flow from DT to sump

[sbazain]

I was wandering if I slow down my flow to the sump so I won't have to use socks and at the same time have less water movement in the sump , "My sump is a rubbermaid I've had now for two years" will that hurt the turn around time

 

[Finnaddict]

Well of course it will hurt your turn around time as you call it. and if for some reason you choose to do so you will need to turn down the return pump so your tank wont overflow. I assume your skimmer is in your sump as well as chemical filtration and the more GPH you run thru it the cleaner you tank will stay.

 

[sbazain]

How do you call it always like to learn the language in my hubby yes I have the skimmer in the sump I thought of putting an end cap and drilling holes on the return pipe in the sump that way it won't hit with so much force

 

[AZDesertRat]

Never restrict the overflow from the display to the sump, that would be a flood for sure. Slow the flow using a valve on the dicharge side of your return pump. Itis the pump that determines the overflow rate since the overflow is gravity and balances itself with the pumping rate.

 

[Finnaddict]

Ya you could build yourself a baffle of some kind to diffuse the water coming into the sump. That would accomplish what your trying to do and not slow down the flow thru the sump.

 

[sbazain]

I could do a baffle and split the sump in two one inlet and the other return

 

[schneid0c]

ya you probably should baffle off the section where your skimmer sits so it has more contact time with the water comming from the inlet

 

[schneid0c]

heres how mine is set up. sorry it looks so sloppy paint kinda sucks lol

 

[sbazain]

Yea it looks good i think my best bet is to get an old tank and make it a real sump that way each thing has its own place am going to take a pic of my actual system so you can have a better idea.

 

[schneid0c]

ya i took a 20 gal long and custom baffled it i wish i had more room or else i would have went with a 40 gal. here is what the whole thing looks like

 

[sbazain]

Nice, i have a friend the has a used tank am going to find out how big it is and go for it and it will also look more profetional

 

[Bernardhny]

Why would you do this?

I am not sure I understand why you would want to restrict the flow to a sump? I read an article that said the biggest mistake reef hobbyist makes is a stagnant sump. By simply adding a very low flow pump you can increase the ability of the Chaeto to export positive nutrients to the tank and absorb nitrates and phosphates.

Before I used the small pump I would have red slime algae form in my sump. Once I added the flow that algae disappeared and my chaeto started growing exponentially. I threw out an extra large zipper bag of Chaeto the other day just to trim it back. I run my fuge lights 24/7.

Thoughts?

 

[Chameleon]

I shoot for between 3-5x turnover per hour between my sump and display. This means for a 100 gallon tank I need about 300-500 GPH through the tank. This is not a very quick pace and if you throttle your return pump back or T off it to slow it down you will probably achieve the same goal without creating a potential flood risk.

I do this because number one it works and number 2 there used to be discussions about dwell time and skimmers and this seemed like where people were pointing to

 

[sbazain]

Am just going to split the sump in two that way idont have to touch the flow into the sump and my return wont pick up all the detritus and throw it up into th DT.