamber of the sump has a bulkhead thats about an inch and a half on the bottom left that is plugged off I don't know why they didnt hook up the drain lines to it, seems to me thats what it would be for? The water comes from the overflow through a tube right into the first chamber. and seems to create a lot of bubbles in the chamber. In the first chamber is also 2 slots a couple inches away from the partition for the 2nd chamber that look to me like its made to have 2 vertical partitions like a bubble trap maybe and I do have a lot of little bubbles in the display. I was going to get some plexiglass cut to put in there but not sure how to set it up. There is also 2 ledges close to the top of each chamber that looks like it was designed for something to sit on top.

I really don't think they had the sump setup right and would love to hear some comments on what and how to change to make it right. I'm wondering if I should plumb the drain lines into that bulkhead and install a bubble trap if thats what its for and also not sure where to have the ceramic rings and rock, I was thinking I should put them under the grate in 2nd chamber so the water flows through it better. I'm also planning on putting ball valves on both the drains and a tee on the return line with a valve so I can play around with the flow rates.


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